Bienvenidos a Argentina!

Nearly a month had gone by in Chile and it was time to move on. Though we did so with a very good taste in our mouths it definitely was not left there by the mayonaise-heavy Completos (hot dogs) that Chile is famous for. We will remember Chile instead for lunar desert landscapes, graffiti-laden port towns, wine with pineaple ice cream in it, awesome powder skiing, volcanoes that defy to be climbed, delicious sea food, bewitched islands, beautiful coastline and towering mountains. And so, with determination to someday visit Chile again, we headed to the mountain border crossing into Argentina for our last country and our last month of travel. First stop, Bariloche.

Bariloche

Bariloche is primarily a ski resort town that could easily be mistaken for part of Brazil with all of the Brazilian tourist that come here to vacation. A lot of the stores, hotels and restaurants are what you would expect to find in a US resort town, overpriced and over-touristed, but Bariloche still has an undeniable charm, and a local culture that is strongly Argentinian. There are plenty of activities in and around the town apart from skiing, which was good for Emily and I because we had already dropped a lot of dough on skiing in Chile, and although the resort at Bariloche (Cerro Catedral) is massive and modern, the snow quality is not meant to be quite as good. So we opted for walking a circuit in the National Park Nahuel Huapi which was well worth it. The loop starts just outside the world famous Hotel Llao Llao and meanders through a stretch of land surrounded by lakes on all sides.

Mystical Bamboo Mountain Trail

As we walked along the central trail there were several loops that took off to walk along the various lakeshores. The day was cold and in the beginning it rained a bit but when the clouds cleared we had almost the entire walk to ourselves on what turned out to be a beautiful, sunny day. We ended, after 7 hours of walking, in the "Swiss Colony" where we had hot chocolate and streudel. A lot of Swiss and German imigrants settled in this area so there is somewhat of a "village in the alps" feel to Bariloche and the surrounding areas not to mention plentiful chocolate, fondue, pastries and breweries. Yum. The next day before heading out of town we took a chairlift up the Cerro Campanario for what National Geographic deemed "one of the 10 best views in the world" because who doesn't fall for wild claims like that? Regardless, it was a very nice view.

Not a bad view

Lakeshore

That night we went two hours South by bus to El Bolson. El Bolson is another little mountain town but more of a hippy town than a tourist one, with a more agreeable climate than Bariloche. More like Lake Tahoe than Park City, Utah. In El Bolson we got a great deal on a private cabin at the hostel Pehuenia. The family that owns and lives at the hostel are amazingly friendly and treated us like their own. Our first day there they treated us to our first Asado - the traditional Argentinian grill. We all went together to buy the meat and while we were at it they introduced us to some of their favorite Alfajores, another Argentinian delight - Dulce de Leche sandwiched between two soft cookies and then covered in chocolate. In the yard at the hostel we grilled up and enjoyed lamb steaks, short ribs, sausages, lamb intestines (yum) and black pudding sausage (yum also). Okay, not really so yum in terms of the intsetines and blood sausage but definitely worth the experience, even Emily tried a bit of everything taking her carniverous adventure to new heights, and keeping it down!

MEAT!

Guardian Boar overlooking El Bolson in the valley below

We layed low for a few days in El Bolson having found such a nice place to stay. We tried to climb the un-pronouncable Cerro Piltriquitron but with the amount of snow on the steep trails we struggled to keep our footing and only made it half way which still got us some great views. We also enjoyed some of the famous local ice cream and got some great steak at Restaurante A Punto. As you have probably heard, getting great steak in Argentina is easy and cheap. After a couple of days relaxing we took off across the country to Puerto Madryn and the Peninsula Valdez for some face to face with Whales.

Extreme Close-Up!

For a few weeks now we have been in the Northern section of Patagonia. Puerto Madryn is about halfway from Buenos Aires down to the bottom of the country. Being that it is still Winter down here, it is pretty cold and windy, and although the thought of "Patagonia" probably conjures up intense images of glaciers, mountains, volcanoes etc., the vast majority of Patagonia, especially in Argentina, is wind-swept plains covered by shrubs and armadillos. This was the setting for Puerto Madryn and the neighboring Peninsula Valdes, however people don't come here to look at the land, the attraction here is the sea. Every year between May and December the bay formed by the Peninsula Valdes becomes infested with Southern Right Whales. This is not an exageration. Within seconds of getting to the beach in Puerto Madryn we realized that in front of us, just off the coast, there were whales from left to right as far as we could see. The next day we took a tour that included a boat ride on which the curious giants popped up right next to the boat to get a good look at us. During the hour and a half boat ride we were witness to a whale extravaganza of jumping, tail slapping, mating, you name it.

A symbol of freedom

This is a Female floating with her belly up trying to avoid getting romantic with either of the two males trying to sweet talk her. Easy fellas.

At this point in our trip we had to make a very dificult decision; North or South. Due to the fact that the winter is still upon us and our options for the South are limited by weather conditions and the time we have left on the trip, we decided against heading South. The 46 hour round trip bus ride to El Calafate was a tough pill to swallow even when tempted by the prospect of seeing Glacier National Park. There is much more than Glacier Park that we wanted to do at the end of the world, and would not have been able to do on this trip, so we decided to save it all for our next visit. Instead we set our sights North towards Mendoza, the wine capital of Argentina.

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