Bariloche

San Carlos de Bariloche is a beautiful town set in between a lake and the mountains. The pine trees and wooden chalets reminds one of the Alpine ski resorts in Europe. It’s no wonder they call Bariloche the little Switzerland.

Bariloche is another city that has been very hardly hit by the eruption of Chilean volcano Puyehue since June. Over past 6 months, meters of volcanic ash have fallen on this city, forcing the city to close its international airport until February 2012.  Revenue from tourism has fallen by at least 50% with visitors in their tens of thousands cancelling a trip here.

As we walked around town we could not help noticing the number of businesses, especially restaurants that have closed due to lack of activity. Many of them are still in our guide books as great places to eat at or hang out but simply do not exist anymore.

View from our room

We stayed at the Barraca Suites hostel thanks to a great tip from Will and Archanna who had been there before. It’s a beautifully converted town house with a big garden, cosy en suite rooms, fully equipped kitchen and an unbeatable view of the lake. Clara is the lady of the house and her husband Cyril is French.

Weather in Bariloche especially in this period is very good. Warm sunny days bless this beautiful town. But as it happens we were there during the only three days in the past 3 weeks with a drizzle and temperatures under 15°C. So we made plans accordingly.

We went to the Cerro Campanaria and climbed the 1km up to the summit to have a good view of both lake and mountains. Sadly the summits were hidden by the menacing clouds. We then went to another site where there was a nice waterfall and a mirador also 1km up. On our way up a dog from one of the holiday houses there accompanied us all the way to the top.

Inside the Rapa Nui chocolate shop

The following day we stayed in a bit and went out only after lunch. We headed straight to a very nice chocolate store. Bariloche is famous for its chocolate and this store (Rapa Nui Chocolates) doubles up as a Viennese style coffee salon where one may choose from a long list of cheesecakes, muffins, shortcakes, Victoria sandwiches, pound cakes etc. We enjoyed a couple of thick hot chocolates and a chocolate cheese cake ... delicious.

During our stay in Bariloche we ate very well too. We enjoyed home grilled Bife de Chorizo, had take away empanadas and went out once to the Family Weiss Restaurant where we had Patagonian specialties which are Venison stew and Grilled lamb. My venison was just a little overdone but Roxana’s lamb was splendid.

After three nice relaxing days in Bariloche we take a bus to Cipolletti to finally meet up with Cecilia, Juane and Pedrito, our friends there. We are so excited!


For more pics of Bariloche