Travel Blog

Well the two day journey to Bariloche wasn’t nearly as bad as we expected. Particularly as we slept for the first 2 of our 4 buses thanks to staying up all night nursing a few bottles of dodgy red wine with the Americans. The reason this entry has been late coming was because we didn’t actually do much in Bariloche. 3 months of doing “stuff” has taken its toll and we were ready to just laze about for a few days. And what better place to do it than the lake district of Argentina? The hostel we stayed in was a highly sociable place. So between the people we met there and the people we already knew from previous locations we had a great group of mates going on in Bariloche. As such many of our nights were spent in the hostel bar and the obligatory Irish bar, Wilkenny. Our first night there we met a couple of guys – one Dutch one Israeli – who were looking to rent a car the following day and take a tour of the 7 lakes. We decided to join them despite our promise to ourselves to relax in Bariloche. Renting a car with 3 others would be cheaper than taking a bus tour plus we could stop and get out wherever we want along the way. It was a good day driving. The lakes were beautiful, the empanadas were hot and the day was of the warm sunny autumn variety.

The other thing we did in Bariloche besides hardcore socialising was a white water rafting trip. As I had never done it before I was highly excited about it. We set off down the river with our mate Dave and 5 other Irish after a few words from our instructor on the different commands and how not to fall in. The first few rapids were nice. Good fun but not too difficult. Then came the most difficult one. We went up over a rock and plummeted down the other side into a whirlpool. There we were spinning around in the middle of a rapid and thanks to my general lack of balance I of course fell in. Except that because of the whirlpool I couldn’t seem to break free and float down the river. Next thing I find myself wedged between the rock and the raft itself. I managed to push myself down under water but then I couldn’t resurface because I was underneath the raft. Just I was about to panic I broke free from the whirlpool and found myself thrashing around in the river. All I could see was the maniac photographer standing on the rocks laughing his head off and taking photos of my plight. I floated down river and managed to grab onto a branch and hoist myself onto a rock to wait for the others. Afterwards it was fun to reminisce however at the time I was slightly freaked out. After another 10 rapids or so we headed back to base camp. There we enjoyed a delicious BBQ with lamb, sausage and a massive quantity of potato salad which we somehow managed to devour between the 8 of us.

In Bariloche we met an English blok Dave who we had met before in Ushuaia. As it happens Dave was heading to Mendoza next too and so we decided to rent a car together and amble up there slowly over a couple of days while stopping off at a few random places. Sadly this idea didn’t work out. The price of the rental was 600 pesos – not too bad between 3 people. However they were trying to charge us 2000 pesos just for the drop off in Mendoza! No thank you. So the next 2 days in Bariloche were spent watching the complete third season of 24 which Dave had brought with him from England. As we sat in the lobby watching 24 all day we attracted a large group of other people who were staying in the hostel. By the last few episodes we had the entire hostel hooked and everyone was gathered round to watch the final few episodes. We took an overnight bus to Mendoza and after checking into our hostel we decided to walk around the city for a bit and up to the park. It turns out there was a massive storm a few days previously and all the good parts of the park were closed due to flooding. But at least we got to play in the kids playground. Then we walked around the city but it wasn’t that beautiful and the storm drains lining every pavement didn’t make it any more attractive. It was then we decided to do some shopping but it was right in the middle of siesta and everywhere was closed. And so we just went back to the hostel slightly pissed off at Mendoza!

The next day we took a bike tour of the wineries. The way the tour operates is that you get a bus for 40 minutes out to the sticks where you rent bikes. You then cycle for roughly 12km down a road that has a few vineyards, a licquor & chocolate factory, a delicatessen and an olive oil factory off it. You stop off at the various places and taste wine/olive oil/licquors/chocolates etc… Unfortunately thanks to Mendoza’s great night life which we had experienced in full the night before we didn’t make it out to the bike rental place until lunch time. Because we had to drop the bikes back by 6 we knew we would have to cut out some of the places. We made it to the first vineyard which was the smallest but cutest and very intimate. After taking a tour of the vines we got stuck into some serious wine tasting. It was great to learn about how the wines are made and then to taste them so the taste actually means something to you. We purchased a couple of bottles and headed on our way without Dave who had a flat tyre. We hit the olive oil factory and bought olives and headed to the second vineyard. It was bigger than and not as nice as the first but we did get a bit more wine into us. We only had time for one more place so we decided on the delicatessen. When we arrived there we were disappointed to learn it was closed despite the sign saying it opens until 6pm. So we legged it to the licquor and chocolate factory to catch a last minute tour and sample some of the products before getting back to the bike rental place.

That night we decided to go to a club that was 10km out of the city but apparently really good. Unfortuantely we didn’t get there until 2.30am and it was already full. So we made our way back to the city and thankfully in Argentina bars stay open until the last person leaves. We got back to the city at 3am and the bar street was absolutely hopping. So we camped ourselves at a nice bar until about 6 in the morning. As you can imagine the next day was spent sleeping. It was a Sunday anyway and in South America nothing happens on a Sunday. It is now our last day in Mendoza and Argentina for that matter. Later on Fi and Dave are off paragliding however I will be observing from the ground. Mentlers. Photos follow: