Bariloche

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After a 24 hour night bus ride (yes, a full day on the bus), we arrived in Bariloche, a touristy mountain town in central Argentina. South Americans love their busses. Trains are non-existent and planes are expensive so busses are everywhere. I haven-t ever taken a greyhound at home, but i haven´t heard great things. But this was a nice bus. We got on at 6:30 at night. They served us a hot dinner of ravioli and there were 3 seats across, so it was kind of like first class on a plane. The seats didn´t fold flat but were quite wide and went back about halfway. They showed some movies, and then we slept. By the time we woke up for breakfast, it was almost 10 am. We got breakfast, some more movies, lunch and then we were there. Time seems to go by quicker on a bus than a plane. Maybe because you can look out the window and see that you´re making progress, which you can´t really do on a plane. It´s a good time to read, catch up on sleep, listen to music and talk to your new friends.

This was my 4th nightbus and by far the most comfortable. We even got blankets and pillows.

Bariloche was cute, but seemingly an imitation of a Swiss mountain town. It was originally settled by German and Swiss immigrants who built the main city buildings in an Alps type of architechure of wood. The city lies on a beautiful lake and has a few main shopping streets but it can´t compare to the great mountain towns of Europe and North America. The sidewalks are falling apart, the drivers are nuts, development is haphazard and the police are useless (Our final night in Bariloche, the other guys in my group had their room broken into. Thieves climbed in through the window and stole their IPODS, phones, cameras and cash. They went to the police who were completely unhelpful even though they had a description of the car and the thieves). That´s South America for you. You never know who you can trust and which police will be helpful. Though, people have been friendly and helpful, sometimes. Bus drivers all wave to each other, locals will help with directions and translation, people smile on the street, but not in this instance when we needed the cops.

Our outdoor activity in Bariloche was a trek through the national park to waterfalls and a glacier, which was pretty cool. I´m not much of a hiker, but the scenery was very nice. The mountains are quite beautiful down here. Hopefully the pictures will turn out.

The local food in Bariloche is Venison and Wild Boar, because they were brought over by Europeans and are now killing the indigenous plants and animals. I did my part by eating some of both, but it wasn´t as good as the steak from Uruguay and Buenos Aires.

Enjoyed Bariloche, but next time, I´ll save some money and go to Park City or Whistler for the mountain town feel.

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