Bariloche

Thursday 11 th February

Breakfast was pretty good, scrambled egg as well as the usual stuff, and real coffee for a change. Found the shop that sells the bus card and bought one. Then headed to the station only to find it is closed on Thursdays! All locked up and sign showing opening times and "Jeuves Cerrado". The station building itself looks good, in the Swiss Eclectic style, with a possible hint of Tudorbethan, that seems to have found favour for all public buildings. So my plans are still fluid.

Followed the suggestion of the girl in the tourist office and got the 20 bus to Lao Lao about 20 km west of the centre. The bus journey was good value at only 20 pesos but after "standing room only" more and more people got on but stopped short of riding on the roof. Since I had got on at the beginning of the route at the bus station I had a seat so was quite comfortable.

It took the best part of an hour to reach Lao Lao, which is dominated by a massive luxury hotel surrounded by gardens and a golf course. Later I checked on how much it cost and was surprised that it was not so expensive US$270 per night. 

Lau Lau Hotel

On the other side of the road is a terminal for local cruises which look quite interesting, maybe tomorrow. Had a cup of coffee sitting outside in the brilliant sunshine.

View from the Cruise Terminal

View from the Cruise Terminal in opposite direction

On the other side of the road is a terminal for local cruises which look quite interesting, maybe tomorrow. Had a cup of coffee sitting outside in the brilliant sunshine. Looking at the map I realised that the entrance to the forest trails is about 1km up the road where I found an information office and a better map. The forest is beautiful, dominated by tall cypress trees (Austrocedrus Chilensis as I learnt from an information board). For the first few hundred metres of the trail there are information boards on the flora and fauna, but after that everything is as natural as possible and the only sounds are the birds. I didn't see any exciting wildlife, a few little lizards, some nondescript birds and one woodpecker (Carpentiro Gigante) pecking away, but plenty of amazing views of the mountains where the trail leads to a beach on the lake. 

Austrocedrus Chilensis

Mountain and Lake

Mountain and Lake

Another trail led to the "Roman" bridge, which I thought might overturn all the history I learnt at school, but turns out it was built in the 1930's; obviously the golden decade for Bariloche.

"Roman" Bridge built in 1937

Let's take a Selfie in the Middle of the Road

One of the guys I met in Santiago, from Germany, was telling me how friendly he found South Americans. It hasn’t been my experience so far. Along the path, I made a point of saying "hola" to some of the people coming the other way. If I greeted them I would get a response but very few said anything spontaneously. I never think of England as being particularly friendly but if I am out walking in the country I usually get a greeting from people I meet. I did find that several people asked me for directions, which I was happily thinking was because I looked like a man who knew where he was going, until I realised I had a map sticking out of my pocket. Started heading back about five to get the bus back to the centre and managed to get a seat again. In the evening went to a little cafe across the road from the hotel where I had fairly average ravioli and a beer. It cost the same as the delicious meal last night.

Friday 12th February

After breakfast set off to the station for the second time, arriving at 9.00 to find the door still shut and three people waiting in front of me. The're not back packers and don't look like tourists so I am quite optimistic. A few minutes later a woman opens the door and goes behind the counter to serve the first couple in front of me. There's lots of discussion and checking of IDs but they walk away with a clutch of tickets. I am a bit worried about the next woman who gets a whole pack of ID cards out of her purse but, after a brief discussion with the ticket seller, she walks away empty handed. The ticket seller speaks English; she tells me the train on the 14th is fully booked, so is the train on the 22^nd, nothing before the 28th so I walk away empty handed too. Plan A was the 14th, plan B was the 21st and I spent quite some time looking at what I could do with an extra week in the region. Didn't work on plan C at all.  As Fagin says in the musical Oliver ”I'm reviewing the situation… I think I'd better think it out again!

Trying to Buy Tickets for the Tren Patagonica

End of the Line - Lonely Platform.

Ancient Signalling Gear

Before SMS: Sending a Text

Nice Station. Shame about the Service

For the rest of today the plan was to get the bus to Lao Lao again and possibly get one of the afternoon cruises. It's much cloudier and windier than yesterday so it's fleece time. Get the bus but by the time I reach Lau Lau the clouds are darker and there is rain coming in from the lake; the mountains are hidden. Reach the terminal building minutes before the drizzle turns to rain and have a cup of coffee and a brownie, inside, where there is a crooner, Martin Otmarich who, apparently, is quite well known. I don't mind being serenaded with love songs or opera in the evenings but it feels out of place in the middle of the day.  There’s no sign of the weather improving so it seems silly to spend money and time on a cruise no point in following the trail to the viewpoint to view invisible mountains so decide to get the bus back. Yesterday I was sitting in the shade of the tree at the bus stop to get out of the burning sun, today to keep out of the cold drizzle. It isn’t  long before the bus comes and I get on, relatively dry. Two stops on and the people getting on are sodden. As we head back towards the centre of town gaps of blue sky appear between the clouds. Definitely a place with micro climates. Not much point in looking up the weather forecast for “Bariloche” when it can alternate between  hot brilliant sunshine and chilly squally showers in the space of minutes or kilometres. Guess the English equivalent is "April Showers".

Back in the centre of town it was still unsettled so decided to look round the museum for 30 pesos. The ground floor was devoted to physical geography, flora and fauna, with excellent information in English. Yes, there were lots of stuffed animals and birds but there was an explanation of how this came about and an understanding that change was needed. The upper floor focused on the indigenous inhabitants and the colonisation of Patagonia by European setlers followed by the specific history of Bariloche.  Unfortunately all this was explained in Spanish with only with short summaries in English.

Brilliant sun again when I came out and found a cup of coffee in a wooden shopping mall. One of the things I like about both Chile and Argentina is that the architects are identified on their buildings, so drinking my coffee, I can read that this was designed by Remy Lemmens Architectural Designs and built by Gotze Construcciones, both based here in Bariloche. The main streets in the centre are dominated by chocolate, souvenir and clothes shops, hotels and restaurants, with many similar small malls. I do wonder how all of them make a living. Looking round this corner of one floor of a two floor mall  I can see five clothes shops, one candle and lamp shop, a stuffed toy shop, two tour agencies and a sporting goods shop plus the cafe I am sitting in. 

Wooden Shopping Mall

More  Faux Swiss Architecture