So like Jared said we left Él Bolson in the rain, and since we are cheap but not THAT cheap we decided to get a hostel in Bariloche, the next stop along the way. Argentina, and lots of places here, sometimes have 'funny' little things. Today's example was the price per night of the hostel. We got one rate on booking.com, there was an astronomically high rate on the wall, then there were about 3 other rates we heard from the other travellers staying in the hostel. Apparently if you walk up and get quoted one rate, you ask for a discount, and there are lots of different 'discounts' you can be given depending on the mood the receptionist is in. We commonly see a posted rate and then the discount rate, but this was just ridiculous.
However, we can't complain too much because we got an ok rate AND a bed under a roof- luxury!
It was a nice view from the hostel common area
The weather was ok the next day, and the forecast didn't look great after that, so we jumped on the chance to get out and see some things. We were joined by a couple of travellers we had met, from Israel and France.
The first thing we did was a little baby hike up Cerro Campanario. The view was fantastic, one of the best in the area, but tons of people around. It was a little crazy- but check out the view!
We drove to the end of a little peninsula, and took some pictures by the beach.
Then we took another nature walk, and got to see these trees! They are called Arrayanes, and they are
So fascinating looking.
Doesn't this bark look like fairies live in it?
The Circuito Chico (the 60 km loop we were driving around), had so many lovely views, and with the vehicle we could see so much and go exactly where we wanted. We saw people from the hostel that had rented bikes, and I kind of felt guilty as we cruised by them! They would be slugging up a hill with the most haggard looks on their faces and I felt like the Queen of Sheba riding around in a vehicle.
We ended up at a feria artesanal, which is just a fun little hippy market that sells all kinds of trinkets (jewellery, knitted goods, wood carvings, etc). They also had some craft beers so the four of us sat down and tried those out. I had some amazing strudel! The little town we were in was called Colonia Suiza, named for all the Swiss people that settled here about 100 years ago. They also brought chocolate here, and there are SO many little chocolate shops in the area, it's awesome.
We only stayed one more night at that hostel. We actually decided we wanted to try Workaway, which is a website that connects people like us that want to volunteer with people that need small jobs done. The deal is that for 4ish hours of work per day, you stay for free. Sometimes breakfast is included, and usually there's 1-2 days free per week. We didn't really know what to expect but other travellers had made it sound worthwhile, so we sent a few requests out that night. The next morning we had got a reply from a little Hosteria (a bed and breakfast) on the Circuito Chico, the tourist loop we had been driving around the day before. They were in low season, but needed help with light renos. So we packed up Gringa and headed out there. There was a couple from the States there, they had been doing a workaway there for about 3 weeks and were leaving the next day. They gave us the run down and we also met one of the owners. They all seemed really nice, and the Hosteria was on a really cool chunk of property. We had a great view of the lake and there were some beautiful huge trees in the yard. There was also a cervezeria (a microbrewery) and restaurant right next door, ran by the same family. All of the big buildings were built in the late 1800s, the restaurant in 1880. It used to be a stable and there were still axe marks in the beams from when it was constructed. We couldn't believe our luck on our very first try at workaway!
These pictures are from a little half day hike we did- Cerrito Llao llao (pronounced zyow zyow). It was like the Cerro Campanario viewpoint, but in my opinion just a baby bit better because there were no people on the trail, no one at the top, and when you looked down it was just mountains, lakes, and forest. You couldn't see any roads, houses or civilization. However, still really glad we got to do both!
Can you see me on the left? I'm just a tiny blip on the radar compared to this epic view
There were so many dogs on the property, it was actually kind of hilarious. Just when I thought I had an idea of how many dogs they had (they admitted to 10), I would see one more and think 'where the heck did you come
from?' Luckily we did not have to use any veterinary skills while there, as they were all pretty healthy.
There were wild mushrooms we could pick there- isn't this place so cool?!
The safe ones to eat didn't have the gills underneath, they just looked spongey like this.
As if that wasn't enough, there was also a couple walnut trees that provided some tasty snacks.
This is bad, but I'm not sure if this picture is from the half day hike I did to Mirador Lago Gutierrez, or on the day we went to Cerro Lopez. They're all just so beautiful and starting to mush together in my memory!
This is for sure from the Cerro Lopez day. We only had to put a second coat of paint on the walls, so we decided to hike in the morning instead and then work in the afternoon. The weather was so spectacular that day, it was so great to be out there. And how lucky have we been? It's late fall and there are still lots of leaves on the trees, and they are all turning such gorgeous colours. There could have been a couple hard frosts back in late March and that would have been the end of fall. Yet here we are, mid May and it's fantastic.
A refugio on the way up. How cool would it be to just hang out here in all of nature's splendour? You would serve the odd cup of tea or pint of beer to whatever hiker showed up, maybe put them up for the night- but most of the time you could just look at the view, drink tea, eat chocolates and knit. Sounds like paradise to me.
Me in front of the refugio, picturing my life as a 'professional alpine knitter' 😉
Great view of Cerro Lopez!
And that, tucked into the mountain, is Refugio Lopez. How did they get all the building supplies up there?
If you look close, you can see Refugio Lopez on the mountain, kind of more to the left, just below the snow line.
Don't ancient glaciers make cool lakes?
After that, we went to a little restaurant for hot chocolate and brownies. Overpriced? Sure, but also a great view.
Here is our finished project with the painter's tape off and the room tidied up. If we were smart we would have shown you a before shot of all the holes and bumps on the walls and the bare concrete. But we are not smart.
The walnut tree in the yard. It was kind of a hard place to leave!
The restaurant and cervezeria
We left one morning, headed up to the San Martin de Los Andes area. On the way, we drove the Siete Lagos road, named after the many lakes you drive by on your way. It was a beautiful drive, and we continued on past San Martin into the Parque Nacional Lanin. We took about 45 minutes of good gravel, followed by 45 minutes of really twisty, up and down, occasionally really muddy gravel to get to the trailhead for the Termas Queni (hot springs). We had been told about this place by one of the friends of the owners at our Workaway. Local tips are always solid gold, and this place was no exception, but I'm getting ahead of myself. We actually parked before a river, because we decided if we got stuck trying to cross the river with Gringa, it would be not so great. There was no one around and it didn't seem like something we wanted to deal with! So we put our sandals on and crossed the freezing cold river, and continued on foot for another hour to reach the hot springs. This is a picture of the trail, which was really tranquil and beautiful. Every km the sign would say something nice (in Spanish), like: You are strong, it is going to be good, 3 km more. Or 'close your eyes, listen to the sounds of the birds, the trees, the wind, 2 kms more.' Just the kind of ridiculous hippy stuff I adore.
Once we made it, all of that driving and hiking did not disappoint. There were increasingly hotter pools leading up to a waterfall of thermal water! It was basically untouched, just a few logs placed here and there to act as benches on the side. It was like a utopia.
We spent a great couple hours drinking wine, eating snacks and soaking in the water. Having the place to ourselves was too amazing. Best hot springs we have ever been to, easy.
A much smaller spring we crossed, this picture was from the next day driving out. Our next stop is to an estancia (ranch) of some friends of my parents.
Until Next Time!
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