Bariloche, Argentina, South America

I spent the morning walking around Bariloche and checking out what the town had to offer. It’s really touristy, a lot of shops, bars and cafes, but it was really nice. I got a bus over to the base of Cerro Otto, and got the cable car to the top of the mountain. It was a beautiful view from the top, and you could see all the mountains and lakes surrounding Bariloche. I spent about an hour and a half up there. I had a nice lunch in the revolving restaurant at the top and just enjoyed the scenery. So far, Bariloche has definitely impressed me the most in Argentina. I got the cable car back down with a nice Chilean couple who didn’t speak any English. And with my Spanish being so terrible, we had a pretty choppy conversation, but we got through it.

I was supposed to get a bus back to the town from the base of the mountain, but it left as soon as I got down there, so I was going to have to wait for another hour for the next bus. The Chileans were nice enough to offer me a ride into town since they had their own car. They were really nice. I found out that he is a cop and she is a teacher back in Chile, and that he liked house music. I wasn’t able to get much more out of the conversation than that though.

I got back into town and went for an ice cream at a place called Rapa Nui Chocolates. It had been recommended to me by a few people, and for good reason. The ice cream was amazing! I had a scoop of hazelnut chocolate, and a scoop of cappuccino. Both were delicious.

I headed over to the bus terminal at about 4pm and caught my bus to Esquel at 5pm. I don’t know how I got so unlucky, but the bus was full of kids, around 12 years old, who much have been on a field trip to Bariloche. I was the ONLY person on the upper level of the bus who was not in the school group. It was horrible. Just a bunch of annoying, screaming kids on a bus, and the really fat, smelly teacher who I had to sit next to. It was awful. I had also realized that I was supposed to be on an executive class bus with a big comfy seat, and I wasn’t. It was just a normal semi-cama bus. I was readying myself for the worst bus ride I would have on the whole trip.

Luckily for me, we changed busses in Esquel and moved on to a big executive class bus, with a single seat to myself with no seats next to it. It is perfect. So now it’s 10:30pm and I am hoping to get a little sleep before I arrive in Puerto Madryn tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed there are no flat tires tonight!