Chocolate heaven

Trip Start Jun 05, 2007
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Trip End Jun 2009


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Monday, October 15, 2007

After several weeks of agonising over how we would make the journey around Argentina, we had finally decided to take Ruta 40 from the south to the north - firstly to avoid doubling back on ourselves and secondly, it was the route taken by Che and shown in the Motorcycle Diaries - the vistas are meant to be sublime and somewhat magical, the road however, is meant to be mainly unpaved so would be quite a bumpy ride. We had been worried though, as the bus companies only run in the summer and being one week into spring noone seemed to have any information before we got to El Calafate. We were hugely disappointed and quite frankly, gutted, to find that the buses were not yet running and wouldn`t be until mid-november. We had no choice other than to retrace some of our steps and take a 32 hour journey back through god-awful Rio Gallegos (I`m sure it isn`t really that bad, but when you only see a bus station at unreasonable times of the day, you are not left with a great impression!). We could have flown but finances would not stretch to the 100 pound price tag Chair lift for views over the lakes
Chair lift for views over the lakes
 ! The journey was quite uneventful, albeit long, with the highlight being an all-you-can-eat buffet and the realisation that england had beaten france again in the semi-final, get in!!
We finally arrived in Bariloche at 10ish in the morning and proceeded to dump our bags in the dorm room of a bright red building that was our hostel. We headed out to explore and found numerous chocolate shops in this Austrian ski resort-style town. Passing a travel agent we saw a trip across the Andes via boat and bus to Puerto Varas in Chile, a route we needed to take but sounded better than simply a bus over the boarder. After being disappointed by Ruta 40 we decided to treat ourselves to this `cash-cow`of an amazing journey!! The following day we get up early to catch a bus to Cerro Campanario for Rachel`s first trip in a chairlift and some stunning views of the surrounding lakes. We had been woken this morning to strong winds and up this mountain it felt like we were in a hurricaine without the rain. We spent a long time taking panoramic pictures, as the views were amazing, and arguing over who`s pictures were the best!! (mine of course!). By the afternoon the weather had worsened and the winds were accompanied by rain. We were worried that our trip tomorrow would be ruined. We spent the afternoon in a cafe and were treated to a `submarino` - a glass of hot milk with a large, solid chocolate bar on the side to dip in and melt, truly a heavenly moment!!
All through the night we were woken with the wind and rain howling around the building. With fingers crossed, we tried in vain to get some sleep.
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