Argentina 2006 Cross Globe Reisverhalen / Travel stories

BARILOCHE

We had read in several guidebooks and on the internet that Bariloche was like an alpine town, with wooden/stone Swiss-style chalets, close to a ski area and with lots of chocolate stores. Since we like mountains, lakes and chalet-style houses very much, we had been looking forward to Bariloche as one of the highlights of our trip. When driving into the center of Bariloche, we were disappointed. We didn’t like it at all .... We have to admit that the main square (Centro Cívico) was indeed beautiful with buildings in alpine style and with nice views on the Nahuel Huapi lake and also the square with the cathedral was like on a postcard, but apart from that it was too big and had too many high buildings to be charming.
Don’t get us wrong: for people who are fed up with the open spaces of Patagonia, who want to get back into the city life with cinema, theatre, pubs and good restaurants, for people who want to spend their money on souvenirs, it’s an ideal place. You will find there everything you need. But to us it was almost like a shock to be in such a busy city. We preferred to stay on a campground outside the city, next to the lake. And yes, there are very nice places to stay outside the city centre, with views of the lake. Some of the campgrounds have there own private beach.
Tip for backpackers: the Hostel 1004 is a recommendation: it's on the 10th floor of an ugly building in the city centre but the rooms are very nice, the general living room is very cosy and the views are excellent. We checked it out but couldn't stay there because it was fully-booked and we actually we preferred to stay outside the city centre.
The Circuito Chico is a loop of 60 km that starts in Bariloche, follows the shore of the Nahuel Huapi lake, enters the Llao Llao area and returns to Bariloche. If you want to you can do a detour through the Colonia Suiza. We thought it was a drive through a nature park, without any houses and with constantly views on the mountains and the lakes. But along the way, there were houses everywhere and although there were splendid lake and mountain views here and there, mostly the visibility was obstructed by the houses or by the trees. The Llao Llao area is beautiful though. But each time when we got out of our car to walk to the lake shore we were chased back to our car by these very annoying stinging insects (horseflies) that wouldn’t leave us in peace!
The "Colonia Suiza" was one big joke: there was one Swiss-style house, a little museum and then a square full of souvenir shops. We had expected a whole Swiss-style village.
Funny story: we bought 2 tickets for a Tango show in Bariloche but it appeared to be a theatre/dance/music show about Tango and Melonga. A very funny theatre piece …. But we didn’t catch all the jokes because our slang Spanish is not that good ;^) It was a nice show anyway, with some excellent tango dancing.

VILLA LA ANGOSTURA

Villa La Angostura was much more like it. It was exactly what we had expected from Bariloche: really Swiss-style, small, cozy, charming. The choice of chocolate they had there was a crime! We could have stayed there for several days (but didn't have the time unfortunately) but that wouldn’t have been good for our liver with all that chocolate nearby (as good Belgians, one of the chocolate countries in the world, we are addicted to chocolate).
We did an excursion to Parque de los Arrayanes: first we took a catamaran to the Park and then we walked the 12km trail back to Villa La Angostura. The Arrayanes trees were beautiful and so was the trail, we really enjoyed our hike, except for this little scary encounter with mean looking cows :o). The catamaran left at 11am in the peaceful little harbour of La Villa. There was a nice beach, which was deserted. The 12km trail ended up at that same beach and we were amazed about the amount of people that were sunbathing there or playing in the ice-cold water. We got the impression that Argentine people become active very late in the day, where Northern-European people start much more early in the day. (This is no offense to Argentine people, it’s just the awareness of a cultural difference.) Some people went to the beach at 7pm … that would the time that Belgians would be leaving the beach! Funny.
We recommend the visit to the Arrayanes park (and especially the 12km walk) to all nature lovers: lots of cinnamon coloured Arrayanes trees (almost extinct) and lots of coihues, flowers, …. And here and there some lake views.
Hint: there are a few possibilities to visit Parque Nacional Los Arrayanes. The park is located on a peninsula, near Villa La Angostura.
1) You can walk from La Villa (the “harbour” area of Villa La Angostura) to the end of the peninsula, where you will find the biggest concentration of Arrayanes and do the same walk back. In total: 24 km.
2) You can take a catamaran from La Villa to the end of the peninsula, take a look at the Arrayanes, and then walk the 12 km back to La Villa
3) You can walk from La Villa to the end of the peninsula, where most of the Arrayanes are and then take a ferry back to La Villa
4) You can hire a mountain bike and do the whole trip by bike
Our experience learns that option 2 is the best option.

• Walking up and down (24km) is quite tough. There are some steep climbs during the walk.
  
• Walking from La Villa to the end of the peninsula is much more strenuous than the other way around.
  
• We saw some people doing this “walk” with a mountain bike and they were really suffering. When I asked if it
  was tough, they assured me it was extremely tough. They had to get off their bikes quite often because the path was sometimes too steep to do it by bike.
  

If you want to take the ferry, book your ticket in advance! They are often sold out in high season.