Bariloche: another Switzerland?

December 2 - 5:

It was raining when we arrived in Bariloche. Not quite the weather we were expecting and were glad to be picked up by the husband of the hostel owner, from the airport. He was extremely hospitable and even went out of his way to drop by the bus station on the way, so that we could ask some questions for the next leg of our trip.

It was 3 pm by the time we checked in to our hostel and we were hungry. Since all restaurants were closed in the afternoon, we were advised to go to the shopping mall to find something to eat at the food court (beggars can't be choosers, and we had no other option). We were kindly dropped off at the mall, too.

We were thrilled to find a cinema at the mall. It had been so long since we had been to the movies and what better idea to go on a rainy day! The movie theatre wasn't open at the time and so we chose to come back to see the James Bond movie, "Skyfall", at 7pm that night. Luckily for us it was in English with Spanish subtitles!

The next day, we walked around the town. I had been told that Bariloche was like the "Switzerland of Argentina". This description may have been provided due to the many lakes and surrounding lush green mountains. Having been to Switzerland, however, I did not find much similarity. The town sits next to a fairly big lake called, Nahuel Huapi, from where we took in the views. We then ventured around the town to look into some trekking for the next day. We found out about a trek to a "refugio" called Frey, where we could spend the night and then trek back down the next day. In the afternoon, we stopped by a chocolate store/cafe where we got a delicious cup of hot chocolate. I got the classic kind, and Rakesh got the supped up version with orange liquor topped with thick whipped cream might as well have been pure butter. Sounds horrible, but wasn't!

In the morning we set out to catch the public bus the "Caterdral" stop, from where started our trek. Along the way, we saw beautiful vistas of the mountains and Nahuel Huapi lake in the distance. We were also enamored by the bright yellow and purple wild plants interspersed amongst the greenery along side the windy road.

Our trek to Frey was fairly easy (compared with other treks we have done). We first walked alongside the mountain with vistas onto the other green mountain ranges and a lake called Gutierrez. Unfortunately, on our side the trees had all been burnt down by human error!! The trek continued in through a woodsey area and also over several streams. Toward the end, the climb was a little more difficult but definitely doable, especially after our Macchu Picchu trek. Along the way, we met a man who had already spent the night in Frey. He was at least in his 70s and was getting prepared to trek in the Himalayas! We have hope!

The refugio is a small brick building with two floors. On the upper floor people sleep in their sleeping bags side by side on two levels. Rakesh and I slept on the upper level to which we had no to climb up with. On the ground floor is a dinning/common area and the kitchen. The bathrooms (flushable!) are in a separate hut. The building sits next to a lake and is surrounded by mountain peaks including one tower-like peak which is a rock climbers haven. In fact, while we were there, the refugio was taken over by a group of french rock climbers. Unfortunately, we were not well prepared/informed. While one can get freshly cooked food, it was expensive. We opted to just have a soup for dinner and some left over bread that we had left over from our picnic lunch on the way up to Frey. We also had to pay for sleeping over and for our breakfast the next morning. A few more costs than we had expected!

Shortly, after arriving at the refugio, I met a girl, Taté, who comes from Spain. We got into a lengthier conversation in the evening and found out that she had been staying in a village, El Chalten. Even though El Chalten was a place of interest that had been recommended, it wasn't high on our radar, as we thought El Calafate was the place to be. It was Taté who convinced us to spend more time in El Chalten than in El Calafate, as there were more trekking options.

Taté decided to trek back down with us the next morning, instead of continuing on to another peak. Another girl, Iñez from Peru, also joined us back down. This time we took another route and visited a beach by lake Gutierrez, on the way back. We continued on until we got to the campsite where Iñez had left her tent etc. We each pitched in to assist Iñez to pack up and then walked some distance to catch a bus back to Bariloche, where we all went out for dinner. In the meantime, the plan was for all of us to catch a bus to another town, El Bolson, 2 hours south. This was an area that we had all mentioned we were hoping to go to. Also, Taté had told us about a great day hike, there, to Cajon del Azul. We were sold and Rakesh and I had to scramble to get our backpacks, which we had left behind at our hostel, and then meet the 2 girls at the bus stop.

That's the nice thing about being flexible while traveling. Thanks to our discussions with Taté we decided not to stay for another couple of days or so in Bariloche. I felt bad about having pre-booked a room for another 2 nights at the hostel that we had stayed in before our trek to Frey. The owners, however, understood and let us go without charging us.