Bariloche, Argentina, South America

I ended up being on the bus a lot longer than I had expected to today. The tire ended up taking over four hours to change, so instead of getting into Bariloche at 2:30pm, we got in at 6:30pm, making it a 22 hour bus ride. Not as fun as it sounds. The ride was okay. It was a pretty comfortable bus, and I had a seat without another seat next to me, so I was able to sprawl out. Even then, I still wasn’t able to get more than a couple hours of sleep all together.

I got into Bariloche around 6:30pm and got a taxi straight over to Periko’s Hostel. It’s a pretty nice hostel, right in the center of the city. The guy who was working, Charlie, was really helpful with information on where to go and what to do tomorrow, and also where to get a good dinner tonight. I put my bags in the room, and was happy to see they had saved me a bottom bunk.

I went out to a restaurant called Alberto’s for a nice steak dinner. I felt like I deserved it after that long bus ride last night. I hadn’t had a proper meal in about 24 hours, so I was thrilled to have a great steak, a huge portion of mashed potatoes, and a big beer. It was definitely the best steak I’ve had on this trip, but it was pretty expensive for South American standards. I still think that a good Argentinian steak is the same as a good steak anywhere else. If you want a good one, you’re going to have to pay for it. It cost 240 pesos ($20), but it was well worth it. Most meals here are about 100 pesos.

After dinner I came back to the hostel and I’m going to have an early night. It’s funny how I can be so exhausted after just sitting on a bus for almost a full day, but I am. I’m looking forward to going for a bike ride tomorrow. It’s supposed to be beautiful around here.