Bariloche

Hola chicos,

After the excitement of my birthday two weeks ago I took some time off work so we could head to San Carlos Bariloche to catch the end of the snow. Bariloche is in the Rio Negro Province of Patagonia at the foothills of the Andes. It's possible to catch a bus to Bariloche from BA but we weren't so keen on the 20ish hour bus ride so we took the easy option with a 2 hour flight. Taking off from the city early in the morning we were lucky enough to get some great views of BA. It's hard to grasp how huge the city actually is until you see it from above!

Descending though the clouds above Bariloche we had the most amazing view of the Andes, with rainbows everywhere it was quite the sight. A quick racecar taxi drive later and we were in the city centre. You would be hard pressed to find a shop along the calle principale that sells anything other than chocolate or ski/outdoor gear. Perfect! As we're nearing the end of winter all of the ski shops were offering 10-50% off the already cheap prices (particularly if you happen to be shopping with 'blue' pesos which are fetching about 9 pesos to the USD as opposed to the 'official' rate of 5.5). So we picked up a ski jacket for me, some new goggles for Osc and some thermals. We would have bought more if we weren't restricting ourselves to hand luggage on the flight home (I would explain why but its a bit sneaky so I'll skip that detail for now).

Bariloche

Michelle you didn't tell us you had a chocolate shop in Bariloche?

Typical Osc

Check the ghost!

Oh I forgot to mention that it rains in Bariloche - all the time and a lot! So, completely soaked though by now, we jumped on the 45-minute roller coaster bus ride up the mountain to Village Catedral. We had booked accommodation up at the ski resort, which was probably a good decision as the city of Bariloche itself wasn't too exciting and we were completely snow-hungry. We squelched off the bus and checked into our beautiful accommodation at "Lofts del Catedral". A nice self-contained room just a short walk from the centre of the village and with incredible views of the slopes! Perfect!

After a quick costume change and a nap we decided to head out for dinner. It was then we realised that Village Catedral becomes a ghost town after most of the skiers head back down to Bariloche for the night after the lifts close at 5. So even though there are plenty of restaurants in the Village and we were out for dinner at an acceptable Argentine time to eat (830ish) there was only one restaurant open, so it was an easy choice. What a great choice it was though!! Best steak I've EVER eaten (en serio!) and probably the best papas fritas too! I was expecting sprite when I ordered limonada but it was homemade lemonade - yeahhh buddy! So a great dining experience even if there were a total of 6 people (us inclusive) in the restaurant the whole time we were there!

Best steak - EVER!

Next morning we were off to hire skis (a snowboard for Osc, por supuesto), grab our lift tickets and find some lessons for me so Osc could drop me off and go explore the mountain. So it turns out as there was only decent snow on the upper part of the mountin and all the green pistes are on the lower half of the mountain, it wasn't going to be the best situation for a newbie like me. Oh and also, they only have lessons for complete beginners and only in Spanish, unless you are willing to get private lessons which I wasn't so keen on. So at midday I was off on my own to my beginner lesson, on a bunny run with more water, mud and ice than snow and with an instructor (and class mates) who couldn't speak a word of English. Oh, and apparently my name is now 'Helga'. Fun, fun! I quickly regretted that choice as my ski-confidence was clearly a lot lower than my actual ability. On the plus side, it was an opportunity to practice my spanish and for the first (and probably last) time I was by far the best skier around...sigh.

Cerro Catedral

Cerro Catedral

Osc came back with a big grin on his already sunburnt face - an immediate reward for me enduring two hours of 'snow-ploughing'. Even though the weather was pretty average and it was raining on most of the mountain (so the snow was not amazing) he said it was the best snowboarding he's ever had! Now with a little more excitement we headed up a lift in a completely different direction and only then started to realise how big the ski fields are on Cerro Catedral! As far as the eye could see there were lifts going in all different directions. Being chair lifted over each peak the pistes seemed never ending - it would take weeks to explore the whole place! And that's with only the top half open - loco loco! All in addition to the endless off-piste terrain. Also, maybe it was because it was a weekday or maybe because it was rainy, the place was practically empty - no queues for the lifts. I think at one point we were the only two people on an entire lift. A bit more snow and this would be skiers heaven. After a quick ski down some little easy runs we headed back down for an early dinner. Patagonian trout for me and lamb for Osc - so good! And submarios (hot milk with a block of chocolate to be melted into it) for both of us. Best steak of my life last night and best fish tonight. And then back to our apartment for the best chocolate!

Trout

Patagonian lamb

The next day we woke up to a beautiful morning, clear skies and no wind. So up early to hit the snow (and hit it I sure did!). We took a completely different lift today in the hopes of finding some easy runs for me to practice on. We ended up at an area with a nice restaurant, incredible views, some great tunes and a small bunny run for me. Being the first ones up there for the day we decided to go up a little further and find some runs that I could handle. Alas, nothing too friendly and we were left facing a run called 'Dientes de Caballo' (horse teeth) to get back down to the restaurant area. I had a look at it and it was way too steep for me and while there was nice fresh powder on the edges, the rest of the run was freshly groomed, hard and icy. Osc convinced me that I should give it a shot though and after much deliberation I reluctantly agreed. The first part was perfect, Osc said he was so proud of my nice big turns - my confidence was up. The run quickly turned steep and with no grip in the snow I couldn't turn so found myself hurtling straight down the run - very fast and completely out of control. With no Osc to be seen (he was trying as hard as he could to keep up with me!) I had to bail - losing my poles somewhere and getting tangled up with my skis I went sliding down the mountain for what seemed like eternity. Narrowly missing smashing hard into one of the ski lift columns I finally rolled to a stop. Waiting for Osc to catch up I did a quick check - nothing hurt, so I managed to get up and carry my skis down the rest of the run. Sitting outside the restaurant trying to catch my breath I started to notice the aches and pains - apparently I twisted my ankle and it started to swell, as well as my wrist (my only remaining 'good one') and lots of sore spots. Not the best first run of the day.

I managed to convince Osc to leave me at the restaurant with my bunny run and my new found Colombian 'friend', so he could go off snowboarding and I could sit around in pain taking countless photos of my friend with 'the mountain' and 'the view' and even one of me so he 'would never forget me'. Lucky me! Osc said the runs here were even better than the ones he did yesterday, with alot of variety and some fresh powder - at least he got to really enjoy the slopes! It was also very sunny and warm up on the mountain - at one stage we were both down to t-shirts and ski pants!

Me and my new friend

At the restaurant

Osc and snowboard

Leaving me to go explore

Riding my poma

Back on my skis a bit shakier this time

View from the restaurant

My newest friend 'Katia'

Taking advantage of the beautiful weather we decided to ditch the skis for a bit and head up to the very top peak of the mountain - Refugio Frey. Cerro Catedral is famous for its views and wow, what incredible views from the top! Never seen anything like it! Unfortunately photos don't even begin to capture it but trust me, it's incredible!

Heading up to the top of the mountain

At the peak

On top of the world

On top of the world

Refugio Frey

Lucky we took advantage of the first couple of days as the next two days the weather was terrible and the lifts were closed. We caught the joyride bus back to Bariloche and hired a car to drive some of the amazing scenic routes nearby. Even though it rained (hard!) the whole time, the driving is completely back-to-front on the wrong side of the road and he hadn't driven in over 3 months - Osc did a great job of keeping us alive! We started with Circuito Chico, a circle route nearby Bariloche. Some incredible views, plenty of waterfalls and some pretty 'beaches'! My favourite part was a small village called 'Colonia Suiza'. We took a dirt road that was completely flooded and covered in potholes for about 3km off the main road to get there. We had some interesting river crossings in our little Peugeot! Even though the village was completely flooded and still bucketing down with rain it was incredibly beautiful. Nestled in between the mountains with some beautiful architecture, we sat down for fondue and smoked cuts (Osc ate tongue - gross!!) for lunch by the fire and went for a walk to check out the local artisanal markets. When it was time to leave we decided to try a shortcut back to the main road. Driving along a very narrow, rough dirt road with a giant vertical cliff drop into a lake on one side and a vertical, very unstable looking rockface on the other, in very heavy rain, we soon realised it wasn't the best idea. So back to the rough 3km road with a belly full of fondue - not the best combo.

Concentrating hard

Oscar and Shmoscar

Our little coche

The 'beach'

This must be where all the fairies live

Wet!

Colonia Suiza

Ahumado de tabla

Fondue

The Colonia Suiza Police Station

See mom, I did go to church on Sunday!

We got back to Bariloche about 3pm and decided we had just enough time to fit in the other driving route that we wanted to do - into the neighbouring province of Neuquén to a small town called Villa la Angostura. A 65km drive took us through the Nahuel Huapi National Park with some completely different - but equally as beautiful - scenery. Long windy roads with wide open flats preceding snowcapped mountains on one side and the Nahuel Huapi lake formed from an old glacial valley on the other.  By the time we reached Vila la Angostura we did't have much light left so unfortunately only had time for a coffee/cake/pee stop and a quick look around the town before we had to head back. Wish we had more time and some nicer weather here to do some camping, biking or hiking around the national park..maybe next time! Unfortunately, back to Bariloche and just enough time to stock up on more chocolate before just making the last bus to head back up to Village Catedral.

Found him!

The weather decided to turn even more violent and the wind howled and the rain poured all the night and all the next day. Obviously no ski lifts were open so we spent our last day in Village Catedral relaxing, hiding from the rain, and working on our quest to try out as many of the chocolate shops as possible. By now, after raining very hard and non-stop for two days, the village was pretty much flooded. We started to get a bit worried when the water in the taps started coming out a little cloudy, turned into quite muddy and eventually completely stopped - no water at all in the plumbing but completely flooded outside! Lucky we were leaving the next morning!

The plan was to wake up early the next morning to pack and leave, but when we awoke it was snowing! Yay! Finally the rain had ended and the village was getting covered in some heavy snow. So of course, I immediately chucked on a jacket over my PJs and ran out to frolic in the snow..what a great ending to an amazing trip!

Frolicking in the snow

More frolicking

Snow!

Nieve!

Back on the bus down to Bariloche - this time it was a bit slower - we assumed it was due to the slippery roads but we quickly realised that no, it was because the bus driver was looking down at his phone texting the entire time. Nice. Quick stock up on some more chocolate (in case you're wondering, the verdict was that the best Chocolate en Rama was a tie between Mamuschka and Del Turista), taxi ride back to the airport and 2 hour flight and we were back home in BA.  Leaving the plane in our big ski jackets and beanies we had a nice 'welcome home' to 35 degree heat! In winter!! Cray cray!

Plane faces

Anyway, all in all we had a great adventure in Bariloche and it was a nice way to mark our 3 month anniversary with Argentina! Now back to normal with work, study, learning spanish and planning our next trip!

Hasta luego,
H