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Published: February 14th 2007
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The Central Plaza in Bariloche
very cool architecture in this city... This entry was a collaborative effort from us both...enjoy. San Carlos de Bariloche
We arrived early at the El Calafate Airport just to find that our plane was delayed by four hours. That was twice as long as the flight itself would take. While we were waiting (drinking Quilmes Bock, eating raviolis and doing crossword puzzles) we met a guy from Alaska. Dave looked over at notice the Valdez sticker on his boots and asked if he was from there. He said he guides heli-skiers in the winter up there, and that he had been down here trying to climb Fitz Roy. His tale of a previous delay in this very same airport of three days made us quiet down about the four hours.
Finally, they called our flight to San Carlos de Bariloche, and we were on our way. The bus between the two cities takes three days and cost almost the same as the plane, so this mode of transportation seemed like a logical choice, even on a budget.
We finally arrive in Bariloche well into the evening and are quite happy that we have begun to arrange accomadations before we arrive in a city. Nothing
Chocolate Fountain
Chocolate shops were everywhere...and us being non-chocolate lovers, didn´t even sample a one!! worse than carrying heavy packs in an unfamiliar city around midnight. So we wind up at the very friendly Hostel 41 Below (the laditude) run by a New Zealander and his Argentine partner. We set our gear down and realize that it is close to midnight and we are quite hungry - this is actually one of the first times that we are eating at a normal time and we find a resaturant that has a decent variety and wait a few minutes for a table. Full and ready for bed, we retreat back to the hostel for a good sleep.
This next day was devoted to logistics and we decided to rent a car and see as much as possible in 3 days.
***Plus, we all know how much Dave likes to DRIVE!!*** Most of the sights are far enough apart that bussing and returning to Bariloche each day would be very time consuming and boring. What could not be better fun than running around in a Chevy Corsa (aka the egg)? The Corsa was barely big enough to be a car (and certainly not big enough to be a Corsica apparently) We thought it (and the name)
rated pretty high on the dorkiness meter, but while driving around, we realized we could have ended up in similar wee rides named things like the Suzuki "Fun", the Ford "Tattoo", or the worst, the Renault "Twingo"...so we´ll take the Chevy Corsa, of course-a!
So we also kept on with the "plan ahead" thing and arranged the bus ticket north to our next stop of Mendoza. As we cruised around the city we ran across a very odd sign in a small shop in downtown Bariloche - ¨tenemos nerds¨. We were not sure what that meant until later we saw a gentleman selling the boxed candies on the streets. So that is where the title comes from for this entry. It seems odd in a city well known for handmade chocolates to advertise having a candy so lowly and gross as "NERDS". Oh well...what do we know?
The rest of the day we walked around and saw the sights including a large amount of chocolate stores and other touristy merchandise. That evening we had one of the best meals on the whole trip, Kevyn bought a squash and we cooked it up with some onion and cous cous
and a huge salad - which was also our first. It was great. Oh yes, and don{t forget the cheap wine.
Driving Around the Lakes Region
Now on to our adventures in The Egg!!!! I (Dave) woke up a little nervous to be headed down to rent the car. We did all of the formalties of renting and was surprised to know the deductable was higher if we rolled the car instead of just crashing it - we left hoping to do neither. I spent the earlier day observing the traffic in the city and figured out how it worked since most intersections did not have any controls on it - although traffic moved very efficiently. I finally felt confident until I saw the class B a we rented - which was not the smallest class available. Man, did you feel small in it, but everyone else is quite small as well. Eventually I came to love the egg and loved its efficiency and 4x4 capabilities! No, really!
So, we head south and decide to put the car to the test right away. Once packed and safely out of town (with only getting honked at once) we head
to Nahuel Huapi National Park and rode about 50 K´s down a dirt road with one way restrictions because of the narrowness and traffic. We headed down to ¨Cerro Tronador¨ which is a very dramatic mountian with dozens of waterfalls cascading down from all angles. We were now car tourists and did some short hikes around. We also ended up at a glacier called ¨Negra Glaciar¨ because it is completely covered in morraine that almost hides the fact that it is ice. Sadly, we did not get many photos of this day of the trip because Kevyn (oops!!) forgot to put the memory card back in the camera after the last upload, and we were shootin´blanks all day!
It was almost like the Checkered flag was waved at 4 PM for the road rally. They keep you at the end of the road until 4 and the one way road is reversed. For the entire 50 K´s you are either being passed, tail-gated or, if your lucky, passing someone (which was rare). It was quite amusing having trucks trying to sneak by The Egg meanwhile visibility is very low because of all the dust. Needless to say we were
happy to hit the pavement and continue south to El Bolson.
Pass the Patchouli
El Bolson is the counter-culture capital of Argentina, we were told. They also have a large market three days a week and brew a lot of beer down there. So including it on our driving tour seemed the natural thing to do. We even read about one of the camping areas was at the El Bolson Brewery itself...the only campground in the country with a beer garden! Sadly, we checked it out and it was too much of a zoo for our taste, so we bought some beers and found a much nicer campground onthe Rio Azul just outside of town.
The next day, we drove up another hellacious gravel road to the top of a nearby mountain to visit a forest of wood sculptures. Artists had carved several trees that had burned in a fire...the result was very interesting, but I captured it all on air (no photo card!). Oh well...it was a super dusty and STEEP trail, but a nice way to start the day, and a great view of the area from the top.
Next, we made our way down
the road to the town of El Bolson and to see the much talked about market. It was really amusing. There was some great food, tasty local brews, interesting items for sale, and fantastic people watching. I want to take this time to note, also, that the MULLET is alive and reproducing in Argentina! We´ve yet to capture one in digital form, but we´ve seen some beauties! Dreadlock-Mullets, Bo Derek Braid-Mullets, and lots of mini-Mullets!
This entry is getting quite long, and I think it deserves a part II. So stand by, and as always,
Thanks for reading!!
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n i c k
non-member comment
sweet car!
Man, it looks beautiful outside Bariloche!