SAN CARLOS DE BARILOCHE
Trip Start
Dec 04, 2005
1
14
23
Trip End
Dec 03, 2006
Where I stayed
SAN CARLOS DE BARILOCHE, Argentina
Sunday, June 18, 2006
We arrived at the international bus terminal, late evening, and didn't realise how far it was out of town. We could have walked but taxis were frequent and relatively inexpensive.
We were planning to spend five days here and the first day was spent getting information and having a general look around. San Carlos de Bariloche is quite a unique place. It's located in the Nahuel Huapi National park on the shores of the Nahuel Huapi lake surrounded by snow dusted mountains. The street planning is the same as a map grid, in blocks, much like any other in South America except we didn't visually feel we were in Argentina. The shops, restaurants and hotels in fact every retail outlet was constructed of wood, logs and stone and once again had the Middle European style. In winter this place becomes a Ski-ing Mecca and with it's building styles wouldn't look out of place in Switzerland. There are very large shops dedicated to selling chocolate. Different sizes of chocolate, shapes, flavours etc. Neal was putting on weight just looking at them. One shop was selling ice-cream and we counted ninety flavours. At night the town lights up like a Xmas tree and so did one form of transport. A little steam train with one carriage used to do a square circuit of the town. The train didn't run on tracks but tyres and looked authentic enough. That too was lit up like a Xmas tree and would always be full of couples and mums and dads with their children. Tigger, Winnie the Pooh, Spiderman and Shrek would also be seen on the train waving at pedetrians or waiting on the street to greet young and old alike. Neal would wave to Shrek whenever he saw him and Shrek would always wave back.
On our information gathering day we had found out where to pick up local buses and what numbers went where. We decided to travel 20km out of town to Catedral mountain. This mountain has one of the biggest ski-centres in South America with almost 70km of all level runs. The best part for us was it was summer, a four hour hike to the summit and the view of the other peaks surrounding the lakes that awaited us. We decided to hike up the mountain and get the ski lift and cable car back. Several tracks led up the mountain and several times we came to dead ends. We orientated ourselves again. We walked through alpine forests covering the lower slopes of the mountain and then came into alpine meadows as we got higher while all the time looking at the views below us. We had been going for several hours when we came across a construction crew who looked at us as if we were off our heads. About an hour later we found ourselves at a place we didn't want to be. The cable car stopped running at six in the evening and we were looking at a peak that would take us at least 2hrs to cross to the chair lifts and cable cars on the other side. The time was about four thirty. No wonder the construction crew had looked at us as if we were off our heads. We started to follow a track and met two other people coming down the opposite way . " Do you speak English" June asked the man. " No I don't speak English " the man said to June. It turned out that they were more lost than us and couldn't find a way down. Being an Argentinian male, and a lost one at that, probably accounted for his response to Junes question. Carlos had in fact studied English for 14 years but had not had the occasion to use it. He certainley did when he found out that Neal was English and could talk to him about the premiership. They were the best of mates by the time we got down. This bloke has nearly every team shirt from the premiership at his home in Buenos Aires. Lolly, his wife, did not have such good English. So we had the chance to practice Spanish and they had the chance to practice English.
Carlos and Lolly were on a 2 week holiday and offered to give us a lift back to Bariloche in their car. Lolly also offered us some Mate ( pronounced mateh ). Mate drinking is a very important culture in Argentina. We have seen so many Argentinians sipping this bitter herb drink at home, work and play. They carry their gourds ( a small decorative handcrafted bowl ) and hot water thermos while travelling and Neal felt very honoured to be invited to partake in a mate-drinking ritual. June had a sip and thought it was disgusting. We made arrangements to meet later on. The girls looked great ( Neal hadn't seen June in her glad rags for nearly 3 months ) and Carlos had put on his Chelsea shirt. Carlos told Neal that he'd worn it in honour of him. Neal told Carlos he had worn his t-shirt as it was the only clean one he had. With that we all went out to a restaurant that Carlos and Lolly knew and a great night was had by all.
We decided to tackle the Catedral mountain again the following day. This time we took the cable car and then the ski lift to the summit which didn't do a lot for Junes nerves. Neals nerves were shot to pieces too, which was a direct result of being in direct contact with June on the 30 min journey to the summit. It was worth it though. After playing in the snow for a while we hiked as far as we could around the peak breathing the fine Andean air. The snow capped peaks surrounding the Lakes were visible and stood out in all their glory. It took us 2 1/2 hours to walk down. Neal wondered if we should have hired mountain bikes and done it that way but June felt that this was a much safer option.
The following day we walked from Bariloche to Mount Otto which is approximately 6 miles. We then took the cable car to reach the mount. We had come here mainly for the views and we were not disappointed. Standing in Alpine meadows amongst summer wild flowers we had a 360 degree view of the lakes and mountain ranges and we hope the pictures do it justice. To the west Mount Tronador, standing nearly 12,000 feet above sea level with clouds mysteriously swirling around its peak, marks the Andean crest and the Chilean border. Then below us lay Lake Nahuel Huapi. A 100km long glacier relic from the last ice-age stretching as far as the eye could see with the sun glistening on its crystal blue waters.
There was a bus stop over the road from the cable car terminal and we caught the local bus back to Bariloche. We were pretty tired and rested the next day. We also decided to extend our 5 day stay to 9 days. The hotel didn't have a problem with that so we arranged a trip to Mount Tronador.
A 3 hour journey took us through forests, ice blue lakes and breathtaking scenery. Neal met an Argentinian named Diego who was training to become a tour guide. Neal and Diego went off for about 1 1/2 hours and climbed for as far as they could before being stopped by the vertical rock face. Above them was the glacial heavy mountain top with its waterfalls cascading down from beneath the glacier. The beginning of the river starts from here as the ice-melt runs off to the valley below. On the opposite face of the mountain is the terminal face of the glacier which is black in colour. The ash from this now extinct volcano still lies on the floor beneath our feet. The strong winds in this area blow the ash onto the glacier giving it its unique black ice appearance.
Over the next few days we lazed about while continuing to enjoy our surroundings. We went back to the Familia Weiss restaurant on Palacios Street as we had enjoyed the meal we'd had with Carlos and Lolly. The Pilgrim on the same street sold good food Al Fresco style but unfortunately did not show the Champions League games. We did meet Dennis there who was from the Isle of Skye and who liked a drink as much as Neal. We ended up at Wilkennys on San Martin Street to watch Arsenal play their Champions league game and Chelsea the following night. We topped the evening off with a cracking meal and then had to say goodbye to Dennis whose two months of travelling had come to an end.
We had bought tickets in Bariloche for our return journey to Puerto Montt. On arriving back there Neal gave into June and let her stay in the newly finished, Lakeside Holiday Inn Hotel. Not a bad word over my accomodation choice. Oh it was bliss, it was heaven and the hotel wasn't bad either! June really made the most of it and bought a bottle of wine for later. Neal thought it would be nice to drink it on the balcony overlooking the lake but he couldn't get the doors open. Next day we flew to Punta Arenas where we were hopefully going to catch a bus to Puerto Natales.
