La Surena Hosteria San Carlos de Bariloche

... which somehow turned into 40 by the time we got there..rrrrip! but he did find us a cute place to stay that we felt safe at that had a cute courtyard so what more can you ask...
2. Vina Del Mar was our next stop and a favourite!! after lugging our backpacks up and down the streets trying to find the darnplace we stubble upon the friendliest people that work there. We met a sweet couple from the UK and a funny mother from Scotland played cards and the hostal folks ...

... is now in the process of being paved and within 5 years there will be no more dirt sections south of Bariloche, which will bring more prosperity to some local communties for sure, but on the other hand will remove this sence of adventure we all had driving on the mytical 40. It was also back into "civilisation" in the mountain resort of Esquel. The town is located in a quite beautiful setting surrounded by mountains, forests and lakes. It was for us ...

... of the surrounding hills, lakes and Bariloche in the valley below. After a satisfying day we headed back down the hill for our last night in our tent and our second last night in Bariloche before heading over the border to Chile. We had decided that since our bus over the border was at 9am, it would be better to spend our last night in a hostel in town, where we were guaranteed to find a cab to the bus terminal. Having spent 6 cold, damp nights in our tent we weren ...

... that on gravel roads. I decided that the legs really did deserve a rest and my resolve to get that bus north was greatly strengthened. The final day´s ride (83km) to Temuco to was easy, the road was smooth and yet again there was tailwind blowing me north. I met up with a cyclist from the Falkland Islands ( called Roddy) who spoke both english and spanish perfectly. At our 2nd rest stop, we met a 3rd ...

... We enountered 50 mph winds when we sat down for lunch about 2/3 of the way in. Then we got soaked. It was a good time though. I'm in Argentina! Got back to Pudu, met up with BsAs people at another hostel. I went back for a green curry chicken dinner at the hostel it was amazing. Today I am taking it easy and keeping it cheap, going ot stroll town have some chocolate. Tomorrow maybe whitewater rafting???

... it was still incredible, at first it reminded us of the Lake District, then the further south we headed the higher the snow clad mountain peaks became again as we winded round and round across deep blue and emerald lakes with not a house in sight, very remote. Still it was nowhere near as green as Chile, even though we weren't really that far from the border and more reminiscent of the brown arid rocky Peruvian landscape; it was a spectacular ...

... br>
After that we walked down to the lake which was absolutely stunning, before walking back through town to our hostel.





Tonight Katie has her eye on a nice restaurant called 'La Marmite' (can you think of any foods she might be missing from the UK?!) where their stable dish is cheese fondue! Yet ...

Samantha - We crossed over from the east side of Argentina to the west (close to the border of Chile) by night bus and woke up to a completely different landscape. It is know as the 'Lake District' and a really beautiful part of the Andes. There are snow capped mountains and obviously lots of lakes. It has a slight Swiss feel with the wooden houses and cleanliness but overall, a completely unique setting. On ...

... and 1 of them looked pretty dope for being an outdoor chick. I walk down there and meet her and she turns out to be an American. She is only 19 and from Maryland and I was right, she is pretty dope even though she has on winter clothing and a hat and all you can really see is her face. It is starting to get pretty cold up here. I talk to for about an hour and I find out her and a group of like 12 others are up here in these mountains ...

... Haha... thank you... well... is a long story... I learned Spanish from soap-operas (telenovelas) and I had the chance to practice it a lot with friends from all over Latin America that I have in Brazil... - From SOAP-OPERAAAAAS???!!! (puzzled looks and friendly smiles looking at me...) - Welll... yes.. you see: Romanian is a latin language, so, even if its pronuntiation has quite a lot of slavic influence, almost the entire grammatical ...