The weather was better this morning and we decided to take a trip on the local bus to Cerro Campanario and Parque Municipal Llao-Llao (pronounced in Argentinian as jao-jao or almost like chao chao). Carlee had given us their bus card (local buses don't accept cash), but we needed to put some credit on it. Whilst Maria was sorting the card out, the guys in the office asked David if he wanted some 'mate' (pronounced ma-tay) that they were preparing. Mate is best described as a kind of herbal tea although the preparation is somewhat different. A gourd, or cup, with a special metal straw is filled pretty much full of the leaves before hot water is poured over the top. The result looks like a bubbling, algae filled swamp, but when sipped slowly through the straw, it's actually quite a nice drink even if it is quite bitter. More water is then poured over the top and the procedure keeps repeating.

With the card charged and David filled with mate, we took the number 20 bus for about 17km out of town and around the lake edge to Cerro Campanario. A chairlift will take people up about 1,000m to the top of the hill and back down for 100 pesos (about $10) each. At the top of the hill there are awesome 360 degree views of the surrounding mountains, lakes and Bariloche.

Back down at the bottom of the hill, we had to make a quick dash to the bus stop to catch the bus that just pulled up across the road. We rode another 8km along the road to Puerto Panuelo, the closest stop to the entrance of Parque Municipal Llao-Llao. Puerto Panuelo isn't a village as such, it's just a harbour for boats and a port for lake tours to places like Villa la Angostura's Bosque de los Arrayanes.

We left the port behind us and walked inland for about 1km, past the golf course, to the information point where Parque Municipal de Llao-Llao's walks start and end. After a quick break for a sandwich, we continued a bit further up on the road until the turn off for the track to Villa Tacul. It wasn't long before we were deep into the forest - there were some impressively tall and perfectly straight trees, which were about 40m high. And it wasn't just a few of them, there were hundreds of them, packed very close to each other. The undergrowth was thick with native bamboo and the odd flowering bush.

The tracks were littered with branches that had been blown out the trees by wind, some small but some big enough to hurt badly if they fell on you. One section was blocked by whole trees that had fallen down, but we managed to scramble our way across them and continue on the track. We eventually arrived at a gravel road and followed it down to the lakeside mirador. The lake's water was really clear and despite the strong wind creating waves, it was easy to the see the bottom. The whole lake was also surrounded by snow capped mountains, much more picturesque than a summer vista.

Back on the gravel road, we walked round to Tacul beach which was not so flash looking on a cold, windy spring day - it was probably very nice in summer. A little further past the beach on the headland was the Tacul mirador, offering again really nice lake views.

The track continued over a small Roman bridge, that was built in the 19th century, and then meandered through the trees until it reached Laguna Escondido. There was a small platform over water, where we sat and had a snack while taking in the views of the lake and surrounding mountains.

We cut off the track onto the road and walked back for a bit until we found the track on the opposite side, that would take us through the Bosque de los Arrayanes and ultimately back to our starting point. There were a couple of view points of the Lago Moreno on the way. The Arrayan forest was tiny, it would probably be better described as a thicket.

It didn't take long to walk back down the hill from the park to the bus stop. There were quite a few people waiting and bus came pretty fast. The ride back to the centro civico was equally as quick.

We were starving after our walk and had already decided to go to eat dinner before going back to the hostel. A Mexican restaurant was our first choice, but it was still closed. Manush, the brewery bar we were in a few days ago, was open though. We ordered some Happy Hour beer and local speciality Smoked Trout pizza. David doesn't think fish or seafood should be on a pizza, but relented on this occasion. A good move on his part because the pizza was stunning.

After dinner and another quick drink, we stopped by at the supermarket to get some snacks for tomorrow's bus ride back to Chile. Apart from the usual chips, we found some 'luxury' alfajores biscuits at a cheap price so let's hope they taste as good as the picture makes out.