| Jan 14, 2006 - Bariloche, Argentina
| (click to enlarge)
 |  | (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | Church & street in town, Brian sliding down the railing
| | That's just wrong! And for kids?!?!
| | John, Dan, Carmin, Tanner, Brian: a sophisticated lunch
| | Lake & mountains of Bariloche
| (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | More lake and mountains
| | A scenic shot
| | There was some rough weather that day
| | Hiking up beneath the gondola of Cerro Otto
| (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | The view from part-way up
| | Another vantage point
| | More views
| | The surrounding mountains
| (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | I love those jagged peaks
| | Me, almost at the top of the walk
| | Brian, Dan, Carmin, & Tanner, relaxing at the top
| | Panorama 1, from the top looking down
| (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | Panorama 2
| | Panorama 3
| | Panorama 4
| | Panorama 5
| (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | Panorama 6
| | Panorama 7
| | Completed panorama
| | Another look at the lake
| (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | And more of the mountains
| | Looking back down the gondola cable line
| | The boys and the view
| | Me and the view
| (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | What a cool group of guys
| | So cool, we needed two photos
| | Looking back at the top of Cerro Otto, from the extra walk we did
| | Carmin, triumphant
| (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | Tanner, taking the hard way up
| | Another of Tanner
| | The long walk back down
| | Me and the famous Nelly, of "Casa Nelly" notoriety
| (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | Waiting at the Bariloche bus station
| | John and Dan
| | Carmin chillin while we wait, and Dan in the back getting some journaling in
| | Train tracks behind the bus station
| (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | A lot of people were waiting for buses
| | The guys and 2 friends we made while waiting
| | Carmin, mid-story
| | Another of Carmin, still talking
| (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | Thats the top of Cerro Otto, from the other side of the hill
| | A bus shot of Carmin, John, and Brian
| | Scenery on the way to El Bolson
| | I love the way this picture turned out
| (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | More of the scenery
| | Similar shot, no trees
| | Farther along on the ride
| | Getting closer to El Bolson
|
| Our drive down to Bariloche continued to amaze us with majestic beauty equalling the incredible vistas of the past few days. Like travelling the American west, it would be amazing to one day come down here, get a car, and just road trip a summer away throughout this fantastic landscape. Tis partiular drive from San Matin to Bariloche takes one through the famous Seven Lakes Drive of Argentina. A dense patch of wondrous beauty, Seven Lakes makes up a large part of the Argentine Lake District. Locals usually come here on their summer vacation to camp and hike among the glistening lakes and think forests, hopping from lake to lake either by hitchiking or picking up any of the many small minibuses that drive this stretch, such as the one we were on. The scenery out the window was amazing at every second, and we chatted with some of the people passing through our bus from one locale to the next. As with so many other places I hear about our drive through on this trip, it just left us saying ¨man, I gotta get back down here another time soon, and next time I gotta hit that up.¨
Bariloche is probably the most popular ski area in all of Chile and Argentina. At least, that's where the major resorts and destination vacations are. And rightly so. The town sits on a massive blue lake, dotted with grassy islands, and ringed with jagged snowy peaks even in the summertime. I can only imagine what this surreal land would look like covered in a white blanket of fresh snow, but with any luck I'll see it firsthand one winter soon, as I plan to test my options and connections and see what work I might be able to pull. Regardless, the summer time does not disappoint, as the possiblities for hiking and having a casual stroll throughout the town are now opened up. And for us, it was the official gateway to our Patagonia adventure.
We arrived in Bariloche on Friday the 13th, and checked into a small hostel that had space in the backyard for some tents. Since this was the Patagonia stretch anyway, we had decided that we would be camping as much as possible to cut costs. Little did I know that the night in Pucon would be my lat night sleeping in a proper bed for some time. The hostel we chose was called Casa Nelly, and was run by the most amazing inspirational older woman named Nelly who I have ever met. She became our grandmother, our mother figure, and we all fell in love with her instantly. With only a few rooms in the house, the majority of people there are camping, yet she welcomes them all into her kitchen in the morning for some hot tea or coffee with biscuits and a story. Not to mention it was the cheapest lodging I have found anywhere. She could have charged us triple what she did, and I'd still be writing about getting a good deal there. At 79 years old, she has grandchildren scattered around the world skiing and snowboarding, while she herself will still occasionally load up the rucksack for a day hike in the amazing wilderness around Bariloche. Since we arrived pretty late we just went to a nearby local corner shop restaurant and chowed down on some fantastic empanadas. The staple of my diet in most of Argentina and Chile. And as we were there as the clock struck midnight, and Saturday marked John's 24th birthday, we broke out into a round of Happy Birthday. Hearing this, the owner immediately went the fridge, took out a bottle of champagne, popped the top and handed it to us, on the house. We immediately filled our glasses, and then started handing out cups to the rest of the people and workers there, vowing that we would have to remember to make every night out another birthday for one of us. We would end up frequenting this friendly establishment quite a bit in the upcoming days, as they were also the amazing souls who introduced us to the wonders of Salsa Golf. In Argentina they have this product, made by Hellman's and other competing companies, which is simply ketchup and mayonnaise pre-mixed in a squeeze bag or jar, termed Salsa Golf. But for some reason, having these two complimentary yet separate condimental entities integrated for your spreading ease creates a little slice of magic. We developed a bit of a cult following for Salsa Golf, and it accompanied us on every journey to every town for a long while to come. It may seem arbitrary, but I could not justifiably write about my experinces here and onward without paying some lip service to the effect of Salsa Golf on our lives. Its that profound. (pause to catch my breath). Saturday was supposed to be a big business day of planning and getting things in order for the upcoming locations, but being the weekend messed that up a bit. Still we managed to get some thigns done, and after a great salami sandwich lunch back at Nelly's (the one in the photo), we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around town and down to the lakefront. We also ran into Katie here, the canadian girl who was originally traveling with these guys for a long time, who I had met along with all of them in Salta. However, this was also the day that the cold front moved in, making it significantly colder than the average temperature for this time of year, and colder than we had expected when we planned to do an overnight hike in the surrounding hills. We would see what the weather allowed us to do in the following days. In the meantime, a few of us went out to another fabulous Argentina steak dinner for John's birthday, and then we all regrouped to close out the birthday at one of the local clubs. I had a great time, but the smoky dryness of the place may not have been the best thing for my still ongoing sickness and wwreaked havoc on my throat. I woke up the next morning sounding like a dying frog and nobody could understand me, an inliction that would stick with me for quite some time.
Sunday brought with it torrential rain, so we lingered quite a while sipping coffee in Nelly's kitchen. As the weather started clearing in the early afternoon, she recommended Cerro Otto to us. Cerro Otto is a nearby hill that has a gondola running up the side to arrive at one of those rotating restaurants on the top. She also told us that we could hike up a very steep and crumbly path beneath the gondola to save money if we wanted, which is what we chose to do. Turns out it didn't matter because the gondola was closed for repair that day and so the restaurant was shut as well. But due to shear luck, as we started our climb the weather only improved and yielded nothing but sunny panoramas of the entire area, lake, mountains, and all for the duration of our 45-minute climb and subsequent lounging up on top. We also then walked an additional 30 minutes along one ridge up there just to get a different perspective on the heavenly natural beauty that lay before us. With these cravings satisfied, we began the walk down, and opted for the road this time instead of the slippery steep path we had climbed up. Jon's knee had begun to bother him and my leg was still pretty shot, so we thought it might not be the best idea. The walk, while enjoyable, took much longer than we expected, and Carmin, John, and I even hitched a ride down the final stretch of it. After warm and hearty dinners for all we called it a night and got into bed early.
Monday brought with it wamer and clearer weather finally, but it was another departure day for us, since we had to get moving once again if we were going to fit all of the activities into our Patagonia experience that we had hoped to. So after some more coffee with Nelly, and a quick final stroll through the town during which I finally sampled some of their local homeade ice cream and chocolate (delicious, of course), we headed to the bus station in search of tickets to El Bolson. We got them, but they were not for another few hours. So we joined the other dozens of backpacker who were hanging out behind the bus terminal waiting for their respective buses. A couple of us headed back into town to pick up lunch (salami sandwiches and wine of course, WITH salsa golf), and we passed the next few hours peacefully by the train tracks, making friends with some travelling Argentines, and sitting down by the lakefront as well. |
| |
| |
