Adventures in South America: Week 8 - Bariloche & El Bolson, Argentina

After an exhausting 20 hour bus journey from BA I finally arrived in Bariloche, Northern Patagonia and what is known as the Lake District area. Bariloche is a beautiful town situated right on Lake Nahuel Huapi at the foot of the Andes. The day I arrived the weather was amazing however unfortunately this did not last long and the next two days were grey and cold. I was hoping to do some kayaking but this got cancelled so I ended up going on a one day hike up Cerro Otto, however was not rewarded with much of a view from the top due to the clouds hence no photo! So the rest of my time was spent idly hanging around the hostel which on the plus side resulted in meeting several lovely people and joining some on their trip to El Bolson, 2 hours south of Bariloche.

El Bolson is known as a bohemian village famous for its artisan crafts and micro breweries, as well as magnificant views of the mountain peaks. I naturally sampled a few of the locally brewed beers (all in the name of research for work purposes of course!) and then spent three days hiking in the surrounding national parks. The scenery was amazing and this time was fortunately blessed with great weather. Most of the hiking was uphill so needless to say I could barely walk a few days afterwards! I stayed in a refugio for one night which was a huge log cabin in the mountains where I met many other hikers. One morning I hiked up a mountain to see the glacier which involved some pretty difficult scrambling over rocks so its not surprising that I fell over 6 times on my descent! El Bolson is definitely a highlight of my travels so far and I would recommend it as a must see in Argentina.