bariloche and lanin national park.
bariloche.
we find the outstanding hostel ‘1004’ in the highest and ugliest building of the town. from the outside it looks like a former gdr ‘plattenbau’ but the view from the 10th floor is breathtaking: lake, mountain range, clear sky. the music is excellent and juan, who’s running the show, is a very helpful chap. this is a perfect place if you’re forced to sit and wait. so we get 2 bottles of wine (which must have been expensive for argentine standards according to the reaction in the hostel), bread, ham and cheese at the supermarket and sit and wait. i must say i like the malbec wine. very intense and harmonic taste. not as boring as a merlot but not as sharp as a cabernet.
p.s: argentina is the only country i know where eating in a restaurant is cheaper than cooking.
bariloche, junin de los andes.
we take the car from bariloche to junin de los andes along the scenic ‘seven lakes route’. i don’t know if it’s seven lakes as we see lakes all the time but scenic it truly is. again we can’t really rush ahead. we stop every other minute to take pictures. this is picture postcard country. a perfect blue sky, snow capped mountains, yellow flowers, once a while some little huts and a lot of water. if i ever want to live in a peaceful place at the end of the world this is a favourite.
in junin we have some big steak. again it arrives how the chef likes it but it’s good stuff anyway.
lanin national park.
we leave early for a day hike on the volcano lanin. lazy as we are we decide to take the easy route that does not follow the direct path on the moraine. the good thing about our route is that it meanders less steeply through the bushes and rocks. the bad thing is that we get lost as there is no indicated path and the directions in the book are far from usable. so we use a trial and error approach. which turns out to be an error approach most of all. but we find nice viewpoints that are not described in the book. markus has fun as we do a lot of climbing. i don’t feel too comfortable as there are a lot of loose rocks on the steep slopes. once a while we split up to find a way separately. it starts to get funny when i descend to meet him further down while he ascends again to meet me. in the maze of rocks we miss each other and end up where the other person was before. it’s hide and seek for grown-ups.
as we already spent a lot of time with crisscrossing and going back and forth, we finally decide to return to the standard route on the moraine. this allows me to develop an unexpected taste for snow fields when we have to climb one. compared to the loose gravel and stones the heavy snow is actually stable. we figure out that we’re not really well equipped to climb the volcano when 3 guys with crampons pass us. compared to our walking speed they’re jogging. i’m speechless, both from the heavy breathing but also from watching them. we take a late lunch break and enjoy the views and the sun instead of ascending to the saddle 100m above us. we’re lazy and we watch some maniacs coming down the slope sliding on their butts or running and jumping. well, either they are very stupid and i’m a very reasonable, security-oriented, avalanche-fearing german sissy or this is actually fun – and very fast. as the snow seems safe i want to find out the truth. so we jog down the volcano, too. what can i say? i have now clue if what we do is unreasonable but it certainly is a lot of fun. and it’s very cold when you do it just wearing shorts. sometimes i sink into the snow until it reaches my knees. arriving at the moraine we spend some time drying the soaking wet socks and putting on some sun protection for the legs. embarrassing but true: i have a severe sunburn on my legs.
dinner: again ‘same, same but different’. again steak, again the order is ignored. they are trained enough to ask how you like it but in the end it comes out one way or the other. i guess i shouldn’t expect anything anymore.
i need to take painkillers to be able to sleep. hopefully next time i’m smart enough to follow the simple rule ‘sun + snow = sunburn’. like the horseback riding this trip leaves a long-lasting souvenir. this time not only for days but for weeks.
lake huechulafquen, lake paimun.
the drive on the scenic route was peaceful but this area is even emptier. after passing lake huechulafquen we stop at lake paimun for a short hike. the idyll is almost unreal: sheep, horses, meadows, lake and river, mountains, sky. no people. so we sit at the shore and watch the mountains in chile. we have everything just for ourselves. that’s what i call real luxury. i guess it can’t get better than this.
we return to bariloche on the fast road. and even that has endless breathtaking views of rivers, lakes, valleys, hills and mountains. a bit of tuscany, a bit of southwest u.s. the more time i spend here the more i’m impressed by the different landscapes. obviously not only we like it here. an old-timer rally accompanies us all the way to bariloche. certainly we cheer for the porsches and mercedes.
we find the outstanding hostel ‘1004’ in the highest and ugliest building of the town. from the outside it looks like a former gdr ‘plattenbau’ but the view from the 10th floor is breathtaking: lake, mountain range, clear sky. the music is excellent and juan, who’s running the show, is a very helpful chap. this is a perfect place if you’re forced to sit and wait. so we get 2 bottles of wine (which must have been expensive for argentine standards according to the reaction in the hostel), bread, ham and cheese at the supermarket and sit and wait. i must say i like the malbec wine. very intense and harmonic taste. not as boring as a merlot but not as sharp as a cabernet.
p.s: argentina is the only country i know where eating in a restaurant is cheaper than cooking.
bariloche, junin de los andes.
we take the car from bariloche to junin de los andes along the scenic ‘seven lakes route’. i don’t know if it’s seven lakes as we see lakes all the time but scenic it truly is. again we can’t really rush ahead. we stop every other minute to take pictures. this is picture postcard country. a perfect blue sky, snow capped mountains, yellow flowers, once a while some little huts and a lot of water. if i ever want to live in a peaceful place at the end of the world this is a favourite.
in junin we have some big steak. again it arrives how the chef likes it but it’s good stuff anyway.
lanin national park.
we leave early for a day hike on the volcano lanin. lazy as we are we decide to take the easy route that does not follow the direct path on the moraine. the good thing about our route is that it meanders less steeply through the bushes and rocks. the bad thing is that we get lost as there is no indicated path and the directions in the book are far from usable. so we use a trial and error approach. which turns out to be an error approach most of all. but we find nice viewpoints that are not described in the book. markus has fun as we do a lot of climbing. i don’t feel too comfortable as there are a lot of loose rocks on the steep slopes. once a while we split up to find a way separately. it starts to get funny when i descend to meet him further down while he ascends again to meet me. in the maze of rocks we miss each other and end up where the other person was before. it’s hide and seek for grown-ups.
as we already spent a lot of time with crisscrossing and going back and forth, we finally decide to return to the standard route on the moraine. this allows me to develop an unexpected taste for snow fields when we have to climb one. compared to the loose gravel and stones the heavy snow is actually stable. we figure out that we’re not really well equipped to climb the volcano when 3 guys with crampons pass us. compared to our walking speed they’re jogging. i’m speechless, both from the heavy breathing but also from watching them. we take a late lunch break and enjoy the views and the sun instead of ascending to the saddle 100m above us. we’re lazy and we watch some maniacs coming down the slope sliding on their butts or running and jumping. well, either they are very stupid and i’m a very reasonable, security-oriented, avalanche-fearing german sissy or this is actually fun – and very fast. as the snow seems safe i want to find out the truth. so we jog down the volcano, too. what can i say? i have now clue if what we do is unreasonable but it certainly is a lot of fun. and it’s very cold when you do it just wearing shorts. sometimes i sink into the snow until it reaches my knees. arriving at the moraine we spend some time drying the soaking wet socks and putting on some sun protection for the legs. embarrassing but true: i have a severe sunburn on my legs.
dinner: again ‘same, same but different’. again steak, again the order is ignored. they are trained enough to ask how you like it but in the end it comes out one way or the other. i guess i shouldn’t expect anything anymore.
i need to take painkillers to be able to sleep. hopefully next time i’m smart enough to follow the simple rule ‘sun + snow = sunburn’. like the horseback riding this trip leaves a long-lasting souvenir. this time not only for days but for weeks.
lake huechulafquen, lake paimun.
the drive on the scenic route was peaceful but this area is even emptier. after passing lake huechulafquen we stop at lake paimun for a short hike. the idyll is almost unreal: sheep, horses, meadows, lake and river, mountains, sky. no people. so we sit at the shore and watch the mountains in chile. we have everything just for ourselves. that’s what i call real luxury. i guess it can’t get better than this.
we return to bariloche on the fast road. and even that has endless breathtaking views of rivers, lakes, valleys, hills and mountains. a bit of tuscany, a bit of southwest u.s. the more time i spend here the more i’m impressed by the different landscapes. obviously not only we like it here. an old-timer rally accompanies us all the way to bariloche. certainly we cheer for the porsches and mercedes.