Bariloche is probably the 3d best known Argentine city after Buenos Aires and Mendoza. It has a fame of Switzerland of Latin America because of its world class ski resorts, its Alpine architecture, and of course the prices. Among Argentines it is the most visited city, where almost everyone has been to at least once in a life time. Bariloche is the destination for high school graduation trips for the whole country! In July and August this mountain town is flooded with 17 year olds learning to ski during the day, and going crazy at night at one of the 5 major night clubs. By the way, if you want to go dancing in Argentina, make sure you don’t show up before 2 am, as dancing establishments are closed till then (Argentine’s are a little bit exaggerated…).
The "Llao Llao" hotel in Bariloche.
Luckily, we arrived to Bariloche in the off season (without any adolescence…yuck!) when the weather is just right, the prices are ½ off, and all kinds of fall fruit ready to be collected. Thanks to Emi’s uncle Gustavo, we had a place to stay and someone to guide us on the best activities in the area. After a quick phone call to Gustavo’s friend Edgado, we had direction to his house and then more than a warm welcoming with mate and a delicious ricotta cake made by his wife Paula. Since it was Sunday (the Argentine sacred day of doing nothing), the afternoon mates and chatting stretched for hours until it was pitch dark outside and it was too late for us to go find a camp ground. In reality, we were hoping to set up camp in Edgardo’s enormous yard, but he did not want to hear anything about the tent and made us accept his offer (twist my arm) to stay in his motor home parked inside the garage. All of a sudden, our living situation went up by a 100%. We had a bed, a kitchen and a bathroom while in the middle of a pine tree forest with a view of the famous “El Catedral” ski hill!
Edgardo's home.
Edgardo’s place was unbelievable… His wood-log mountain cabin (which looked like gnomes lived there) sits on a wooded hillside, right by the Lake Gutierrez, and 20 minutes away by bus from the city center. We fully took advantage of all of the luxuries that were presented to us. We slept until whenever we didn’t feel like sleeping any more, we hung out at the house playing games with the kids, we cooked great meals and made jams (from back berries and apples this time), we went for walks around town and rode bikes all around the beautiful lakes and the vacation neighborhoods.
Picking blackberries!
It didn’t feel like we were in Argentina at all. The town was very well kept, the people very laid back, and the mountains and the lakes just sunning. It also appeared that people there (at least the ones we met through Edgardo) valued different things in life compared to people from Buenos Aires. For example, when we asked Edgardo what he did for living he said that he tried not to work. Later he explain that Paula and him decided to spend as much time together and with their children as possible, thus accepting to sacrifice a number of commodities like clothes, new things for the house, nice cars, eating out and things like that. Of course, in their case, they already owned a beautiful house and did not have any kind of a debt to be slaving over to pay back, but stil,l what a beautiful approach to living! It takes some guts to say no to all of the things that make our life comfortable and easy…
Floppy - living a Bariloche life!
As it tends to happen in most places where I go, sooner or later the conversation comes to a point when people ask me about life in modern Russia, my childhood in the Soviet Union, and my opinions on the past and the present of my mother land. Edgardo’s house was not an exception. We talked about the different political theories and economic systems, and it turned out that Edgardo is this idealist from the 70s, who believes in the altruistic world and the redistribution of wealth. At this point I certainly felt as if I were talking to some hipster from San Francisco, DC or New York, who has a life of a few fortunate ones, while talking about the unjust capitalist world. Edgardo created an amazing life for himself and his family in capitalist Argentina. Could he had done it in communist Argentina? Who knows…
"Frey" at the top of the "Catedral" mountain.
One of the bigger expeditions that we had in Bariloche was to the Frey refuge at the top of the El Catedral Mountain. It took us about 3-4 hours to get to the top, where we were going to spend the night and then do a couple of short tracks up top the next day. Having gotten used to the nice temperate weather of Bariloche, I went up to Frey in my gym shoes, not thinking that 1000 meters higher there is snow and it is a lot colder. So…I only saw the lagoon of the Frey refuge (gorgeous), but not the overview of the whole area with all of the lakes and the stunning mountain peaks. When we go to the refuge I tried walking around the lagoon, but 3 minutes after walking on snow my feet were absolutely frozen, so there was no way I was walking even higher up the next day, especially considering the forecast of the ranger of the refuge, who was predicting -15C at night. Thank God we were not camping this time! Of course, when Emi got back to the refuge with some amazing pictures from up above I was very jealous, but I guess I only have myself to blame for forgetting my hiking shoes….
A full moon night in Villa Traful.
The mountains were beautiful, but I was happy to get back to the “borrowed” comforts of our Bariloche retro Mercedes-Benz motor-home. The last day was very family-like warm and relaxing, and I was sad to leave our new friends the next day.
After more good byes in the morning we departed heading north. Hitch hiking in Patagonia is what you do, and so, that is what we did. With a number of amazing characters who picked us up from the side of the road we made it from Bariloche to Villa Traful, through the Lake Region, to San Martin de los Andes and finally to Neuquen. Every person who gave us a ride added a special story to our trip, but there is one in particular that I want to share with you.
Edgardo, Paula, Caio & us.
So, when we were heading to Neuquen, we were picked up by this guy (Juan Carlos), who turned out to be a petrol industry engineer. He was very nice and chatty, and we became quite friendly by the time we reached our destination. In Neuquen, Juan Carlos drove us all over town only to discover that there was no camping and that our only option was the bus terminal if it didn’t close for the night. We were in luck and our lodging this time around was the tile floor of the bus station (thank God for the floor mat and my sleeping bag). As if he had not done enough for us already, Juan Carlos insisted on bringing us dinner to the terminal! We could not believe it when he and showed up with a bag of empanadas for us. It is really unbelievable the kind of people that cross your path in life, especially travelling. We only shared a couple of hours with Juan Carlos, but he will stay in our memory forever for his friendliness and generosity.
In the morning, after the night at the terminal, we were on a bus leaving Patagonia. This time we were off to the heart of Argentina, a city right smack in the middle of the country – Cordoba. This story, however, I will keep for the next time I have internet and time to share stories about our whereabouts….
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