Beautiful Bariloche

From Mendoza we took yet another overnight bus trip down to the beautiful, Swiss influenced, town of Bariloche in the lakes district of Argentina. Unfortunately, the vegetarian meal option served on the bus must have been waiting quite some time for a vegetarian to come along... as Renee spent the first five days in Bariloche staying very close to the bathroom. Fortunately we had a fantastic hostel (Hostel 1004) at which to stay with a view over the lake to the snow capped mountains and the gorgeous township.



The hostel itself was quite an experience. It is run by a retired physicist who looks like Moses. He is almost like a cult figure with numerous followers, most notably three attractive young staff members who act as his concubines. All of them dote on him in an amazing way and although one of them is with him at all times, they take it in turns to be summoned to his home to give him some special attention in private. Observing the interactions kept us very much amused during our stay.




The following few days were spent exploring the natural beauty of the local area such as the national park in Llao Llao. We hired a car for the following three days to explore the 7 lakes region, with lots of magical crystal clear lakes with trout hanging about just asking to be plucked out of the water by the hawks hovering overhead.
With our new-found freedom we took the car to see el Bolson (a small hippy town with fantastic icecream!) and El Tronodor (the largest mountain in the region). In the same national park, was the ¨black glacier¨. Basically the ice was mixed with soil, so technically its a nicer name than the ¨dirty glacier¨.





TROGDORRR!!!!! (Oh no.... Tronador)

(The photo doesn't really show it but there is a pretty rainbow on the left)

Part of a bizarre wood sculpture exhibit in a forest half way up the mountain next to El Bolson.

Having the car was an even better blessing as we decided to stop off along the picturesque road that follows the lake and is dotted with cabins. We ended up spending our last few days in our own private bungalow (with kitchen, heating and a spa-bath) for less that what we were paying for a room with shared bathrooms in hostels!

Unfortunately time was running out and we wanted to see Patagonia and ¨the end of the world¨. What made it more difficult than we had hoped was that the famous main road ¨route 40¨, heading south alongside the Andes was closed as its only open in summer... This was very unfortunate as not only did it mean we couldn't do the 10 hour scenic trip to our next planned destination Calafate, but it meant the only option within Argentina was a 36 hour bus trip via the east coast and back. With neither of us able to face another 36 hours on a bus we decided to try our luck and head back into Chile in the hope of better options south.