Hasta la vista Buenos Aires

Yesterday I left BsAs... well it's a pitty but it must be said that now the best part of the tour is starting... I hope. Everything went fine, plane on time, great flight... perfect. Of course I must thank Ariel for his precious support. If you need a travel agency here he is the guy (Le Martial agency), he's very efficient and also very nice (and not only). Anyway he told me that one should confirm internal flights here, because they may change the departure time and even anticipate the flight... or there may be overbooking and if you do not confirm you may end up in the short overbooked list. I also found out that in internal flights one is only allowed 15 kg (unless you've arrived with Aerolineas to Buenos Aires from abroad). So I had 10 extra kg (I know, should have left shopping for the last days... but the offer and prices are irresistible, as many other things here) and had to pay some 40 $ pesos which is nothing... but the worse is that the previous night I had this nightmare... so they had found out that I was overweight and they made me pay 1 $ for every extra gramm in my body... and believe me that made up a LOT of pesos... Luckily it was just a dream & they didn't make me step on any balance, everything went fine and I arrived safe & sound in Bariloche.

Well... nearly fine... so what happened? the flight was great and the 1700 km between BsAs and Bariloche were smooth... only it was always plain and dry... getting drier as we approached and becomimg nearly desert... so at a time I feared I was in the wrong plane... I thought "I must have taken a flight to Salta or Tucuman"... 'cause in all the pictures I'd seen, Bariloche is by a lake, surrounded by forests and mountains... in some nearby places there are even nearly 300 days of rain each year. But no... it was the right flight and we landed safely. I found out that here is were that sort of desert ends and the Andes start and it all changes.

So yesterday afternoon and today I had the chance to discover some of the magnificent landscapes around Bariloche. It's just amazing, breathtaking. Bariloche stands by the Nahuel Huapi lake which has 500 sqkm and is the 3rd or 4th biggest in Argentina, surrounded by mountains (usually called cerros) such as Cerro Catedral, Tronador (the highest with some 3500 m), etc. And Cerro Campanario, which is a small one, close to Bariloche, where one goes up taking these "aerosillas" (like in skiing places) and from where one is suposed to have one of the best views of lake Nahuel Huapi... Maybe... 'cause this morning there was such fog and low clouds that one couldn't see further than 10 meters (that was the "Circuito chico" excursion but I've renamed it circuito niebla. Pitty 'cause I'll probably never come back. Luckily there are plenty of postcards to show how it is supposed to look like (don't worry I will be well documented as usual) - that's the postcards I'll send to some friends... Reminds me when I went to Neuschwanstein in Bavaria (Ludwig's fable castle), ages ago... couldn't see anything either further than 5 meters. But yesterday I went up Cerro Otto with a teleferico (Austrian made) and the views were fantasticas. And today discovered Lake Gutierrez and did some trekking (up the hill...). Tomorrow will do the 7-lake-tour which is a classic here going up to San Martin de los Andes and back.

And that reminds me this lake district here around Bariloche is one of the reasons I wanted to come to Argentina in the first place. A couple of years ago I saw an argentinian film called "La vida segun Muriel" and in the film Muriel came to this region and we saw beautiful scenes and landscapes... Asking my friend Fernando, who is half argentinian but lives in Brussels, I found out it was somewhere in this region. I've tried to find the movie to see it again... in vain, looked in BsAs, nothing. Only to come here and finally find it... well in vhs support, but great! It's not a great movie... but it's somehow special.

So here I am finally in that region expecting to find Muriel at some hut by a lake.

So back to real life, tomorrow as I said it will be 7 Lakes and after the crossing of the Andes - Lakes crossing or "Cruce de Lagos" as they call it here, crossing the mountains by boat and bus, through three lakes (Nahuel Huapi, Frias and a third one already in Chile) arriving at Puerto Varas in Chile. More details in a couple of days, meanwhile check the website. And some pics from the website, 'cause I couldn't yet upload my pics...

Meanwhile this evening I might "discover" some of the local specialities, like Sauerkraut and Bier, because this is an area of german immigration. Tchüss.