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Published: November 6th 2009
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View from Cerro Campanario
Voted in the Top 10 viewing spots in the world by National Geographic. I arrived in Bariloche at 4.30pm on Tuesday 22 September after a flight from El Calafate. It was my first internal flight in South America and was well worth it considering my other options were a 5 day boat trip or a 2 day bus journey. It took 3 and a half hour in total from leaving my hostel in El Calafate to arriving at my hostel in Bariloche. The flight also allowed for a different view of the Andes and I took over 50 photos from the plane. I was shown around the hostel and the views over the lake were amazing. When shown the TV room I saw that the Leeds Vs Liverpool game was on and so I sat and watched it. Then I called Ian and spoke to him for over 2 hours, the beauty of having Skype on the iPod touch. In the evening, I walked around the ski resort town and eventually chose to have dinner in an Irish bar called Wilkenny. I had a lamb stew and a couple of pints of beer. Then I checked out the casino and before I knew it, it was 1.30am and so I walked back to the
hostel. On my return, there were a few guys (Russian, Aussie and 1 English) just about to go out to a bar. They had just consumed a few bottles of vodka in the hostel and they insisted I joined them. After a couple of bars, we ended up going to Wilkenny's and stayed until closing at 5.30am. Back at the hostel we continued the party until 7.30am before I finally got to my dorm room. It was funny because the only other guy in my dorm room was up studying and he was just leaving for an exam. I got a few hours sleep before being woke up by new people checking in. Wednesday was spent nursing my hangover and walking around the town. I went to the tourist information with Amanda (an Australian girl staying at my hostel) to see what we could do in Bariloche. Then we sat outside an Irish bar for a drink. In the evening I went for dinner and then spent a couple of hours on the internet. On Thursday morning I went horse riding with Amanda. We rode around the streets before picking up a trail that led us through the forest and
high into the hills. The views were spectacular and it was very peaceful except for the dogs that kept barking and chasing our horses. Two hours later and we were back at the stables. We got dropped off at the cable car for Cerro Otto and took this to the top where there was a revolving restaurant. We had a light lunch and then walked the 10km trail back to town. Once again, I spent the evening walking around town, going for dinner and on the internet. On Friday morning Amanda and I took a local bus for 15km to a chairlift that takes you to a viewpoint for Cerro Campanario. We decided to take the steep 30 minute trail to the top instead of the chairlift. The views from the top justify its position in the National Geographic Top 10 viewpoints in the world. We each had an empanada and drink in the cafe and then decided to take a different route down the hill back to the main road and the bus stop. This alternative route was off the beaten track but a lot more scenic and we eventually came across a lake where we stopped for a
while to watch the birds and to take pictures of the reflections in the water. Although we knew we should have gone back to join the main trail, we decided to continue hacking our way through the forest in the general direction of the main road. After climbing over a wired fence, we found ourselves in private grounds. Hoping to go unnoticed, we walked through the gardens and past the front of the house. It all seemed OK until a rottweiler far up on the hill started barking at us. We ran down the long winding driveway until we eventually reached the main road. We got over the private gate and then walked back to the bus stop. The bus took us a further 7km to the famous Hotel Llao Llao. We took a little look around the luxurious hotel before getting the bus all the way back to town. On Friday night I went to a nice restaurant with Amanda and an Aussie couple and we all ordered the lomo steak which was absolutely delicious. Then we all went for an ice cream and walked back to the hostel. On Saturday morning I checked out and then went for
lunch before catching my 2pm bus to Mendoza. The scenery for the first couple of hours on the bus was amazing but after that the bus seemed to stop frequently at different bus stations.
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