Breezing through Bariloche

After 5 months of travel through 6 different countries, we were very happy to be able to chill out in one place for a month. When we arrived in Mendoza, Argentina, we wondered if we’d be ready to move on at the end of the month. After all, splurging was going pretty well. With only a few days left, we realized we were ready to bounce. On to the bottom of the world.

Even though we were ready to explore some more, I found myself a little nervous. After staying put for an entire month, we had become comfortable. Especially since we didn’t have the twice a week to find a hostel, post office, grocery store, etc. It’s funny how quickly you can become comfortable in one place. Things become familiar and traveling to unfamiliar places can become a little daunting. This happens at home, but I was surprised that the same feelings came in only a month. We were back at it, though! Luckily, we found our next hostel pretty quickly, which included dinner at the standard Argentine dinner time of 9:00-10:30 p.m.

We didn’t intend on coming to Bariloche, so we didn’t look into it much at all. Our one and only mission was to go shopping. We had decided not to bring any cold weather clothes on our trip because they are bulky and weren’t necessary in the other countries. Now we need a little help taking on the cold Patagonian winds and weather. Now, everyone at home can hear us complain about the weather for a change!

Luckily we were able to find everything we needed quickly and we spent the rest of the day taking in the cute town of Bariloche. It has a very woodsy, cabin type vibe to it which is much different than what we’ve seen in South America. It sits on Lake Nahuel Huapi, which was out of control the day we were there. The winds were so strong that it looked more like an ocean than a lake.

Warmer clothes aren’t the only thing they sell a ton of in Bariloche. One of my new favorite type of stores was on almost every block. We stopped in El Turista to check out the goods. They had a few things to sell.

Just a few pieces of chocolate, times 1,000,000. What you see in those photos is only one-third of the store. Chocolate is big industry in Bariloche. We helped keep the economy going by tasting a few pieces.

Unfortunately, we only stayed in Bariloche for two nights and were off on a bus again. We only stopped there because it was the easiest and best way to get to our next location. We wished we could have stayed longer as it was such an interesting city. Too bad, we have a schedule to keep…back to Chile!