Rain, Rain Go Away...

South America » Argentina » Río Negro » San Carlos de Bariloche
July 26th 2006

Published: August 13th 2006

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Bless all Souls Who Ski on Your Slopes

Unfortunately we arrived in Bariloche with no hostel reservation in, what we later found out was, one of the busiest weeks in the Winter season. Our first few hours were spent trudging around in the rain, only to be rejected from every hostel and hotel in the Lonely Planet and then trying our luck on the phone line, uttering potted Spanish to every hotel receptionist in Bariloche. Luckily the Hostel Nauel Willie could take us in, possibly because it was so new, the paint was almost wet and they probably hadn't started advertising yet.

Not to let this initial blunder cloud our judgement of the town, we wandered around in our waterproofs. Its difficult for most towns to display their charms when it's pelting it down, but Bariloche's Centro Civico excites even the most dampened spirits with its brave mimickry of a European alpine town. The wooden church, chocolatiers, German ale houses and other apres-ski establishements are on offer and of course, Saint Bernard dogs padding around with their owners, who charge a peso or two for a photo. It appears that Bariloche has a bit of an identity crisis - but when you can enjoy the environment of Cloisters

Amber Colours of the Arrayan Tree

After which, the park is named.

at an exchange rate as favourable as the Argentinian peso and the pound, we couldn't complain!

Bariloche is in the Lake District region in the West of Argentina and is similar to its UK namesake in that there are refreshing lakes at the foot of every forest-clad hillside. For all this greenery, you have to put up with the rain, and unfortunately we were caught right in the middle of a weather front originating in the Antartic! The trekking and mountain biking that we had planned was out of the question, so we took the advice of the tourist office and booked a "scenic cruise" to the Parque Nacional de los Arrayanes and Isla Victoria, where we would be protected from the rain whilst we were chugging across the lake. The tourist office had obviously recommended this to every sodden Argentinian, so we did feel that we were caught up in the middle of everyone's Winter holiday, finding it difficult to get away from tour leaders holding their umbrellas high. After almost missing the launch, we were pleased to see the Arrayan forests as these amber coloured, waxy-looking trees are used in many of the log structures around Bariloche.

Centro Civico

In extremely touristy fashion you can have your picture taken with St Bernards.

We were also amused to have a snowball fight in July...whilst YOU were enjoying a heat wave!

On another day trip we visited Catedral ski resort to take a peek at the standard of the slopes in Argentina. Knowing that we would be hitting the slopes when we got to New Zealand, we resisted the temptation of hiring costly ski gear for the day and just enjoyed the atmosphere at the bottom of the mountain, with a beer in our hand of course. The subtle differences that seperate Argentinian from European ski fields, are the branded ski clothes that tour operators provide to every package holiday customer (quite useful we thought, considering the cost of the kit) and the appearance of the Virgin Mary to protect all would-be slope freestylers from wipeouts on the slopes!!

Additional photos below

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