Bariloche 20-24th February 2011

San Carlos de Bariloche, usually known as Bariloche, is a city in the province of Rio Negro, Argentina, situated in the foothills of the Andes, just by the boarder with Chile, about 1,600km from Buenos Aires.  Strung out along the shoreline of Lago Nuhuel Huapi, in the middle of the national park, Bariloche has one of the most gorgeous settings imaginable.  Surrounded by lakes and mountains, the whole region around is known as the Lake District area.  It is a major international tourist destination with a permanent population exceeding 130,000.   The Cerro Catedral mountain is one of the most important ski centers in South America.

Our first full day there - we rented a car and first headed to Cerro Otto and took a cable car to the top of the mountain - the views were amazing:


Next we headed out along the Circuito Chico (short circuit scenic drive of about 60km) and went on a boat ride on the lake


stopping at El Bosque de Arrayanes, an island with a forest of rare orange coloured trees, found only here and Japan

and then onto Victoria Island


On the drive back we did a detour to Colonia Suiza, which was like a little Swiss village in the middle of nowhere, with beautiful wood build buildings of bizzar architecture! You would think you were in a Hobbit village deep in the forest and expecting to see Billbo Baggins.  We stopped at a restaurant and had cheese fondue for dinner (checking out all the people in the restaurant to see if if they had Hobbit hairy feet)!

The town of Bariloche is very pretty - it looks very similar to the mountain areas of Austria or Switzerland.

It is also known as the chololate capital of Argentina, with many different types of chocolate being sold and chocolate shops everywhere.  The best chocolate was Mamuschka (according to the guide books and our samplings!).  We also visited a chocolate factory.

For some reason, the town features the St Bernards Dog and have a few in town posing for pictures