Dec. 25-27
Lake Nahuel Huapi, originally uploaded by dollop.
Barliloche is a happening little town located in the foothills of the Andes, surrounded by lakes. The town is bustling with lots of tourists taking in the summertime activities. Barlioche is also Argentina’s chocolate capital and many of the storefronts are dedicated to fresh chocolate and I have had my fill.
Chocolate at Mamushchka, originally uploaded by dollop.
On Thursday in the late afternoon I took a tour of the nearby lake, Nahuel Huapi. The tour was a couple of hours and the views reminded me of Lake Tahoe in California. On Friday morning I took an extended tour of the area known as The Road of Seven Lakes. It was a full day tour that traveled through two national parks and through several towns including San Martin which is a mellower version of Bariloche.
San MartÃn de los Andes, originally uploaded by dollop.
Half of the tour was on paved roads and the other half was on gravel road which provided a bit of a rough ride but it’s hard to complain when surrounded by such beautiful landscapes. The tour of the seven lakes arrived back to my hotel at 8pm. Today I spent most my day preparing for my departure to Mendoza tomorrow. I purchased a bus ticket (I am going to give the bus another attempt) that will take me directly from Bariloche to Mendoza, so there won’t be any transfer mishaps. In addition, I purchased a plane ticket back to Buenos Aires from Mendoza next weekend. I will spend a final day in Buenos Aires before my departure back to San Francisco. I will be spending a total of six nights in Mendoza and I hope that Mendoza will meet my expectations since I will be spending a significant amount of time there. The internet access in Barlioche has been very slow when accessible so hopefully I will be able to publish more photos once in Mendoza.