Antarctica Adventure #3 - Bariloche

Bariloche - First Full day, Sunday, 15 December 2019

On we go!  We have things to do!

Up at 6:50am to prepare for our first full day in Bariloche.  Breakfast was served downstairs in the restaurant.  It was a full spread with scrambled eggs (runny European style unfortunately!), assorted fruits, cereals, breads, & sweet breads.  Only yogurt was commercial style in containers.  Lots of really strong bitter coffee!  Definitely won't go hungry & have plenty of caffeine.

First stop of the morning was a chairlift on Campanerio Hill or Cerro (rolling those R's) Campanerio as Martha (prounouced Marta), our local guide says.  We met Martha at the hotel & she and Maria did a tag team explanation to cover everything we were going to see & do today.  The 7 minute chair lift took us to the top of the 3445' mountain for 360 views of Nahuel Huapi Lake, Hidden Lake, Moreno Lake & all the surrounding mountains.  We were lucky that it was not too windy to run the lift.  This lift is strictly used for scenic viewing, it is not a ski slope.

 The views were just breathtaking.  Between the color of the surrounding lakes, the forests, & the mountains, it is just awe inspiring.  There were the standard interpretive signs providing all the mountain top names & heights.

 We wandered around the chairlift operations to another viewpoint.  Again - just amazing views.  Maria said that National Geographic considers this one of the most scenic spots in the world.  I believe it.

 Even the small gift shop/cafe has glass surrounding the entire room so you never have to miss anything!

The views continued all the way back down.  This was definitely one of the highlights - especially since we had such a fabulous day for it.  Temps were probably in the low 60's & lucky for us, the winds died down to maybe just 5 mph gusts?

Bought a picture from the chairlift photographer!  Pretty cool, huh?

We continued by bus to the Llao Llao Golf Resort, just to get a picture of it.  This is the 5 Star Resort where all important personages stay in Bariloche - national Presidents - like Clinton & Bush.  Didn't have time to see the inside, but the views down towards the lake must be incredible.  It was only a 9 hole course & the Chinese were wanting to expand it & had a master plan to cut down a lot of the forest to do so.  Luckily the Argentine government squashed that plan & had them build the second half across the road by the port on already cleared land.

Monkey Puzzle Tree - quite common here.

Close up view of a Monkey Puzzle Tree branch.  Very very hard & stickery!

An Upland Goose - the common variety here - just like Canada Geese, they are considered pests!

Digging signs by wild boar!  Just like Texas!

Martha holds a cicada (dead).  There were many of them singing in the woods (not the dead ones!).

Next stop was a lovely hour & a half hike in the Llao Llao Municipal Park.  The first half hour, Martha stopped often to point out flora & tell us about it.  Then we climbed steadily for about a half hour to a rocky viewpoint.  She said we had done about a 450' elevation gain.  Sure felt good to get outside for a while.  The forest was beautiful & the views were again spectacular.  The hike back down was much quicker & easier - we were getting hungry & thirsty!

On for lunch (yep all that happened before lunch!!!) at a local family brewery - Gilbert Brewery.  They pronounced it Jillbert.  Got to try 3 different brews - Stout (my favorite), Pale Ale (George's favorite), & an Indian Pale Ale.  It was the least favorite at the table - extremely "hoppy."  Tommy - the only son & the master brewer told us they used a local national hops to make it.  They served us pumpkin soup, lamb stew, & ice cream for lunch & it was excellent.

We made one more stop enroute back to our hotel!  It was just a viewpoint - I say "just a viewpoint!"  As Martha said, it was a wow moment!  We came around a corner & suddenly the entire valley was on view below us.  Wow Wow Oh Wow!  There were some street vendors set up there & one specialized in cutting out the special designs on coins.  I chose a current Argentine $1 peso coin with the sun on it (from their flag) & he fixed an adjustable string necklace for it.  Very pleased with it!  Should be an excellent reminder of this fabulous location.

Right now most of the roadsides are covered with these beautiful yellow bushes.  Martha says right now they are gorgeous because they are in bloom, but they are an invasive species that was brought over by the Scots & spread like wildfire & are almost impossible to get out of their gardens.  The root system in incredibly hardy & they just hate them!  They are called Scottish Broom.

View of the incredible swimming pool - we didn't take advantage of it.

Looking up from the Entertainment floor of the hotel.  Played a game of Foosball - I won - George said I was taking advantage of a sick man.

Finally back to the hotel.  George was not feeling very good & went to sleep.  I took a short nap, then downstairs to hear a lecture on the controversial topic of the Mapuche people.  Daniel was the speaker.  His Grandmother was one of the powerful women (combination of medical & religious leaders) & had been to speak to the Argentine president on behalf of the Mapuche people, trying to establish their official place in the Argentine community.  His wife is full blood Mapuche & is involved in establishing their language in written form & education of the young people so they don't loose their culture.  Like many of the indigenous people of the world, they have been pushed from their lands & segregated from society.  Things are slowly turning around for them, but they are still not officially recognized as a separate Nation as the Indians are in the US & Canada.

I called my brother on wifi calling & got to chat with him while he finished his Walmart shopping.  Tickles me no end to think that we can do a call from Bariloche, Argentina to Gilmer, TX so easily.  Small world, huh?  I told him to tell the cashier that he was talking to his sister in Bariloche, Argentina & he said she'd never believe it anyway!  The only other interesting thing was that about 11:30pm, the power dropped out in the hotel.  When it did, I looked out the open window & saw that the Southern sky was filled with star constellations that were totally unfamiliar.  When the power came back on, we ran downstairs & out onto the patio at the bar & were staring at the skies & conveniently the power dropped out again, so we could really see them.  Couldn't find the Southern Cross, but had a beautiful view of Orien's Belt (they call it 3 Maria's here).  When the power came back on, we ran upstairs & hit the hay.  Closing with this fabulous panoramic picture of the lakes that I found on Wikipedia.  It is awesome, huh?  We have two more full days here!  Hope you are enjoying our trip together!  I'll be back tomorrow!