We all wanted to relax a little during our remaining few days together. We went for a little walk in Parque Llao-Llao a few kilometres away. It was about an hours walk but when we arrived at the destination (a delightful little beach with pretty views), we couldn't resist the temptation to lie down in the sun.
We then completed a well known scenic drive around Parque Llao-Llao, called Circuito Chico. Here is a picture from Punto Panoramico. Awesome!!
Manuela and Martin made us a lovely dinner that night. Manuela even had Dale and I eating bruschetta type nibblies with eggplant. Neither of us particularly like eggplant but these were really nice. We are actually finding it impossible to buy fresh mushrooms here and the quality of the fruit and vegetables is not that great (we are being kind). Anyway dinner was great and was accompanied by Argentinian wine. We'll do the full wine wank about Mendoza malbecs and San Juan shiraz's when we return. Here we are pictured below enjoying our repast.
On Tuesday we climbed up to a lookout called Cerro Campanario that is just a few kilometres away. The time-poor people go up in the chair lift. More stunning views. Our landlords here claim that National Geographic rate this view as one of the best in the world. We certainly liked it!
On our last day with Manuela and Martin we went to see some caves that the indigenous people had apparently lived in. They were truly underwhelming and we've decided to strike cave viewings from future 'to do' lists. We've seen 3 really good ones in France but everywhere else they have been disappointing (sometimes even obvious fakes). So to cheer ourselves up we hit the chocolate shops in Bariloche, which is the chocolate capital of Argentina. Here's a picture of us in Mamushka - supposedly the best of the best.
Whilst chocoshopping Dale finally found a beer he approves of:
In additions to chocolate beer we've also tasted raspberry and cassis. They go down quite nicely thankyou.
After dropping Manuela and Martin at the airport last Thursday and the adios's and hasta lluegos - Dale and I walked to the top of Cerro Otto, another nearby mountain (closer in to the town centre). As with Cerro Campanario the time poor people go up in a gondola. The walk was charming with great views all along the way. Here's a picture looking away from Bariloche towards the Chilean border and the mountains of the Andes.
It is by the way quite cold here and quite dark in the morning, we think because Bariloche is on the western edge of its time zone. However the compensation is that the sunsets are between 7 and 8 so we are usually home to see them. Here's a superb photo Dale took at sunset.
The other benefit to being here in autumn is the amazing colours the forests are turning. It is like autumn in Canada, but the species of trees are quite different here so it's a new experience to see them. Plenty of photos show this off in the next instalment.
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