I landed in San Carlos de Bariloche after a tumultuous previous night involving Jack the Ripper, Ariel and too much Gin & tonic. This meant I never heard my alarm clock and did not make it to the Airport on time where my friend Jessica was waiting. She did not have my number so she called her sister in Brazil to get onto her facebook account to send me a message: the wonders of Facebook. Thanks to my flatmate Flavia, I managed to get on the next flight at 3.45pm, which arrived in Bariloche at 6pm. I arrived at the Hostel the Tango Inn Downtown, after a nice taxi driver gave me all the statistics there is to know about Bariloche. Jessica is waiting for me outside. I briefed her on the previous night events. Our room is at the top of the hostel with an amazing view of the lake Nahuel Huapi (see photo in top left corner). After a quick walk we head for dinner at the " Chalet Suisse" for a Fondue bourguignonne. The restaurant is still empty; it is only 8.30pm, far too early for the Argentineans. We head to bed at midnight; I am in much need of recuperation sleep. On Sunday morning, we head to breakfast where we are offered scrambled eggs and freshly made pancakes. The staff of the hostel is very nice and helpful. With Jessica we decided to go the civic center, and walking around town. The main street is full of little chocolate shops. Bariloche prides itself for its chocolates. We head to a few of them and end up buying a few boxes. Each shop offers us to try some of their choccies. Delicious. We stopped by the famous Mamuschka where we order the thickest hot chocolate. We then head up to the tour agency for our first excursion. The bus takes us to the Puerto Manuelo where we embark onto a catamaran to navigate on the enormous lake Nahuel Huapi. I wont bore you with all the stats but always good to learn a few things. The Lake has a surface of 529 km² (204 mi²), rests 2,510 feet (765 m) over the sea level, and has a maximum measured depth of 1,437 feet (438 m). We navigate for about an hour across the lake to our first stop the Bosque of Arrayanes, a beautiful small forest with amazing trees with trunks of orange colour.
The place is kind of magical, a bit like in a fairy tale. 20 mins and a few pictures later, we are back on the boat, next stop. I stay on the top deck of the boat where the views are incredible. I cannot stop to be amazed by the scenery, everywhere I look. Our second stop is the Isla Victoria, an island used mainly for forestry exploitation. We walked around the forest where the guide explained to us the various varieties of trees. I tried to listen but my mind starts wandering and goes off taking pictures. We walk for another 30 minutes before heading back to the boat. As we navigate back, the sun goes down and the colours of the sky are beautiful and it is so peaceful. We head back to the hostel, where we are told our next excursion is not available and we are offered two other ones instead. One to the Villa Traful and a small circuit around the lake.
The next morning, after a nice breakfast, we are picked up for our next excursion, which heads to Villa Traful a little village. We are 10 people in the excursion, a big group from San Juan (in the North of Argentina) and some people from Buenos Aires. Our guide is very knowledgeable about the region, the stories of the tribes, the legends. She told us that if we drink the water of the lake once we will be coming back to Traful, if we drink it twice we will come back with a different status and if we drink it three times we will come back with a different sex. This is what the legend says!!!! You believe it or not. We got through some 20km of rough roads crossing rivers and lakes to get to Traful, a stunning little town (only 500 people live there permanently). The Lake Traful along the town is beautiful and the "no tourist" but us is fantastic to enjoy the scenery. I did drink the water from the lake, it w
as so clear. After our lovely excursion, I head to the Jacuzzi, an hour of playing around with the bubbles...with the most amazing view of the lake...but all on my own... After the playful time in the Jacuzzi, Jessica and I head to a parilla (where you can sample Argentina best cooked meat). The place is called el Refuges del Montanes, a place recommended by our hostel. I order an Ojo de Bife, cooked Blue for me thanks. The cooking of the meat is perfect, red, bloody just the way I like it. The owner even pops by the table to ask us how we are doing. When he finds out I am French, he shows me the photo of a French actor that visited recently (Thierry Lhermite). The Best meat I had so far in Argentina, so nice that we came again the following night. The next morning, we head for our last excursion. The tour agency had the wrong date for our tour, so the guide comes and pick us up an hour late, then we have to wait for the other people in our group which were taken to the cable car to get the view on top of one of the mountain. We are told we dont have time to go up and down so we have to wait for another 40 mns. Not happy! Once all the people come back down we start our circuit around the lake, with a few stops, very touristic. Even though the guide is knowledgeable about the area, am glad when we are dropped back at our hostel. Our flight is at 2pm to El Calafate. When we arrived at the hostel, we are told that our flight has been cancelled and we are on the next one at 5pm (not my day!). We head for a last lunch before heading to the airport for our next stop in Patagonia. I am slightly sad to leave Bariloche, a beautiful place, but i will be back so the legend says!
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