Argentina
November 6-29, 2009
November 16: Esquel to Bariloche: Driving to Bariloche
We didn't stay in El Bolson too long since it had started to rain quite heavily anyway, and we wanted to get to Bariloche and get our accomodations figured out (always a stressful task!). The drive was fairly uneventful and once we got to Bariloche we immediately found the tourist information bureau. It wasn't much help - in terms of accomodations they told us to basicly drive the main strip where all the cabanas and appartments were and to just stop and ask at whichever ones we liked to see if they had any rooms available. 
In terms of information on the national parks they were just as useless and directed us to another building which was run by the Parks service itself, but these guys were more about giving information on multi-day treks. The girl was quite nice however and did give us a couple of ideas on shorter driving tours and activities to do around town.
So then off we went to start knocking on doors. At first it looked like this could take all night - we drove forever trying to find something that looked nice but not too expensive and when we finally stopped, no one even answered the door. So we decided to try a somewhat fancier place and the owner himself started showing us a fancy cabana with 2 bedrooms upstairs, a huge living area downstairs, and even a burglar alarm! When he told us it would only be 200 pesos a night we immediately took it for 3 nights. We unpacked and made supper while the kids watched TV and coloured. After supper the kids were off to bed and we used the free wi-fi in conjunction with our guide books and the couple of maps we had obtained at the tourist information place to try and plan our next couple of days.
A sign announces some waterfalls ahead so we decide to stop.
Cascada de la Virgen.
Along the way we can distinctly see the treeline. The snow seems to come down quite low here!
When the clouds lift for a bit we see the typical river valley between the mountains
with tall lombardies marking where someone has a house.
We arrive at Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi.
A little bird.
Lots of unmarked waterfalls dotting the mountainsides.
Passing by a lake.
If the car breaks down, at least there's help close by! ;-)
The suburbs of Bariloche... like most cities here, there's a large poor area.
More of the poor area... most of the houses don't look like they'd be very warm during the winter.
Passing by a school.
The touristy area of Bariloche is right along Lago Nahuel Huapi.
The cat "Silver" amuses the kids as they wait with Rubby in the car.
Christopher and Samantha watch TV and colour while we get supper ready.
Rubby trying to figure out how to light the oven.
The master and kids' bedrooms.
A panoramic of our accomodations for the next couple of days... we're quite happy here!
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