Mountain air

Day 105

Once again I am sitting by the water, at a lake named Nahuel Huapi. Bariloche, actually called "San Carlos de Bariloche," is the small town in the Andes where we are currently staying, and where we will leave for the south tomorrow. The stone I am sitting on is nice and warm. The blue sky and the sun are reflected in the water, while strange birds with long beaks make protesting noises. In the background, the snow-covered mountains. On my left and right, a few other people are lost in thought as they gaze into the distance and also try to compose poetic texts.

The water here is freezing cold. I have to say it in such a casual way. A few days ago, we tried to swim in the lake and I say "tried" because after five seconds of frantic splashing in this ice-cold water, we had to immediately swim back to land. We could have guessed, of course, since, as we learned from a local, it snowed here in Bariloche just a few days ago, and we were somehow the only ones with swimwear at this lake. But the sun was shining, we needed to cool off, and it actually felt incredibly good. It is impossible to imagine that there was snow here recently. Since we arrived, it has been around twenty degrees Celsius. But apparently, the weather changes very quickly here in the Andes.

Otherwise, it is good to spend a few days in one place, and the alpine idyll of Bariloche is quite suitable for a break. The travel guide states that Bariloche could also be a town in Switzerland, and it is true. The town is characterized by old wooden houses and alpine-like architecture, as well as a pronounced chocolate culture, so the best chocolate in Argentina is sold on every corner. And it is really good. In addition, there are numerous Saint Bernard dogs walking around here and, of course, the mountainous postcard motif in the background of the huge lake. However, when you venture out a bit and go hiking in the mountains, you realize that you are still in the second largest mountain range in the world and in the vastness of South America. We experienced this the day before yesterday when we hiked on Cerro Catedral and instead of green meadows with cows and an alpine pasture, we found the rugged and rocky landscape of the Argentine mountains. We climbed from rock to rock, past snow, and with a view of the panorama, which seemed like a projected screen and made us think we were part of a documentary. We could see over 100 kilometers and it was simply incredible to see how different mountains can be. It was quite cold up there, around ten degrees Celsius (of course, we were wearing shorts), and the wind was extremely strong, so we had to be careful not to be blown off the narrow path. But the moment of arriving at the top and seeing this incredible backdrop on the other side made up for all the inconveniences. After a sandwich and a few cookies at the summit, we descended with the chairlift and gondola back to the warm valley and to the alpine town.

Today is the last day in Bariloche, then we will continue south to Patagonia, and further on the way to the southernmost point of the earth.

A few days ago, we realized that constantly planning our next move was getting on our nerves and preventing us from being able to enjoy the here and now. In Argentina, we just wanted to go with the flow without a proper plan of where we were actually going, and that is what we have been doing so far. But since we usually live in the future and always have our thoughts on the next two days, constantly having to book buses and accommodations every two days, we decided to already know concretely where we will be in the coming weeks. And that is also quite good because it allows us to focus much better on the moment and the current place and not have to book something every two days. Now we are going down the west side along the Andes, where it will get colder and colder. However, it is still nice and warm now, and I am already considering trying to swim again.

Whether I survived, you will find out in the next entry.