We continue to Argentina

Bariloche is the name of the city on a lake in front of the Andes. Close to the border with Chile. We booked a hostel for 4 days to explore the area a bit. Alex stayed only 3 days because he has to go back to Chile. But we will meet again in the south.

We imagined Bariloche differently. It is a relatively large, not very beautiful but very touristy city. It is located on a large lake and surrounded by mountains. There is also a large ski resort.

On the first evening, we didn't feel like cooking and I wanted to try one of the famous Argentine steaks. So we asked the hostel for a recommendation of a restaurant that is just around the corner. It was a small cozy brewery. So we ordered a beer and a sirloin steak. The beer was good, but the sirloin steak was tough. Bummer. Everyone raves about the meat here and we get a rubbery piece. It wasn't that bad, but I expected better.

The next morning, we wanted to rent canoes and paddle to an island on the lake. Unfortunately, Alex didn't feel well. We don't know where it came from, as we all ate the same thing. So Alex went back to bed and Jürgen and I used the day to write blog posts and journals.

The next day, Alex was feeling better, but he didn't want to do anything strenuous yet. So we went to the city first to buy bus tickets and explore the downtown area. Bariloche is known for its chocolate, so we found a small chocolate factory with a store and bought a tasting pack. In the afternoon, we went up a small mountain by the lake that offers a great view. The ascent was supposed to take 1 hour, but we were up there in 20 minutes. Jürgen didn't bring a backpack and pushed us pretty hard. I was pretty exhausted when I reached the top. In the evening, we wanted to give the steak another try. There was another restaurant that came highly recommended. Since Argentinians eat late, the restaurant doesn't open until 8 pm. We had to wait a bit, but then we quickly got a table. By the time we left at 10:30 pm, people were still lining up to get a table. When we looked at the menu, my wallet cried. There was only meat and side dishes. I decided to go for a large sirloin steak weighing 500g. For everyone, there was a large plate of fries and a large plate of salad. This time, the meat was perfect. It tasted amazing. Exactly what I expected. No comparison to what we had been served before.

Now it was time to say goodbye to Alex. He is going back to Chile because he will meet his girlfriend in Santiago in a few days. However, we will meet again in Patagonia. His bus left at 7 am. Jürgen and I also left. We wanted to go hiking. We took the bus to the ski resort. Since it is summer here, only two lifts to the summit are in operation. But we were there for hiking. So we turned onto the hiking trail. Our goal was Refugio Frey at 1700m. But first, we had to walk about 7km around the mountain until we reached a valley where it went uphill. This part was really easy and pleasant to walk. From the hut, we could then walk across the mountain (2100m) to the ski resort. The hostel told us it would take about 1 hour. The hiking map indicated 4 hours. Since we had already walked the first part 1 hour faster than indicated, we thought it couldn't be that far. After we had climbed the wrong mountain and stood in front of a climbing mountain where we couldn't continue, we somehow found the right path. It was basically straight up the mountain. You had to find your way among the rocks. There was an occasional red marking to orient yourself. We reached the top of the first mountain and stood at a lake. Then we realized that we had to go one mountain higher. The same spectacle. We refilled our water at the stream, which turned out to be a good idea. After fighting our way up the second section, it went along the other side of the mountain slightly below the summit. We had to walk the whole distance that we had walked around the mountain in the morning. But this time at 2000m on scree. In Germany, there would be ropes everywhere and it would be called via ferrata. But here it is a poorly marked hiking trail. We saw many people who were not very well equipped for this path. Meaning they were wearing sneakers. Eventually, we fought our way through and stood on the slope. From here, it was easy to walk down. We occasionally walked cross-country or used the forest paths. When we arrived at the bottom, we were finally done.

Then we left Bariloche heading south. El Bolson was our next destination. A small hippie town. We took the bus there and it was 4km to the hostel. Since we had already warmed up the day before, we walked the distance with our backpacks. Not so easy in the blazing sun with 24kg on our backs. We had already bought groceries so that we didn't have to go to the town again. When we arrived at the hostel, we realized that it was not the hostel we had booked. I had marked the wrong one on the map. Our actual hostel was 10km in the other direction. So we called a taxi. When we drove to the hostel, we were glad that we didn't have to walk it with our luggage. Our accommodation was located in the middle of the mountain, 236 meters above the town. It was really beautiful and had a slight hippie touch. We stayed here for only 2 nights. We visited the crafts market and relaxed in the sun.