Bariloche

From El Chalten, we were booked on a bus for 2 straight days to Bariloche. It was supposed to be 12 hours each day, but ended up--lucky us!--being more. Again, we see several faces that we already know on our bus day 1. We rode up ruta 40 most of the way and the scenery was uneventful. After our first 13 hour day, we were all dumped out at a hostel. Most of us had been booked there by the bus company and the place was not very exciting. It did have a yummy resteraunt that wasnt too much money attached to it, so we sat down for dinner with 3 aussies we had become friends with since Port Natales. Dan, Brian, and Joel are a bit crazy. They felt strongly that since we had all day to sleep on the bus, we might as well stay up all night. I got out the cards for drinking games and we closed out the restaurant and bought all their large 1 liter beers before heading back to the boys rooms for more fun.

We arrived in Bariloche late in the evening, but thankfully near the center of town. Mike and I wanted to stay at 1004, the best hostel in town according to all the travelers we have met, but it was booked. We tried another place to stay, which was also booked, before ending up at Tango Inn (we are at the downtown one). Of course, one of the girls from the bus was booked there as well. They serve real breakfast -- with your choice of pancakes or eggs. Yummy! Mike and I strolled through town, had a fabulous sandwich for 8 pesos from the street vendor we´d been told was amazing. The sammies were delicious!! We then ran into our aussie pals and took the bus with them to Cerro Campanario. Cerro Campanario has ski lifts for you to take up and gaze upon the city. It was yet another lovely view. We saw lovely large lakes and mountains. I rode the ski lift up for 25 pesos with the boys, Mike opted to hike it up with a Canadian we met on the bus. I am still a bit worn out from the buses and trekking, I am glad to have spent the extra cash on the ride up.

Tomorrow, we are slated to bike around the lakes. Apparently, there is a 35 KM loop that is relatively easy to do. From here, we head back to Chile on Friday. We are planning to go to Pucon to ideally see the volcano. :-)