San Carlos de Bariloche, Patagonia, Argentina

From El Calafate we made the bus journey to Bariloche, the Argentinean Lake District in Patagonia.

Matt: We naively thought the bus would head directly north on the famous Ruta 40, straight to Bariloche... This was the last time we made any assumptions in Argentina!

The first stop was Rio Gallegos... 4 hours to the east on the Atlantic coast. WTF? Well, after picking up another passenger (taking the total number of passengers on the 50+ seat coach to 7... including us, Alison and Joel!!) the bus headed north, hugging the coast for around 10 hours.

Finally the driver turned left and headed west to Bariloche. By our estimation, we had around 14 hours left. That is until the bus was pulled over at a police checkpoint in the middle of nowhere. After a local copper checked the Argentine passengers' IDs, a few minutes passed before the Feds hopped on board with sniffer dog in tow, and hauled off one of the passengers (not one of us, I hasten to add!) and took him in to the checkpoint building.

Having decided to waive any form of discretion such as closing the door or drawing the blinds, the Feds proceeded to search the man's luggage in full view of the bus, causing him to thrust his head into his hands. The officer then extracted a plastic bag which he then emptied onto a set of electric scales. Out tumbled either the largest collection of beef stock cubes of all time, or a rather large haul of hashish!

At this point, around 1 hour after stopping, the driver updated us saying "Only 10 minutes more" before putting a feature length film on the TV system. Well, we all figured this poor chap was going to get cuffed and jailed... Not a bit of it. The drivers got involed and brewed up a cup of mate (tea) to share with the Feds and the guy repacked his bags, got back on the bus and relaxed as if nothing had happened. Eh? Now we were confused.

After a 2 hour discussion, much tea drinking and some mysterious paper-signing, the drivers got back on board and continued our trip without batting an eye lid. Maybe I'm being cynical, but one might suspect there was going to be a great party at the checkpoint that night!

We continued through the harsh wilderness of Patagonia (see the view from the bus below) and, some 30 hours after leaving El Calafate, FINALLY arrived in the beautiful lakeside town of Bariloche.

Bariloche is famous for it's tasty chocolate. Where better to reward ourselves the next morning with chocolate smoothies and coffees. 

Sarah: The best drink I have ever had - raspberry and chocolate smoothie

As there were four of us, it was cheap enough to hire a car for the day. This was the best way to visit the seven lakes.

Sarah: Joel and Matt clearly having a lot of fun with a water bottle!

We were lucky enough to see Condors, the Lord of the Andes, which are a rare sight these days.

We continued through the lake district which was the most diverse scenery we have seen yet, lush green forests, snow-capped mountains and then dry, barren desert.

The round trip took us about six hours

When we came back to the lake in Bariloche, the wind was 70kph. It made an amazing spectacle...

At the end of the day, we had the best rib-eye steak so far. It warranted a photo of the chef.

Sarah: Alison and I just wanted a nice pic of Martin (the chef) so we asked the boys to stand in front of the bbq. 

The next day, the Aussies left us and we hired some bikes to check out Parque National Nahuel Huapi

Sarah: Matt always says, I am the slowest cyclist in the world - I definitely didn't disappoint him on this day - it was up, down, up, down and up, down for 4 hours! I am still the slowest cyclist in the world who now also likes to walk uphill with a bike every now and then as well.

Matt: Hold on! Here's evidence of Sarah tackling a bloody steep hill without setting foot on the road. Fair play! (Although she is still the slowest cyclist in the world...)

We were told that this is the hotel that the Latin America version of the G8 summit is held. All the South American presidents come here to talk about VERY important things. Luckily, there wasn't a meeting whilst we were there as the whole town is shut down for it.

We then said good-bye to the Lake District and continued north to begin the epic wine-tasting adventure....