Argentinian Lake District

---

The morning drive upto Bariloche was amazing. Once the sun had risen at 9am the scenery came to life and we were wending our way up Route 40 and through the valleys surrounded by the Andes.

On arrival we checked into the hostel and headed out into the town for a wander around. After a few hectic weeks with lots of activities and moving around we used Bariloche as a time to sit back and relax. On Friday we headed down to the local bs stop and got ourselves on a bus to Cerro Campanario where we took a chairlift up to the top of the hill to get a view of Lake Nahuel Huapi and the Andes. It was a strange experience for me to be on a chairlift with no snow and not wearing my ski gear. The view at the top was amazing and very clear it was just surprising the lack of snow on the Andes. We then headed down and caught the bus to Puerto Panuelo where we wandered around the edge of the lake and then walked up the driveway towards the Llao Llao Hotel. We then followed the road around and walked upto a pretty church that was on the hillside over looking the lake and hotel.

Saturday we decided we were going to stay local and so wandered down to the centre of the town and went into the Patagonian museum. The description in the lonely planet guide was that it had good displays of artifactes and details of the local history along with a display of stuffed critters! Stuffed critters was a very apt description of the various animals they had on display. They were meant to demonstrate the animals that can be found in Patagonia however whilst some were impressive others looked more like stuffed toys than animals!!

From the museum we wandered into the Cathedral and then headed into town and did some window shopping. Most of the afternoon we spent at the hostel chilling and we ended up watching the Argentina v Columbia world cup qualifier (I'm not sure my tongue in cheek support for Colombia went down too well).

The next move is across the border into Chile and we head to Santiago for a few days!

---

Photos

The Llao Llao Hotel golf course and Puerto Panuelo in the background
The golf course was taken with you in mind Tim!!

The Llao Llao Hotel
This one is for you Mum and to show even in the middle of the Andes you can find a Leading Hotel of the World so maybe you could come over here and visit!!!

Comments

[Tim]

Golf
Thanks for the picture dedication, would much rather be playing on that course than sat at work.

[rachelpars]

Looks stunning :)

[Jean]

Stuffed critters
Loving the pictures, even without snow, truly beautiful!! Hope batteries are refreshed for Chilean adventures - just want to check there were no stuffed tortoises were there?