Bariloche Part 1

The Argentinian Lake Region.  It's a big reason I chose to come to Argentina at all.  Over a year ago, at the reception of a quinceanera, the Argentinian pastor told me the Lake Region in Argentina was as beautiful as Switzerland, but with less people.  For those of you who have traveled with me, you know Interlaken, Switzerland is one of my favorite places on Earth.  Bariloche is the gateway to the Lake Region of Argentina and so was on my must-do list of places to visit.

The bus to Bariloche was 3 hours late.  During those 3 hours waiting in the bus terminal, I made friends with another American girl named Shawn who was also headed to Bariloche, and 2 English guys who would continue on to Esquiel, further south.  I had paid the extra $15 to get the good seats downstairs for my 18 hour bus ride from Mendoza, and slept like a baby. 

I arrived from in Bariloche to architecture that could have come from Switzerland.  It turns out this is the region that the Germans fled to after the WWII.  I believe this place is actually more beautiful!  These mountains are just as dramatic as the Rockies and the Alps, but they are dotted with hundreds of lakes.  Some lakes are huge, and some are tiny.  The town itself sits on the huge Lake Nahuel Huapi. 

Shawn and I parted ways to our respective hostels in Bariloche and then reassembled with two of my friends for dinner.  Greg (from previous posts) and Jason are traveling together in Argentina for several weeks and we would all overlap for approximately 36 hours.  That was enough time to grab dinner and desert at one of the many chocolate shops, absorb all the traveling advice from them, and for 1 full day of hiking together.  Jason and Shawn chose the Lloa Lloa hike (and apparently enjoyed the beach there with a bottle of Malbec).  Greg and I elected to take the big day-long hike: Catedral.  It was hot, dusty, and spectacular.  Here's just a few pictures to give you a feel for the day.  I enjoyed it so much that I went back 2 days later, this time with a tent.

Wildflowers everywhere

Views of a branch of Lake
Nahuel Huapi from early in
the hike

Views from about halfway up

At Refugio Frey, halfway done with the hike
The water was COLD.
We hiked over the ridge to the back and right of this picture.

Hiking out of Frey to Lake Schmoll

We're on the moon!

The view from the moon - Lake Schmoll

We just topped the ridge.  Downhill from here

Views from the top.  The lake is in the distance.

Views from the top.  Mt Tronador is in the distance.
I would hike through this valley and over the ridge in the
back of the picture 3 days later.

We took so long that we got to see the sunset over the lake

Missing the last bus meant we hitched back to Bariloche
in the back of a truck along with 2 mountain bikes

Thanks to Jason for doing the research.  Thanks to Greg for joining me for a full, great day.  And thanks to the 5 guys who let us climb in the back of their truck to save us the 30km hike back to Bariloche.