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Our Year of Adventure
Breakfast was included in our stay at La Posta del Cazador but if it wasn't for the plate of scrambled eggs, it would have been almost too sweet. Argentinian breakfast seems to just consist of cakes and bread with the expectation that the bread is smothered in jam or dulce de leche. The coffee was good, and bottomless, so it was actually pretty good.
It was really windy through the night and the temperature had dropped enough for the rain to now be snowy sleet at street level. The trees up on the hill, we could see from the breakfast table, had a good covering of snow though.
We ventured out regardless and walked through the pleasant little main street to the National Park office for some local information. They had a small exhibition showing the flora and fauna from the nearby parks, which was nice.
A few streets away was La Pastera, Museo del Che - a museum detailing the life of Ernesto Che Guevara, from educated traveler of South America to becoming a revolutionary. Che was born in Rosario, Argentina, but most people will know of him from Cuba. After his time in Cuba, he took his revolutionary cause to Africa and other South American countries, eventually meeting his demise in Bolivia.
We had a walk around the town centre with it's wooden alp style buildings, 'chocolate box' shops and green plazas. It was easy to imagine the place with a covering of snow, looking like a perfect little ski resort town.
We bought bus tickets for tomorrow to take us to Villa La Angostura, a small town just a couple of hours away.
We stopped in at Corazon Contento, a small cafe, that had what seemed like millions of empanadas and tartas piled up in the shop front. It was busy too which suggested that it was quality food so we decided to join the crowd and grabbed the last available table. The empanadas looked good but not quite as good as the tartas, they were similar to a quiche but with a slightly different pastry. They didn't look particularly big but they were filling, Maria had to give the last bit of hers to David.
After our feed, we walked to Mirador Bandurrias. It was quite a bit of uphill on paths in woods at the edge of the lake. It only too about 45 minutes to reach the lookout and we were rewarded with nice views, despite the clouds, of the lake, the town and the snowy mountains beyond. We met the English couple, Anthony and Chris from yesterday's bus journey, at the lookout. We walked back down together and managed to glean some good tips from Anthony who has traveled South America previously.
Back in town we went for a warming mug of hot chocolate at Abuela Goye. It is a typical chocolate shop which as well as selling drinks cafe style, sells every flavor of chocolate imaginable by the bucket load - a real heaven for a chocolate lover.
We needed to get some more money and unfortunately the Money Exchange had closed for the evening so we needed to find an ATM. Just like Mendoza, we were not having a fun time finding one that would let us take cash out. Their messages are a bit weird, but we think when they say you have exceeded your daily withdrawal limit, it actually means there is no cash in it. We were walking the streets for maybe an hour before we finally found an ATM that had cash in it.
With cash in our pockets, we could take advantage of the 15% early bird discount (arriving for dinner by 8pm) offered at Don Florencio, another recommendation by our reception for dinner. We had a parillada with lots of different cuts and types of meats, intestines, kidneys and blood sausage (some of that might sound 'offal' but the way it was cooked made it delicious). The portions were huge too, we were told to only order a 3 person portion even though there were 4 of us. We did our best to eat everything but we eventually had to give up with a few scraps of meat left on the plate.
It was really windy through the night and the temperature had dropped enough for the rain to now be snowy sleet at street level. The trees up on the hill, we could see from the breakfast table, had a good covering of snow though.
We ventured out regardless and walked through the pleasant little main street to the National Park office for some local information. They had a small exhibition showing the flora and fauna from the nearby parks, which was nice.
A few streets away was La Pastera, Museo del Che - a museum detailing the life of Ernesto Che Guevara, from educated traveler of South America to becoming a revolutionary. Che was born in Rosario, Argentina, but most people will know of him from Cuba. After his time in Cuba, he took his revolutionary cause to Africa and other South American countries, eventually meeting his demise in Bolivia.
We had a walk around the town centre with it's wooden alp style buildings, 'chocolate box' shops and green plazas. It was easy to imagine the place with a covering of snow, looking like a perfect little ski resort town.
We bought bus tickets for tomorrow to take us to Villa La Angostura, a small town just a couple of hours away.
We stopped in at Corazon Contento, a small cafe, that had what seemed like millions of empanadas and tartas piled up in the shop front. It was busy too which suggested that it was quality food so we decided to join the crowd and grabbed the last available table. The empanadas looked good but not quite as good as the tartas, they were similar to a quiche but with a slightly different pastry. They didn't look particularly big but they were filling, Maria had to give the last bit of hers to David.
After our feed, we walked to Mirador Bandurrias. It was quite a bit of uphill on paths in woods at the edge of the lake. It only too about 45 minutes to reach the lookout and we were rewarded with nice views, despite the clouds, of the lake, the town and the snowy mountains beyond. We met the English couple, Anthony and Chris from yesterday's bus journey, at the lookout. We walked back down together and managed to glean some good tips from Anthony who has traveled South America previously.
Back in town we went for a warming mug of hot chocolate at Abuela Goye. It is a typical chocolate shop which as well as selling drinks cafe style, sells every flavor of chocolate imaginable by the bucket load - a real heaven for a chocolate lover.
We needed to get some more money and unfortunately the Money Exchange had closed for the evening so we needed to find an ATM. Just like Mendoza, we were not having a fun time finding one that would let us take cash out. Their messages are a bit weird, but we think when they say you have exceeded your daily withdrawal limit, it actually means there is no cash in it. We were walking the streets for maybe an hour before we finally found an ATM that had cash in it.
With cash in our pockets, we could take advantage of the 15% early bird discount (arriving for dinner by 8pm) offered at Don Florencio, another recommendation by our reception for dinner. We had a parillada with lots of different cuts and types of meats, intestines, kidneys and blood sausage (some of that might sound 'offal' but the way it was cooked made it delicious). The portions were huge too, we were told to only order a 3 person portion even though there were 4 of us. We did our best to eat everything but we eventually had to give up with a few scraps of meat left on the plate.
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