Bariloche

Argentina

January 2007
7 days

Bariloche
29th January to 6th February

Leaving the penguins behind yep you guessed it, we boarded another night bus and this time to Bariloche, the lake district of Argentina. We were really starting to look forward to these journeys and they come with the added bonus of not needing to pay for lodging for the night.

We had just left Puerto Madryn when the young steward came up the stairs, and Sarah was relieved that it wasn't the same guy as before. He walked down the isle spitting out some blurb in his native tongue and as he passed us he could see we were obviously not getting the gist of his jibe.... so he bluntly said in bad English....'Toilet.....pissing only. no sh*tting.' Now to this we may have looked a little taken aback by this verbal statement, but in my mind I was already thinking, 'we`ll see about that laddy.'

The journey went as expected with the usual food, movies and lights out around 1am. On went the Ipod once again and soon i was drifting off to Big Chill. I woke around 4am and remembered the comet we had seen on the last night bus. I eagerly pulled back the curtain and there it was again, gliding through the night sky. I sat and stared at this superb sight until my neck felt cricked and like a young boy who'd been told to come in from playing football as it was bedtime i reluctantly drew the curtain and dozed off again wondering where the comet had come from, how big it was etc. The next day I Googled it and it turned out to be a comet called McNaught and was causing much excitement on many Astronomy sites.

Warning: Paragraph contains toilet humour. Anyway I woke around 7am and a few people where stirring on the bus. I had an urge to do a number two, but remembered what the guy had said to tried to put it to the back of my mind. We were due to arrive around 11am and it was now almost ten and my urges were getting worse. We hadn't stopped anywhere for ages so I thought sod him and went down and did my business thinking it'll flush away anyhow. How wrong could I be, it wouldn't budge. There it was, the evidence, steaming away and staring back at me as I stood there agog. I thought about just leaving it there but I could hear people outside the door waiting to come in and it would be obvious what I did. There was only one solution..... I had to scoop it all out with hand tissue and toss it in the bin.... So that sort of ruined it and took away all sense of satisfaction of having broken the rules. Oh bother.

So off the stinky bus and out in to the gorgeous fresh air of Bariloche, the lake district and honeymooners place of choice. Oh and did we forget to mention that its also the chocolate capital! The second we arrived I instantly knew I loved it. Who wouldn't? Its probably the most beautiful scenery we had seen yet, packed with mountains, lush rolling hills but the best part were the lakes and small green island dotted around.

Our hostel, The MarcoPolo Inn was again superb, offering not only free breakfast but free dinner too. It had a nice bar area with pool table and played great music. Tables to eat at and benches to sit on. People were friendly and we instantly got talking to loads of backpackers hearing all their experience and recommendations. You cant beat word of mouth! Foot and mouth you can keep!

So what did we get up to in our week here?

Multi Trek
Along with eight others and an English speaking tour guide we headed off in a minibus to a national park, to walk three one hour treks and hopefully see some very breathtaking scenery. It took about fifty minutes to drive up and in to the park entrance where we paid our fee. The van dropped us by a side track and we got out for walk number one. The bus would be meeting us at the end point. A one hour walk is great, not too long but just the right amount of exercise when you're talking hills. We walked along a very narrow and extremely dusty dirt track and apart from our footsteps and voices it was very peaceful. We could hear a variety of birds twittering and bugs buzzing and smell flowers and fresh air. I looked at my watch and saw it was 1pm back home in London and thought how great it is to be here rather than back in a London, artificially climatised, office. We came to a low viewpoint and watched a magical waterfall firing off the top of the rocks like lemmings creating a spectacular vision.

Off in the van to a very rural lodge where we fuelled up on a giant burger and chips, doused in mayonnaise and promptly washed down with ice cold Coca Cola. Now we've travelled quite a bit now and I can tell you for sure that Coca Cola rules the world. It's absolutely everywhere! You can drive for hours upon hours in to the desert and somewhere I promise you will be some kind of man made dwelling proudly brandishing the logo of Coca Cola! I feel sorry for Pepsi because they simply don't stand a chance in the cola war... Coke seems to be more popular than water in some parts of the world and amazingly too is sometimes cheaper than water. Crazy. But all good news for dentists I guess.

Back on the road and then on foot we started trek number two. This time a little steeper and we were heading for a glacier. But not just any old glacier as this one is black.... The Negro Glacier as its known here. On route someone spotted a tiny lizard, AKA gecko, and we all took time out to hold and observe the little fella, but Sarah refused. We were almost there, just one more small peak to climb and we noticed more flies in the area. By the time we got over the hill and down in to the crater where the glacier resides we were being bombarded by up to a dozen flies at a time. Now that's bad enough but these weren't just regular flies, they were giant horse flies, and they bit you! The glacier was only small, and not really that much to see. Its black because it is a volcanic glacier but we were feeling so harassed by the flies (who only seemed to like biting men) that we barely stayed long enough to take two photos and left sharpish.

Later on trek three we saw another unique waterfall. This time a very tall but narrow fall and we all had our photos take on top of a giant rock at its bottom. We also witnessed a strange thing where two rivers join. One is cloudy and one in clear and you get a strange mixture at the fork (see photos). The tour guide handed round orange juice and these great jammy cakes you can get here after which we headed back to town.

Victoria Island
An hour boat ride away was the tranquil island called Victoria. Only inhabited by about 50 people it provided a great setting for more afternoon strolls and the opportunity to dip ones toes in the water. We ate a picnic under the shade of some huge Sequoya trees and watched birds of prey circling around above... Lucky they don't eat cheese sandwiches. A relaxing day had by all.

Cerro Otto
Otto Mountain was just down the road from the town so a five minute bus ride and we were there at the base and caught the chair lift to the top. This gave us perfect views of the town, the surrounding lake and many small islands. We watched guys running and jumping off the mountain in tandem doing paragliding. It looked great fun and must have been so peaceful up there but not sure my stomach could handle it. Sarah got talking to a rather slim and tanned Brazilian lady and I also to a guy from London and a couple from Manchester. Amazing what assortment of people you find on top of mountains! We all decided to try out the mountain top walk which was great and took two hours. We hadn't taken much water and it was dusty and bloody hot so when we finally made it back to the revolving restaurant we couldn't sink our beers quick enough. Beer can be the best drink in the world when you have a murderous thirst!

The Grand Circuit
This was a rather tedious day out from 7am to 7pm in an uncomfortable minibus driving for hundreds of miles around the seven lakes. It was simply just too far for what we saw..... mostly more hills, trees and yes, lakes. But one region we did like and it reminded us of the Grand Canyon a bit with desert style roads and rocky landscapes each side. In fact it was just like what you see in the Road Runner cartoon and there were some cool rock formations on which I expected to see ACME Enterprises written.... Beep Beep.

The rest of the time in Bariloche we just mooched around the pretty little town, eating chocolate, window shopping, using the Internet, eating chocolate, lazing on the beach, visiting the chocolate factory and yes in there we did indeed eat more chocolate. I feel sick just remembering that place. You can buy chocolate in any shape, size, flavour and consistency. Willy Wonka take note!

In summary, a splendid place to visit and it must be said one of the prettiest towns we'd seen yet. The only bad thing I can say about it is at the tourist information office they don't speak English! What gives? Did you not go to school people or where you too busy eating chocolate!

Beep Beep :)