Tres Reyes San Carlos de Bariloche

... people, good wine, and tasty food. We have had an awesome five weeks in which we have seen some completely different parts of the country - from sophisticated Buenos Aires to wet Iguazu, dry and remote Quebrada de Humahuaca to historic student town Cordoba, wine capital Mendoza to scenic Bariloche. We hope you have enjoyed following our travels online. Photos to follow soon...

... A month from now, the Southern Hemisphere´s largest ski resort opens and the city booms again. Now, it seems like a mere ghost town. I did get to see the city's Patagonia museum as rain keeps us travelers indoors. I did break my personal vow to never watch a Jennifer Lopez movie, as our hostel played Maid in Manhattan on Thursday. To say this is depressing is an understatement. The few hours of sunshine since Santiago consists of me running outside to snap pictures ...

... shops and alpine inspired buildings. We have travelled all this way and it feels like we could still be in Europe - very weird! That is the end of our visit to Patagonia and our next stop is to the wine region of Mendoza! Patagonia has been a wonderful experience - huge unspoilt landscapes, often very barren but dotted with the most incredible natural landmarks - well worth the visit and a place that we will return to one day.

... comme "El Arroyo Lopez". Selon la légende que m'ont racontée 2 Argentines, si on boit 3 gorgées d'eau dans ce ruisseau, on est sûr de revenir à Bariloche. Moi, par contre, comme j'étais sûr de ne pas vouloir attraper la tourista, j'ai préféré ne pas m'y risquer et cela ne m'empêchera pas de retourner à Bariloche. Je traverse la réserve naturelle du Llao Llao et passe devant l'hôtel du même nom qui est un palace 5 étoiles avec club de golf où descendent hommes ...

... most beautiful of settings and a nice place to chill for a few days. Unfortunately though the price again for a room was not looking good and even though the hostels with their homely wooden chalet style feel and open fires looked fantastic, they were 3 times what we had paid in Chile, it was mortifying, crackers for dinner it is! Traipsing round with our back packs hostel after hostel with no joy of finding something we could afford, we ended up ...

... crossed that they had a double room available.

The hostel looked wicked and fortunately they had a room for tonight, even if they can't guarantee that they have any available tomorrow night, so we might need to move.



After unpacking & getting sorted we walked to the tourist info place, grabbed some ...

... we hit the most enormous pot hole you've ever seen. It must have been about 1ft deep. Anyway we all pretty much thought that that was it, the car was bound to be broken. However after a quick inspection all seemed to be normal except for a slightly squeaky wheel when we used the breaks! Other that that the journey home was uneventful but spectacular. By the time we made it back to Bariloche again we were ...

... I would take would be the number of months I had been traveling for. If it was like early on I would probably actually just buy everything and continue on my way, but if it was past the half way point I would probably give up and kick it back home. We decide to go hang out with some other people and hop inside the refugio for a minute to warm up. It is now dark out and pretty ****ing cold. We are joking with the Brazilian couple inside the ...

... in the afternoon, anytime although 6-8 seems popular and then we have been eating at about 1130. Quite a change for someone for whom staying up until 11 was staying up late!! Sometimes my appetite has already left me and I no longer want to eat anything. We went away for the New Year, spending a few days camping in the Chubut valley about half an hour away from El Maiten. It was spectacular. The valley is like a desert but along the river it is really green with willows that don't ...

... variety of tiny cars and pickups. One of the most enlightening of hitches came in the form of a small, beaten up, red van directed by a kindly gent and his son. From the back in amongst skis and other gear I learnt that he was a self styled Supertramp who had been going where the wind does for the past years only stopping briefly to gain a son/ traveling companion by an agreeable lady ...