Random Writings

I’ve now been in Bariloche for five days and seen quite a number of the sights despite rain and high winds – it’s autumn here, of course. I braved the high winds with two Canadians (Jason and Camilla) to climb Cerro Otto on Friday – this is initially an uphill climb on wooded tracks until you reach the access road which takes you to the top. This being a resort town, there’s a cable-car and cafe on the top – both were very shut! We huddled round the back, ate our sandwiches and walked back again.
On Saturday (my birthday) I walked around the Circuito Chico – a pleasant route around one of the smaller lakes. It’s recommended as a bike ride, but I reckoned with the indifferent weather I’d walk and then bail out to a bus if the heavens opened! Anyway, it didn’t rain too much and there are some lovely views, particularly the huge waterfall that comes right down the cliff face behind the Mountaineer’s Cemetery. Unfortunately, most of the fine views of the lake are hidden by trees that stand on private land – but it was still very pleasant.

A very high waterfall

Today, with glorious sunny weather and no wind, I’ve been to Villa Catedral, which is the ski resort a few miles from Bariloche – one of the biggest in Argentina. Out of both the ski and main summer holiday seasons it resembles a deserted theme park – but there were still plenty of people mooching about and walking and enjoying the view. I walked up to the snow line, which took about an hour, but didn’t fancy going to far beyond (I was on my own and without mountaineering gear, and I didn’t have a mobile or radio) so wandered back down again and got the bus back to town and a large icecream…

Language school starts tomorrow. I’ll keep you posted!

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 15th, 2007 at 8:57 pm and is filed under South America.