Bariloche and surrounding National Park

oh... Bariloche
It was almost my dream really is how beautiful this town is. Set by the lake with water so clear you can see to the bottom of it about 20 meters down, this is a little bit of an exaggeration but still it was pretty cool. The first day I got there I was determined to try the Argentine special which was anything Carne (Meat) related. I went to a restaurant which was the cheapest and most amazing in town it was amazing how good the steak was. Juicy as much as you can imagine with a perfect sauce on top. To top this all of the beer was alright but very very cheap. I think the entire meal cost around ARP$35. This is such a bargain. On this night there was another guy eating alone at the bar bench. He was from the States his name is Jason, we hit it off talking about stuff and before you knew it the night was coming to an end at around mid-night this is the Argentinean way. Anyway before the end more American girls one of which was the cutiest thing i'd ever seen came up to us and started talking to us so what became of it was both of us got their telephone numbers... Ok to those of you who know me this doesn't happen to me very often when girls actually give me their number, usually it is me that asks and they usually never reply to me afterward. But I had a good feeling about this one.. :-p jason and I had plans to explore the town the morning after.

After such a cool night the night before I woke up at around 9am and started my day by waiting for Jason to arrive so we could go hiking.. At midday after waiting nearly 4 hours I gave up and went downtown to find food after which I bumped into him in the small town. He actually was trying to find where I was staying but he ended up finding the wrong place Bariloche Hotel instead of Bariloche Hostel. Anyways to cut things short we basically went around the town, got all the information we needed and did some price comparisons around town of rental car agencies for a rental car for a day. We ended up sorting everything and got the car that night after dinner. We set off the next day at 5am with Maté in hand and a Chevy Corsa started our journey around the National Park around Bariloche.

This place seriously was something else on earth. There was a different landscape every corner you turn from lush rain-forest type surroundings to desert to lakes and then finally to forests again. It just amazing the different landscapes contained in this little area.. By small area I mean around 400kms. This is the distance we covered in a day. It was probably the most beautiful I'd seen so far. Upon returning the car to the rental agency I have to say I have never seen someone check the car so throughly as this guy.. Everything from oil to the under carriage to the spare tire. It was insane how hard he was looking for a fault. Oh well then again I guess it was Argentina. Something you learn I guess.. I vowed that next time I rent a car I will be taking photos of the entire car from every angle and marking everything thats wrong with it on the rental agreement to avoid arguments later. Pretty cool really and successful,, The entire rental I think cost around ARP$300 for the entire day which is so cheap that price was including petrol which only amounted to about ARP$50.. Oh how I wish that's the price of petrol at home again...

For dinner we had Wild Boar to celebrate which was pretty cool.. The next day I went on a 24 hour bus ride to Buenos Aires the Federal Capital of Argentina and home of a person called Evita which I hadn't ever heard of before.

Castro to Bariloche

ok so castro to bariloche.. Well theres a story that isn't that pretty on this trip of a life time. Reflecting upon the experience I think it was sort of funny but still it was pretty scary at the time. Ok so basically it was the scariest night of my entire life. Mom and Dad if you're reading this it has happened already so your son is still alive and well in Lima, Peru.. Anyways continuing with the story. Why I had this experience was because I was being cheap and wasn't thinking. I was trying to avoid the ATM charge but ended up spending alot more with not much reward. Well I went from Chiloe to Puerto Montt hoping to catch the bus to Bariloche the same day with the connect being around 2 hours apart. Sure the bus had to get there just as the bus was leaving. So I couldn't go get money or pay by credit card such is south america.

Anyways I was being cheap so decided to stay a night in Puerto Montt in which lonely planet recommended not to as it wasn't the best town in the world basically it is just a port city with nothing more than that. The hostel I stayed at was recommended by the bus station attendent in which he said it was cheap and nice. It cost CHP$5000 a night which did not include breakfast. That wasn't so much the problem.

The problem was the room itself. It was the exact size of a jail cell with a jail cell sized window looking toward the wall of the opposite building. In addition to this there was blood stains on the door and on the toilet which wasn't very pleasent. Apart from that the own of this particular hostel demanded the keys to my room at 10pm and proceeded to prevent me from locking the door or leave the house at will. Then he told me to turn off the lights to my room at the same time which was really crazy but you know. I was really worried at that point so ignored his yelling and screaming.. I left at around 5am for the bus station which even though it wasn't the best looking place ever it was relatively so much better than the hostel. anyways that ends that story about the nights stay.

The bus ride across the andes for the first time was so amazing. It was raining so couldn't see so much on the Chilian side of the boarder but on the Argentinan side the bus driver decided to allow me to sit in the jump seat at the front of the bus to admire the view of the surroundings. It was amazing such bright colors and landscapes like you wouldn't believe. As you approach the city of Bariloche you come into view of the lake with a swiss resort like town on the opposite side. You drive though the National Park before reaching the town. I think the only way that I maybe able to describe the scenery is with that of the scenery of Milford Sound.

It was that beautiful..

So next Bariloche.. I'm trying to catch up with my blog so this is all in review.. Sorry peoples I've been a little busy and also without internet for a very long time.