Esa Bella Locura: Patagonia!

Sights of Bariloche.

On the plane finally after a VERY hectic morning.

It would be a crime to visit Argentina for five months without seeing at least a bit of Patagonia--so Sydney and I bought plane tickets and headed to Bariloche! Patagonia is the southern region of Argentina/Chile, known for its landscapes and glaciers, and skiing in the winter. There are SO many cool towns and things to see. but since we only had one long weekend we had to pick just a few... I'll head to Calafate and Ushuaia another day :]

We decided to spend two nights in Esquel, a very very small town four hours south of Bariloche, so that we could go to Parque Nacional Los Alerces. However, when we arrived Wednesday night we were informed that--since it's low season--there were no tours or buses running to the park. We asked the kind man at the hostel what our options were, and he said we could rent a car! He made a call and the man from the rental car company headed over to talk to us. He said we had to be 23 and also needed to know how to drive stick. Luckily in the time it took him to come to the hostel, we had made friends with a guy from Spain who met both of those qualifications. Which is exactly how we ended up renting a car (for $12 a person for 24 hours...), and touring el Parque Nacional ourselves, with our driver, Andrés the Spaniard. Life is fun, isn't it?

El Parque Nacional Los Alerces is GORGEOUS. The rain came and went, which only meant there were lots of rainbows! (Which turned into a reoccurring theme on our trip). The park was completely void of people. We saw a park ranger from time to time, and would exclaim excitedly "¡Mira! ¡Una persona!" if we happened upon lifeforms other than cows.

The pictures just don't do it justice... it was such a perfect day driving through the mountains. I am my mother's child; I would take the mountains in the fall over summer beaches any day!

We had such a blast adventuring around the park, hiking, climbing rocks, finding new views. It was breathtaking in the rain--I can't imagine what it would've been like in full sunlight!

Look at all those colors!

And here you see the exotic Patagonian jungle cows.

Mirador Lago Verde.

Happy heart.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was the bus ride back to Bariloche. Our seats were on the first row on the top deck--we had the best views of the Andes for four straight hours! Snow-capped mountains, rivers, lakes, valleys, orange and red trees. I absolutely loved it! We tried to study but really... how are you supposed to read Spanish poetry when the world outside the window is so darn spectacular?

Bariloche is wonderful. Quaint and picturesque. It's just a sleepy little mountain town nestled up between hills and lakes. It's quite touristy during ski season (July-September), but it was fairly empty when we were there! It's also the chocolate capital of Argentina, as if it needed more things going for it.

The first day we went up to see Hotel Llao Llao, a five-star hotel at the top of a hill, with great views of the surrounding lakes! It's like the Gaylord Texas of Bariloche. We stopped in for some hot cocoa... and to tour the first floor and try not to get thrown out for being obviously not fancy enough... We found out later you're not allowed to eat there unless you're a guest. Oops.

Cerro Campanario.

At our hostel we made friends with some British boys (well, two Brits and a Canadian), and we ran around Bariloche with them one day. We took the skilift up Cerro Campanario which was unbelievable! Incredibly cold and windy, but stunning. We had hot drinks in the confitería at the top, while Sydney and I worked on perfecting our British accents and learning new English phrases ("that's quite jokes!")

We wandered around the backroads of Bariloche... such an adorable small town, I felt like I was in a movie!

Looking back, I feel like the main thing we did in Bariloche was eat. But MAN it was good eatin'! We went out for a steak dinner one night with a crowd from the hostel, and had cheese fondue (with smoked salmon raviolis) another night. Not to mention the outrageous amount of chocolate and ice cream!

Sydney's phone does panoramaaaa look at that full rainbow all the way across the skyyyy

Our last day in Bariloche, we took an all-day van tour through Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi. We got to go on a few hikes and it was--I feel like i've used this word too much, but--gorgeous! Glaciers, rainbows, and waterfalls galore!