More Bariloche

Saturday 13th February

Found a shop to add money to my bus card but while I was doing that just missed the No. 20 bus. Again the plus side was that I was head of the queue and had a choice of seats when it arrived. Booked my boat trip to Puerto Blest y Cascada de los Cantaros, paid my National Park entrance fee and embarkation fee and then had a cup of coffee. It's peaceful in the café today, no crooner. The weather is better than yesterday but not much blue sky; quite cool and windy.

Boarded the Victoria Andina, another catamaran, and after a safety video in Spanish and English listened to a long spiel about the cruise in Spanish only before we were allowed to get up and move around. Very cloudy as we left, with only tiny parches of blue sky. Went up on deck and nearly got blown away. Didn't stay very long before retreating to the saloon inside for the test of our cruise up the Blest branch, a 15km long fjord-like branch of Lake Nahuel Huapi. The low grey clouds give it a distinctly sombre Scandinavian feel. After a brief stop at Puerto Blest, a single hotel, where several people got off, presumably to stay at the hotel, we crossed to the other side of the narrow fjord to the pier for the cascades where we all disembarked. Guess the hotel must appeal to people who want to get away from it all. 

Windy on Deck

Puerto Blest

The walk to the cascades was along a wooden pathway cum staircase which claimed to have 700 steps; I didn't count. Information signs along the way telling you about the forest and encouraging conservation but only in Spanish. It's within the National Park and I have been very impressed with the Parks both here and in Chile, well maintained, well signed and spotlessly clean. Huge contrast to SE Asia where litter is a serious problem. The cascades were pretty but not mind blowing. I was more impressed with the 700 step wooden staircase. I wondered if it was the longest in the world but apparently Norway has a wooden stairway with over 4000 steps. And how many trees went into building it? Has a small forest disappeared somewhere? 

Cascades

Cascades

Lots of Steps

Waiting for the Boat

Victoria Andina

After that it was back on the boat with an option to get off at Puerto Blest. Since I hadn't booked an additional boat trip on another nearby lake, I couldn't see much to do in there so I came back to the terminal at Lao Lao. Spent more time on deck since the wind had died down but still not much sun. Didn't have to wait too long at Lao Lao for the bus.

Evening had a hamburger in "Friends", a cafe with an amazing assortment of vintage toys hanging from the ceiling. Every ten minutes or so, someone would throw a switch and animate some of them. There was a model train running round a track suspended from the ceiling and puppet, think it’s a character out of Sesame Street, trundling along a wire above my head. 215 inc tip

Sunday 14th February.

Had a leisurely breakfast and then to the bus stop for the No. 55 bus to Cerro Catedral ski area. Waited for ages for the bus. I haven't seen timetables for the buses at the stops so I should have downloaded one. Luckily the sun came out which made for a   lovely scenic drive through the hills until we arrived at the modern but mostly closed ski resort. Quite a few people there considering how little was open. I was hoping at least one of the cable cars might be operating to take me part way  up the mountain but none were (was for pedants). In my Spanish classes I learnt that "todos los dias" meant "every day " but I was deceived. It clearly means "every day that we feel like it". 

Out of Season Ski Resort

So the only way I was going to get any higher was on foot. Fortified myself with some mushroom soup and coffee at one of the only two food places open. Then set off up the hill following a trail on the free map. Plan was to reach a view point at the top of one of the non-operating chairlifts. On the way up I stopped at many places to take photos of the wild flowers, not because they were any more exciting than the ones you can find in English meadows, but because it was a good excuse to stop and get my breath. Eventually I reached the top of the chairlift only to find it was the wrong one. Somewhere I had crossed onto the wrong path but the view wasn't bad and I had no desire for any more hill walking. 

Top of the Chair Lift: Lots of Chairs

View over Lake Nahuel Huapi

View over Hotels in the Ski Resort

 

Wild Flowers and Busy Bees

After descending, decided I had earned an apple strudel with cream and a coffee while waiting for the bus back to downtown Bariloche. The buses here have a strange system. They use stored value cards, which can be bought and charged at various shops, and don't accept cash but you need to tell the driver where you are going and he debits the card and issues a ticket. Downside is more work for the driver and a long wait if many people get on. Upside is that you can use your card to pay for multiple people. Surprised that they haven't gone either for the Singapore tap-in, tap-out approach or London and Santiago flat fares.

In the evening looked round the cathedral, the one which looks as if it has been plucked from England, and discovered it had been built in the mid 1940’s. It has brilliantly coloured stained glass windows, most of which had typical New Testament themes but several seem to depict the interaction of missionary priests with the local indigenous people; not all appear to have been happy. 

Later had dinner in Morphy’s and finally got to try a Milanesa. 

Not all Interactions were Friendly

Lake Nahuel Huapi