So I promised you guys this blog post is going to be even better then the one before right?
Here we go. So on Tuesdays I got up really early and went to a place called 'campanario'. There is a lift which brings you straight to the mountain top but obviously you had to pay for it. There is also a small hiking track and since it was a beautiful snowy day I went for the hiking!
This is from the ground, looks already magical and so is the view over the lake (don't ask me which one of the thousands)But as I gain height the temperature drops slowly and the forest reveals it's snow covered nature!Since I've been there so early I was the very first to go up. The snow was completely untouched and I had the forest for myself. I didn't meet a soul on my way up 🤩This is the view at about 70% height (just 20 minutes hiking)And this is from the top.For those who wonder: Yes I did this in my Nike Freerun (shoes in sport sneaker style) and yes they have been a bit wet 😂 will stick with them on the glaciers I plan to see tho since it's just a couple of days..The view up there has been STUNNING.The pictures don't show it so well, please make sure you see this video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NquSbulvMzJX9ek2wcU2o4kjmbO97poX/view?usp=drivesdk Isn't this just terrific? I stayed up there in a nice cafe for quite some time and wrote the last blog post 😂 Really, did you see it? Do so if you didn't! Ok afterwards I wanted to go mountain biking through the 'circuito chico' which is a circular route that is not very long but has very steep hills. There are two bike rentals directly at the route but both were about to close due to the 'bad weather'. Please note that the snow stopped and it was just cloudy - tourists here are real chickens.. I really tried to hassle with them, offered to pay extra or return the bike early morning the next day but to no avail, they just would not rent me a damn bicycle. I checked Google maps for close bike rentals and there was one who had opened 8km in the wrong direction. Went there by bus, rented the bike and drove the 8km (also hilly territory) back to do the circuito chico. I really missed riding bike..This is it, it's not been bad but some gears didn't work properly and could need dirt covers..Here we go for more lakes, woods and snowy mountains in the back.Apparently a dangerous way to go but I pressed on.The area around Bariloche is super awesome...I definitely got used to great sights but this is still amazing..And the route itself (yes I always followed a street) was super calm, there were barely cars. But using a mountain bike didn't really make sense, a racing bike would have been way better since I never left the asphalt. Everyone here only rents mountain bikes tho 🤷🏼♂️This is where I took my break on half time. It was actually part of some hotel but I found a path without 'prohibited' signs so I think it was legal 👍Definitely super beautiful here.Best lunch break view I had in a while.So this is a thing here.I like to call these groups 'penguins'. They are graduating students, usually from Buenos Aires who go in your busses on holidays. They are uniformed, get the same jackets with the companies label on them, sometimes even accessories such as backpacks, all uniformed. There are even groups that are too big for one tour bus so they drive in several in a row. The way they herd up, stand around and make noise reminds me of penguins..Here are more, if you look through the wood you can see more large groups. They are all over Bariloches environment. After I returned the bike and got on the next bus downtown there was this dude making music - he was somehow heartwarming singing about love, traveling and having no money so I left some money and took a pic.On the next day I planned to make a small excursion to the 'Cerro de la ventana' which translates to 'mountain of the window'. The way to the mountain was already symbolical for the area here.. As expected, the view was just splendid once again.But the way up the mountain was by far the most challenging one I experienced yet so far.This was all just loose gravel, steeper then 45°. Making one step here, means you slide 80% of that step down again. We had to go up on all fours or search for a way without gravel.Here was already a small window of the mountain.The view just got better and better (Silvia is in the picture there if you look closely)And I got a really good shot of a condor! On this mountain I've actually seen five condors at once but obviously couldn't capture them with the smartphone. Am already pretty happy with this shot 🤩Aaand we made it to the top! This is the window of the mountain.And yup of course, the view was accordingly.On these hills are the ski resorts which sadly are closed already.And believe it or not but this was our way down. We decided to take a slightly different way which turned out to be a mistake...We got stuck at this point.. we had to climb down here or return to loose 45 minutes. Since Silvia (do you find her in the pic above?) was eager to climb down, I went first and she followed.We made it down safe but it was a bit edgy..More of the way down.. it was really not the easiest route but the most adventurous, that's for sure! And that's it from me again, I just had a 16hours bus ride to Puerto Madryn where I plan on seeing penguins in their natural habitat, go on a whale watching tour and swim with sea lions (completely harmless, or so I've heard) - so stay tuned and don't forget to check in again 😉
