This week we’ve been extending our ‘dorm etiquette’ rule book – 1) Do
not press snooze on your alarm 10 times 2) Do not treat your dorm bed
like a private double if you’re a couple 3) Do get a private if you
snore….
Other than that we’ve had a brilliant week, starting with a stunning 7 hour bus journey from Puerto Varas to Bariloche. Leaving Chile behind and heading back into Argentina, the road wound over the Andes to the border then down through the Nahuel Huapi National Park where it continued following the lake shore into Bariloche, a tourist hub.
Trying to find the bus into the centre and failing we got talking to a NZ girl and a German guy and ended up walking about 45 mins with our rucksacks to get to the hostel. It was so worth it. The hostel was amazing. We checked in to a 6 bed dorm but ended up in a private room with a bunk bed, a couch and a stunning lake view. After check-in we met up with the people from the bus station and went for one of our poshest meals yet at a little wooden restaurant. We ended up in a little bar down a back street enjoying happy hour beer and playing drinking games with some foul pepper shots and a spinning top, urgh.
The next day we met up with Pip and Paul again to head to Cerro Catedral, a big ski centre where the mountain peaks resemble cathedral spires. After an expensive cable car ride, a very windy chair lift and a 2 hour scramble across the last of the snow and massive boulders we were at the top. It was breathtaking – the views down to the lake and across the valley were absolutely amazing. We had a picnic at the top before heading down and grabbing a hot chocolate in the après ski bar.
Back at the hostel that night we booked a slot in the free Jacuzzi and spent an hour drinking cheap bubbles watching the sun set over the lake.
When we woke the next day we caught a bus to the start of the Chico Circuit, a 36km ring road out on the peninsula where we hired bikes. Not a single kilometre was flat and 9km was on unpaved tracks – it was hard. Rhys ‘Wiggins’ Kingdom here with his childhood idolisation of Lance Armstrong had me sprinting round the route completing the 6 hour ride in 4.5 hours.
The rest of our time in Bariloche was spent touring the expensive chocolate shops for free samples, playing pool, chilling in our upgraded superior double room with stunning lake views and making the most of the Jacuzzi.
Our next stop was Puerto Madryn, another overnight bus journey away where some super sensitive police dog thought my malaria tablets were worth getting me to empty out my entire bag for.
Puerto Madryn itself is pretty bland, the Patagonian landscape is just mile after mile and hour after hour of scrubland. Puerto Madryn though is a base to explore the wildlife in the surrounding areas including the Peninsula Valdes. We took a tour from the hostel where we stopped at a few points on the peninsula to see elephant seals and a few penguins and took a boat trip out into the golf to see the Southern Right Whales. They were so close to the boat, mums with their calf’s swimming underneath and alongside and so big – 16.5m long for a full grown male with each testicle weighing 500kg (the only fact Rhys actually remembers from the whole tour) – definitely in our top 5 experiences of the trip so far. That night to finish the week we taught some Danish girls and two guys from Essex the rules of trumps while drinking copious amounts of vodka.
Other than that we’ve had a brilliant week, starting with a stunning 7 hour bus journey from Puerto Varas to Bariloche. Leaving Chile behind and heading back into Argentina, the road wound over the Andes to the border then down through the Nahuel Huapi National Park where it continued following the lake shore into Bariloche, a tourist hub.
Trying to find the bus into the centre and failing we got talking to a NZ girl and a German guy and ended up walking about 45 mins with our rucksacks to get to the hostel. It was so worth it. The hostel was amazing. We checked in to a 6 bed dorm but ended up in a private room with a bunk bed, a couch and a stunning lake view. After check-in we met up with the people from the bus station and went for one of our poshest meals yet at a little wooden restaurant. We ended up in a little bar down a back street enjoying happy hour beer and playing drinking games with some foul pepper shots and a spinning top, urgh.
The next day we met up with Pip and Paul again to head to Cerro Catedral, a big ski centre where the mountain peaks resemble cathedral spires. After an expensive cable car ride, a very windy chair lift and a 2 hour scramble across the last of the snow and massive boulders we were at the top. It was breathtaking – the views down to the lake and across the valley were absolutely amazing. We had a picnic at the top before heading down and grabbing a hot chocolate in the après ski bar.
Back at the hostel that night we booked a slot in the free Jacuzzi and spent an hour drinking cheap bubbles watching the sun set over the lake.
When we woke the next day we caught a bus to the start of the Chico Circuit, a 36km ring road out on the peninsula where we hired bikes. Not a single kilometre was flat and 9km was on unpaved tracks – it was hard. Rhys ‘Wiggins’ Kingdom here with his childhood idolisation of Lance Armstrong had me sprinting round the route completing the 6 hour ride in 4.5 hours.
The rest of our time in Bariloche was spent touring the expensive chocolate shops for free samples, playing pool, chilling in our upgraded superior double room with stunning lake views and making the most of the Jacuzzi.
Our next stop was Puerto Madryn, another overnight bus journey away where some super sensitive police dog thought my malaria tablets were worth getting me to empty out my entire bag for.
Puerto Madryn itself is pretty bland, the Patagonian landscape is just mile after mile and hour after hour of scrubland. Puerto Madryn though is a base to explore the wildlife in the surrounding areas including the Peninsula Valdes. We took a tour from the hostel where we stopped at a few points on the peninsula to see elephant seals and a few penguins and took a boat trip out into the golf to see the Southern Right Whales. They were so close to the boat, mums with their calf’s swimming underneath and alongside and so big – 16.5m long for a full grown male with each testicle weighing 500kg (the only fact Rhys actually remembers from the whole tour) – definitely in our top 5 experiences of the trip so far. That night to finish the week we taught some Danish girls and two guys from Essex the rules of trumps while drinking copious amounts of vodka.
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| Jacuzzi, TangoInn Downtown, Bariloche. |
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| Jap snap, Cerro Catedral, Bariloche. |
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| At the top of Cerro Catedral, Bariloche. |
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| Bike ride with fab helmet, Bariloche. |
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| Rhys looking nonchalent at the whales, Puerto Madryn. |
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| Whales!! Puerto Madryn. |
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