Towards Bariloche .... the slow way!

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Sat 24th Nov:
After a nice meal, at Lade´s (the airline company) expense, I returned to the airport and checked in. I joined the rest of travelling group in the depsarture lounge and waited there for three hours with no information forthcoming, so a few of us went back to the check-in desk to find out what was happening. It was then we found out that the ´plane was only going as far as Rio Gallegos last night; we were to be put up in a hotel and travel on today. Chaos reigned among some of the passengers as they had deadlines to meet. As for me I phoned the hotel with my reserved accommodation and explained the situation to them. It was now clear to us that the ´plane was never going direct to Bariloche and were not informed of this. At this stage we found out that it was going via Rio Gallegos and Calafate. We eventually took off at 6:15, arrived in Rio Gallagos and were transported by minibuses back down the airport runway, not to a hotel, but to an army base where we were told we would be given accommodation for the night. This accommodation was completely isolated, in the middle of nowhere ...... about 10 Km outside the town. Despite many complaints from people in the group they would not give way and arrange alternative accommodation. What we had was spartan, typical barracks rooms, with no phone in the bulding and 3 to 4 to a room. The central heating, which was full on, made the place feel like a sauna. All the windows in the bedroom had to be left wide open so we could sleep. They said they would give us breakfast at 6:30 tomorrow morning so we would be ready for take off at 7:30.

We were all up bright and early; after a meagre breakfast of stale rolls and coffee we got the minibuses back to the airport. We eventually took off at 8:40 to Calafate, where it stopped for an hour while they took more passengers on board. We had to wait on the ´plane. We then flew to Commodore Rividere (which we weren´t told about), stopped for nearly another hour to fill the rest of the seats on the ´plane. One of the passengers I had met last week. Finally we headed for Bariloche and landed at 1:35. This was my first flight with Lade Airlines and will be my last. Incidentally Lade is a military based airline which does some commercial flights as well. To cap it all, when I got to the hostel, I discovered that they did not keep my reservation but gave to someone else. They did, however, find me alternative accommodation - a nearby hostel ... not the same quality and more expensive. Although I´ve lost a day, at least I have a place to stay!

Bariloche is a lovely town in the Lake District of Argentinia; the Lake District is shared with Chile. It is on the shores of Lago Nahuel Huapi and has beautiful mountain scenery as a backdrop.

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Photos

Snow-capped Andes
The view from the´plane as we approached Bariloche.

Getting Closer
The long journey to Bariloche was now almost complete.

Bariloche Cathedral
Bariloche is in a beautiful setting surrounded with mountains and lakes. They used a lot of wood in many of their public buildings giving it a ski-village image. It´s old gothic cathedral on the hill-top completes the scene.