Bariloche

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Hola Amigos!

I am getting way behind on my travel blog, and keep getting messages from you asking when the next one is on it´s way...well here is my Bariloche blog (to follow...El Bolsón, El Calafate and El Chalten, and Puerto Madryn! Lots to catch up on!)

So, I think I left off in Mendoza, which was pretty much my chill out week, in a hammock, by the pool, with some lovely girls I met there, eating, drinking lots of vino, and basically feeling very chilled out! I left the heat and laziness of Mendoza behind in a cloud of dust (literally) and as serendipity would have it, the girl sitting in front of me on the bus to Bariloche was booked into the same hostel as me. The more I travel, the more I realise there are a lot of these kind of ´coincidences´ that just seem to give you a little helping hand, or improve your experience by putting you in the same place with people you click with! Or maybe there is no such thing as coincidence....ooooooh. Very deep for a blog, I have to say! So, moving on, I arrived in Bariloche in the most inappropriate clothing (denim shorts and flip-flops), and began to realise my mistake when we pulled into the bus station and everyone there was wrapped up in cosy jumpers and hats and there was a biting wind and rain lashing at the windows...

So me and Tania (the Texan girl I met on the bus, whose accent I came to love, purely because she used the term "y´all") hopped in a cab to the hostel. And after checking in, we went for a wander in town. Bariloche is very touristy, but they have amazing cheese fondue places, so we headed to one of those. Whoever came up with the idea of a cheese fondue deserves some kind of award (along with whoever invented Skype...I want to hunt them down and give them a massive kiss). A big pot of melted cheese and bread, bacon and onions to dip in is just genius!

Moving on from the food...Bariloche is one of my favourite places in Argentina. In the Lake District, it is surrounded by mountains, and I pretty much went walking every day with people from my hostel. One of them was an Israeli guy called Roy, and we got along very well based on a shared love of The Office! He convinced me to go trekking up Cerro Lopez on New Year´s Day, not something to be sneered at I can tell you! Try trekking up a very steep rocky mountainside for 6 hours with a hangover and 4 hours sleep. It was hard work, but worth all the effort without a question. The views were stunning. There is another walk in Bariloche called Cerro Campanario, which is rated as one of the Top 10 Views in the world, by National Geographic. And it really was quite breathtaking. My photos of Facebook don´t do it justice!

While in Bariloche, I spend New Year´s Eve there, seeing in 2010 with a bunch of strangers who suddenly become your best friends at midnight, fuelled by alcohol and a big group rendition of ´Hey Jude´! It was eventful to say the least, with all the boys dressed up as girls (all of them seemed to enjoy it a little too much...!), a snowboard which had 6 shot glasses glued to it which was used a little too much, and someone puking up on the hostel computer, so no-one could use the ´a´, ´q´, or exclamation mark keys afterwards!

So imagine heading to bed at around 4ish, then having to haul yourself out of bed at a ridiculous hour to pull on your trekking gear in a hurry as the bus goes in 10 mins and there isn´t another one for 2 hours, frantically grabbing a roll and your camera, and running down the hill to catch the bus! And then climbing a damn mountain! But, as I said, it was worth it, and probably the best way to cure a hangover!

After a week of long walks and beautiful scenery, I could have stayed in Bariloche longer, but the rest of Patagonia was calling, so I jumped on a bus to El Bolsón, which is the next blog....

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Comments

[Tania]

Chica...I love how you love my y'all. It warms my heart how much you recognize what a wonderful word it is. Big xxx's! Felices Viajes.