We ended our holiday in Bariloche. It's next to the cordillera so we had great mountain views. There are lots of big lakes and the Nahuel Hapui lake is the biggest one. We arrived at 11 in the morning. You can tell that you're getting used to day long bus journeys when a conversation goes like this:
Amina: "Oh great, we're nearly there!"
Beth: "What are you talking about? We have 5 hours left."
Amina: "Yeah that's what I mean!"
We found our hostel which was actually one of the best hostels we'd been to. Apart for being clean and having comfortable beds, there was a free box of food. It had food that other travellers had left and meant that we never had to buy pasta or rice once while we were there.
We spent the first day chilling by the lake and wandering around town. Oh, we even tried one of the ice creams. They're amazing. To be honest I would tell people to go to Bariloche, just to try the ice cream. Oh I'm still such a child at heart.
Day two found us heading out to the chocolate museum. Bariloche is pretty well known for having lots of chocolate shops. Mmm the museum was great. We got free samples of chocolate and hot chocolate. Got to see them making the chocolate and then we saw some big chocolate-made statues of animals that were supposed to represent the culture of chocolate. What I wanted to know was, why was there penguins?
These are made of chocolate!
In the afternoon we met up with a Lautaro friend who had come to Bariloche at the same time as us. It was really nice to see him again. Just hung out at the beach again.
Day three we went out on a bike ride. Rented some mountain bikes and hit the "short circuit". Ended up taking us most of the day. At the start there were some cars on the roads but after a while it was really quiet and we were able to zoom down the hills without fear of being hit by cars. Passed some really beautiful scenery. Passed the most expensive hotel in Argentina which would set you back £1300 a night. Really enjoyed the bike ride though we all had very sore bums afterwards! And I did fall into a bush at one point :/ Basically I got startled when a car beeped it's horn at me and stumbled. Anyway enough of that.
The bus journey back to Lautaro was only 9 hours long. Nothing. We had a two hour changeover in Osorno. It's weird to be back in Chile because everything is familiar but still different from the way things are at home. In Argentina the people are also quite European with different hair colours and eye colours. Being back in Chile I feel very conspicuous again. Arrived home to a warm hug from Ruty. So nice to see her again. Had a big long chat before heading upstairs to unpack. I love having all my clothes in drawers again. And having other clothes to wear. It's great.
Us at the Argentina/Chile boarder
It's been a long road but it's great to be back. Starting school/work again on Monday or Tuesday.
Oh and in case you didn't know, I've re-uploaded the blogs from Machu Picchu and the Timeless one, with pictures included.
Dlad your both back safe and sound. It's been quite a trip just reading your blog so very envious of your summer holiday travelling.
ReplyDeleteBack to work :(