San Carlos de Bariloche

I arrived in Patagonia on Thursday morning. I flew from Buenos Aires (BA) to San Carolos de Bariloche, which is located in the heart of the Argentine Lake District. The flight in (and out for that matter) was interesting as the plane first winds through high alpine peaks and then lands in a barren dessert. That's Patagonia for you. Dessert and Mountains. Some flowers and trees and what not, but it's truly odd terrain. I guess away from the water sources it kinda looks like New Mexico (but that's not really a fair comparison).

The strangest thing happened to me when I got to my hotel in Bariloche. I started unpacking my bags, and I found these random bottles of Miel de Abeja aka Honey something... Not mine. Nothing was missing from my bag, I just feel bad for the poor Argentine who has lost their year's supply of this. Even better, I left my shampoo/conditioner in the hotel on my way out of town. I called the hotel and asked them to send it in a cab (they must have thought I was crazy, but trust me, an Argentine cab is way cheaper than another bottle of shampoo and conditioner). So, the cab shows up at the airport as I'm leaving Bariloche, and there's a plastic bag in the passenger's seat: my shampoo, conditioner, and these two freakin' bottles of Miel de Abeja. I had to take a picture, since the bottles were following me around Patagonia.

I spent my time in Patagonia walking around the ski town area, doing a zipwire/canopy course, and going white water rafting on the Manso River (right up to the Chilean border). Email me if you want a picture of me on the zipwire.

Bariloche is the main South American ski resort, that being said, it's summer time now so it's a summer destination too. I heard more Hebrew than Spanish in the town. The place was overrun with Israeli backpackers. I had intended to rent a car and drive the Circuito Chico (small circuit), but there were no cars to be had. I improvised, driving the majority of it along the way to the zipwire. I took a video from one of the panoramic views, but I'll have to post it separately. Here's a great shot from a lookout point along the Circuito Chico. It's looking out at Lake Nahuei Huapi:

I was in Bariloche for New Years Eve. I had no plans to do anything, but at about 1030pm, I checked my email and saw a message from a traveller I had met in Iguazu Falls. He was in Bariloche for New Years Eve and was asking where I would be. I felt terrible, because I had seen the email previously, but didn't open it. I quickly responded and decided to head for walk outside to see what was going on in town. As I'm walking out of the hotel lobby, I heard his voice...he and his family were in the same hotel. In a rather uneventful New Years Eve, we walked to the main drag of town to find out nothing was going on, had a beer, watched the full moon rise over the lake, and called it a night.

I woke up early New Years Day to head to the Manso river. It was about a two hour drive away, mostly on unpaved roads. We got the spot, they served us cafe con leche, which I now realize was to warm us up for what was ahead. We had to wear wetsuits, along with wetsuit jackets and boots. They were quite the lifesavers. The water was freezing. The rapids were great. Class III and IV. And the instructor was hilarious, he had a great sense of humor (even in English). There were some tourists from DC and El Salvador on my raft and we all had a great time. Toward the end, as we were approaching the Chilean border, our guide invited us to jump out for a swim. I decided that it couldn't be that cold. So I jumped in. It was shockingly cold at first, but the wetsuit really did the trick and I was fine. The river we went down reminded me of some path leading to a lost city. There were high mountain walls, jungles, and mountains in the distance. Some of the mountains looked very windswept and the forests were mostly old growth, which made them look like jungles. I was hoping we'd find El Doraldo at the end of our ride.