Bariloche, Argentina Carne Asada

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I’ve never been to Switzerland. Everyone says that Bariloche is the Switzerland of South America…so I guess it’s the Switzerland of South America. It looked Swiss to me. St. Bernards laden with wooden barrels, lots of chocolate, and steep mountains. It is located on the edge of a huge, crystal clear, very windy, lake. When we arrived in Bariloche it was approx 60 degrees and blowing 35 MPH. Samantha was ecstatic to get out of the heat. Maria came and picked us up at a restaurant down town and brought us to her friend Silvi’s Bed and Breakfast.
During our trip thus far we had talked to only two other US citizens. Most of the travelers are from Europe. At the Bed and Breakfast we met Martha and Bink from Corvallis, Oregon. They were on a 6 month trip in South America and were spending a month in Bariloche studying Spanish at Maria’s school (Spanishinthemountains.com). We all hit it off immediately and ended up being quite good friends. They helped us with Spanish and gave us some great tips for traveling South America, as well as teaching us the crucial Bariloche bus system. We all went out for a Beer that night, and Maria showed us on a map the best hiking attractions. On the way home Maria invited us to go camping the following night with her and her eight year old daughter, Azul, as well as some friends. We jumped at the opportunity.

This was my kind of camping. The first stop was the grocery store for approx. 6 lbs of beef, and two bottles of Vino Tinto. I thought we would be camping somewhere nearby but it took nearly 2 hours to drive to the river. It was 30 KM down a narrow gravel road and almost to Chile.

This spot on the river was unbelievable. Turquoise water, white sand, vertical mountains, hot sun, bamboo, and no snakes. We all went swimming and then Maria spent the afternoon working on Spanish with us. We started a nice big fire and then friends started trickling in from a day of rafting. Everybody brought beef and the locals treated us to carne asada by the river. Azul helped mixed up some dough and they fried bread in a pot. I had my first taste of Mate’ and it was passed around all night. Anything as strong tasting as Mate’ could certainly become a weakness of mine if the little gourd and straw was not so doggone cumbersome. We ate steak and bread until we hurt and then went to bed. Not healthy…but fun. The camping trip is a great memory.

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Photos

Samantha in front of Silvi's B&B
On the hill in the backgroud you can see one of the mountain huts you can climb to for dinner.

The Camp Site
By the time we went to bed the beach was covered with the tents and sleeping bags of various friends who had trickled in.