Bariloche, Argentina
Trip Start
Jun 08, 2007
1
10
26
Trip End
Sep 03, 2007
Bariloche,
Argentina
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Bariloche is in a quite spectacular part of Argentina. It is a small town surrounded by lakes and mountains. It is popular in Summer for the trekking and boating, and then in Winter for skiing & snowboarding.
View from 1004
We checked into Hostel 1004, which is in Suite 1004 on the 10th floor (hence the name) of rather the bland grey concrete building. The view from the hostel, however, was anything but bland (check out the photos), and inside there was a VERY chilled common area (ambient music, couches, no TV).
Hard progress biking up
On one of the days we hired bikes to go around the "Circuito Chicho" (short circuit). The ride was quite picturesque, taking us past views of the surrounding lakes, mountains and the famous 5 star Hotel Llao Llao.
Along Circuito Chico1
That night we arrived back into town to watch the Copa America final of Argentina vs. Brazil in an "Irish" pub. Brazil ended up winning easily by 3 - 0, and to our surprise the pub was chocka-block full of (ecstatic) Brazilians. Later we found out Bariloche is very popular with Brazilians for taking a winter vacation (their currency has strengthened recently, and they don't have any snow themselves.) In fact our waiter that night joked that they refer to the town as "Braziloche".
Fraser on the natural half-pipe
The next day we hit the slopes at Catedral ski field. As it had been quite a while since either of us had snowboarded, it took a while to get back into the swing of things.
Andrea riding down
The runs were generally good, and we found the snow to be in good condition (no ice, and a bit of powder on parts). Later that night, bruised and battered we had a fondue dinner at La Alpina. Yes, fodnue dinner, it's a bit of a local speciality ...
Next stop, San Martin de los Andes!
