A hot and breezy afternoon with plentiful sunshine and a cloudless sky covers Lago Nahuel Huapi here in Bariloche, Argentina. Our arrival here from Puerto Montt two days ago was an easy bus ride and border crossing into Argentina, our fifth country now, just a little behind "schedule"….whatever that is.

We had a bit more desire to cover the lakes region more in depth, especially after the incredible scenery from the bus windows traveling from Puerto Montt.Coming over the Andes into Argentina proved to be more than scenic and we were blessed with a beautiful day as well…in fact every day we've been here in Bariloche it has been sunny and perfect weather, maybe 70-75F with sun during the day and a breezy and slightly chilly night at (guessing) 55-60F.

The view across the huge Lago Nahuel Huapi is quite stunning with mountains ringing the lake and the alpine environment reminiscent of Colorado.This morning while Liz caught up on some sleep (I kept her up all night tossing and turning) I went to catch the sunrise which is quite late here at just around 8:15ish.Strolling down to the water's edge still shrouded by darkness, a brisk breeze brought the scent of pine needles to my nose and I could just make out white-caps from the soft wind-blow waves coming ashore.I picked out a flat grassy spot to do the long form as the shadowy giants across the lake slowly started to reveal their jagged profiles with the rising sun.

By the time I was done with the long form the sun was starting to make a full painter's palette out of the clear sky.A few remaining stars winked a good day to me and I sat upon a cold rock as the high-pressure sodium street lights yielded to sun.After watching the birds hunt around for breakfast I decided to take the hint and head up for my "free" continental one.

Today is our last day here in Bariloche and we haven't done much except some laundry and ticket booking…I guess you can't explore everywhere.The very touristy surrounds of Bariloche doesn't really spur Liz and I on to start digging in to things.Often it just encourages us to keep moving, which is exactly what's next for us.Tonight we leave on a long bus ride down Route 40 through the heart of Patagonia and the western edge of Argentina.We decided to break the journey in two parts and stop in Perito Moreno tomorrow afternoon until continuing on the following day to El Calafate further south.If we would have done the journey in one leg, it would have been around 36 traveling hours all by bus…a little more than we were up to.

Once down south we are heading out on a pretty consistent backcountry tour through a few of the national parks, 8-11 days trekking Los Glaciares, 3 or so days in Tierra Del Fuego, all backpacking/camping etc. We eventually end up in Ushuaia, the claimed southernmost city in the world.Actually Port Williams has the real title to that, but Ushuaia already got their claim to it.Our flight to Buenos Aires leaves on April 4th, three days after our anniversary and in the middle of our trekking Liz will pass by year number 31.Until next time…we're off deeper into famed Patagonia.