Bariloche

We spent our last day in Calafate chilling out in the hostel because Jemma couldn’t do much with her knee. We had a choice between taking a bus at 4pm or taking one at 3am to Bariloche. We opted for the 3am one because we wanted another all you can eat BBQ from the hostel. It was without a doubt my best meal so far – lots of fresh veg, meat and a bottle of red wine included. We stayed awake until 3am and then took a bus to Rio Gallegos where we had to change buses and take one to Rivadavia. Once in Rivadavia we had a 3hour wait so we went and found a pizza restaurant and sat trying to make the pizzas last for 3 hours. An Argentinian guy on the table next to us who was sat on his own, noticed us doing this and asked if he could join us. It was great because we had all of our questions about Argentinian politics and culture answered (they have an election on Sunday, and the woman who is touted to win is a wannabe Evita. Her name is Cristina and there are posters of here everywhere. She recently went to Paris on a shopping trip where she spent £500,000 on shoes...). If I were Argentinan, I would definitely vote for her.

Fuerza Argentina!

We then went back to the bus station to get our next bus (it was 10.45 pm by now) but the bus was delayed for an hour. We finally arrived in Bariloche after a 36! hour bus journey fraught with screaming and vomiting babies (the baby on the seat next to us was actually sick and we had to lend the mother wet wipes).

We have now been in Bariloche 3 days and I am quite annoyed as I type this as my camera has started to be really weird and it has wiped all of my amazing photos of the lakes :( so gutted!

On day one we arrived at the hostel starving after our 36 hour bus journey and went straight to the supermarket to get food. Bariloche is Argentina's version of Switzerland and it is absolutely stunning. However, about 2 days before we arrived, a nearby volcano erupted and now the whole area is covered in ash. On the first day this was really noticeable, with people wandering round wearing face masks and goggles and ash covering all of the streets and buildings. It kept whipping up in the wind and going into our eyes. At this point I just wanted to stay one night and then leave. However, the next day the wind changed and blew all of the ash to Buenos Aires so Bariloche has been completely fine for the past 2 days.

We are staying in a lovely little family hostel who's owner, Pablo, has a 5 month baby daughter and she is the cutest thing ever!

 We have also met some fantastic people here including a couple (one ozzie, 1 brit called Tammy and Paul) who we ate dinner with the first night and who also remember seeing us in Calfate but we dont remember them. Also there is a couple from NZ who are doing the exact same route as us and so we will no doubt meet them again, as well as a lovely Swiss couple who are also criss crossing our route.

On our second day we had a long lie in to get over the bus journey and then caught a local bus to the top of the mountains in order to do a bike ride. When we got there, the guy told us we needed at least 5 hours to do it and we didn’t have 5 hours so he recommended we hike up the neighbouring mountain instead. We hiked up the mountain (it was very steep) and when we got to the top, the panoramic views of the lakes and mountains of Bariloche were outstanding. Probably the best views I have seen on this trip. I took so many photos and am really gutted they have all gone!

When we finished the hike, we got a bus back to the main town and visited all of the chocolate shops (Bariloche, like Switzerland is famous for its chocolate). Then we went back to the hostel and had an amazing meal with all of our new friends which was cooked for us by Pablo. Everybody had a half kilo steak each (there were 16 people round the table!). We also each drank a litre of red wine. It was brilliant. It was a multilingual table, with people from Australia, New Zealand, UK, Switzerland, South Africa, France.... and after a few glasses of wine I was chatting away, switching between 4 different languages. It was my heaven. We laughed so much, with Janet also making a brief appearance. Once we were all steaked out, we all headed off to the local pub where Janet encouraged the local Argentinians to make the Ozzies dance on the tables. It was an absolutely brilliant night and it reminded me of Auberge Espanol. 

The next day, our heads were a bit sore, but we still wanted to get up reasonably early to do the bike ride. We hired bikes at the top of the mountains and did a 20k cycle around all of the lakes and mountains – it was absolutely stunning. We also cycled through a 'Swiss village' which was very bizarre. It is a little Swiss village in the middle of the mountains and forests, with restaurants selling Strudel and suchlike. 

Now we are just going to relax in the hostel after a long and energetic day. My legs are aching and I am looking forward to a nice tea that we are going to throw together using people's left over pasta in the hostel. Tomorrow we are going to catch a 20 hour bus to Mendoza – the wine region.

More photos here: Bariloche