Beautiful Bariloche

Marty and I embarked on the 7 hour bus journey to Bariloche and immediately passed out, only awakening to cover the border crossing formalities back into Argentina. The Chilean border was very unusual in that the officials were incredibly cheerful and were singing along to "because i got high" on the radio whilst joking about how i fell out of a bed and broke my finger! We got to Bariloche and got a cab to a hostel Marty had heard great things about. The cab driver there was very chatty and made constant jokes about Chile once we told him we had just come from there- clearly the rivalry works both ways! The hostel was on the 10th floor and had amazing views of the lake below (its the biggest in the lake district and belongs to both Argentina and Chile) but sadly had no beds for us. They were lovely people though and said they could hold our bags whilst we looked around town for other accommodation and that we could join them for a beer and the view later on! We trekked around 6 or 7 places trying to find a double room before finally getting lucky at a little place called Arko which had a fabulous hotel quality room for little more than the price of a dorm bed each- we were most pleased! It was a really nice day which we had heard was rare in the lakes at this time of year, so when the hostel owner told us about a lovely viewpoint a short bus ride away, we jumped to the opportunity to see it in the sunshine. The bus ride took about 45 minutes and we arrived after the chairlifts to the viewpoint had closed and so faced a 45 minute scramble up a really steep hill underneath them. We later found out that there was a path that wound around the hillside but i think i prefer short term hill scrambles to long winding hill climbs!

The view from the top was indeed spectacular (we googled it and found it is in National Geographics "top ten views on earth"!!) All we could see for miles were rugged snow capped mountains and sparkling blue lakes and best of all,we had it all to ourselves which was indeed very romantic! (clearly it gets v busy when nthe chairlifts run as there were "keep moving on" signs at all the best viewpoints and i saw loads of coaches there the following day) We spent quite a while up there enjoying the views and each others company before trekking back down and heading for a well deserved dinner! After a beer or two at the original hostel, we returned to our lovely hotel and enjoyed a nice bed after 4 nights in the Navimag!

Following a fantastic lie in (not available on the Navimag due to early breakfast times and loud crew announcements!) we decided to hire a car and check out the famous 7 lakes circuit, a 400km drive that takes you past the best lakes in the area and gives a fantastic overview of what the Bariloche district has to offer. We managed to negotiate the smallest possible one and got a tiny little white fiat which we named Frank. Marty was happy to do the driving and i the navigating as we set off on our journey in bright skies which we were warned were due to turn black later that day! Its hard to describe how lovely the circuit is- most of it is on unpaved road in the middle of nowhere and every 10 minutes or so you come accross another stunning lake to have all to yourselves and enjoy. It felt so wild and remote which really added to the atmosphere and luckily for us, the weather more or less held out and there was always a ray of sunshine willing to shine on the lakes, making them sparkle appealingly for our photos. We visited 2 towns on the way (Villa Angostoura and San martin de los Andes) both of which are ski resorts in winter which gives an idea how high the surrounding mountains were. Both were charming and chocolate box like and it was nice to have a little break from driving to enjoy them. We returned through the 7 lakes loop which took us through some amazing scenery strewn with towering rock formations which were silouted perfectly in the slowly darkening sky- it was a truly magical and amazing day!

We got back at 10pm, exhasuted so didn't do much except retire to our cosy room to chat and make sure we got enough sleep to get up early and maximise the use of the car before giving it back at 12pm. (we didn',t but then i never do! so much to talk about!!)

It rained heavily all night and was still fairly blustery when we left the hostel at 9am to do some more exploring. We decided to do the chico (small) circuit as we had already done the large and the 7 lakes one the day before and we wanted to see as much as we possibly could. The circuit took us through more lakes and skiing areas and it was pretty cool to get out of the car during a snow flurry and admire yet another amazing view of lakes and mountains we hadn't seen before. We then took the car up "cerro otto" which most people do in the cable car so, once again we got a snow and windswept view to ourselves whilst also being able to see the ski field which was sadly not open as kit was out of season. Cerro Otto afforded an amazing view of Bariloche below us and made us realise just how big the lake she lies on is!

We returned the car and used our last few hours to have a look around the town. Bariloche is famous for its chocolate so I felt it only fair to try out several different types in the many shops before wearing off the calories with a walk by the lake. The legendary wind (B is at the top of Patagonia) had gotten up to full force by then and peoples hats were flying everywhere as unexpected gusts hit them. The lake was whipped into a frenzy with waves crashing over the edge and hitting the cars parked there who obviously wanted a car wash from nature!

We were sad to leave the great beauty and serenity of Bariloche but excited about our next destination, Mendoza, a wine region, a night bus drive away.