My World With Dance: Bariloche

Taking the bus into Bariloche was an experience on its own. The more than friendly bus attendant made sure that my cup was full of wine and I was very comfortable. It was my first "cama" service which is equivalent to business class with the seats declining back to 45 or so degrees and comfortable leg rests to give you a better sleep. It's a good thing because this bus trip took around 14 hours but I was too busy getting pampered to notice.

Bariloche is famous for its lakes and this was evident when I woke up in the morning to stunning views from every direction. I dove from one side of the windows to the other trying to snap some good shots. I don't think I got any good but the most important ones are in my memory anyway and will last me a life time.

I liked the charming city of Bariloche. It's full of cute houses that are a cross between a ranch design and a winter cabin. As it was the holiday season many were decked out with huge red bows and decorations and for the first time the cold weather matched the atmosphere. There are 2 main streets here that run parallel to the lake and they are filled with chocolate stores which is any girls paradise. All you had to do was go in and you were handed samples of twisted white chocolate, nut balls, and melting mouse that took your taste buds to heaven.

To work off the calories I did a short 1049 meters hike to Cerro Campanario. This was one of the best view points I've ever seen with 360 degrees of mountain peaks and lakes. The heart shaped island fit right in as the center piece of this extraordinary scene. Vicky, my new roommate, and I sat there for ages first enjoying our delicious freshly made sandwiches and then a magnificent cake oozing with chocolate and dolce de leche. The whole country is crazy about this condensed milk with a caramel texture they put it on all their desserts and I'm totally okay with that!

My evenings here were spent on the Marcopolo bar / restaurant. Mostly it was because every day they offered dinner for $2.5 which is very affordable for any standards. It was good food too like pasta, chicken and potatoes with white sauce, and great home made pizza. I did go out on the final night at sat down to dinner at 11:30 pm (peak dinner hour in Argentina) and enjoyed a fresh made lasagna with additions like hard boiled egg and pastrami.

On my third day I gathered some fellow hostel guests and we headed towards the Swiss Colony. Here we found a gathering of cultures as vendors offered everything from craft beer, to empanadas, tacos, or ground buried pork. We were supposed to do this expedition by bike but the wind seemed way too fierce so we decided to take our two legs instead. After the Swiss colony we walked for about 6 hours around what we thought was different lakes just to find it out was one big giant one. We lost track of the route and ended up making up our own attractions like merging of the waters (the two lakes connecting). We still had a great time full of exhausted laughs and unsuccessful hitch hiking attempts.

There was more to my stay here than just great food which was obviously a high light in my books. On my last day in town I gathered some troops and we managed to hire a car. We took it around the magnificent lake district that reminded me a lot of the sea to sky hi-way in Vancouver. The day was super successful as we saw 7 lakes, a river, a waterfall and a rainbow. Of course after such a long day we were craving dessert and ended up polishing of a kilo of ice cream between the 4 of us. The sweet tooth just can't get a rest here and I love the country even more for it!