In between El Chalten, and our next destination Bariloche (in the Argentine lake district), we had some serious distance to cover. To solid 12 hour days of driving. And in between our final ever free camp. The road North was quite frankly atrocious. Unpaved for vast proportions, and with limited scenery, it called for drastic action. I reached into the trucks book box, and pulled out Lord of the flies! Thats right, I actually finished a novel in one day!! The place we ended up camping, was literally on the side of a road. Guess what, it wasnt actually very comfortable. Tired, we awoke and got on the bus in a zombie like fashion. I read a bit more (finally got some of my history reading done mum) by finishing Marx and Engels manifesto of the communist party (very interesting), and then tried to convice myself that the vast sparsity and nothingness stretching into the abyss, was actually interesting scenery, due to its scale. As we drew nearer to Bariloche, and climbed a few hills the scenery errupted into life again. Mountains, streams and beech forest, dominating the roadside. By the time we reached Bariloche it was dark, but one could still make out the reflection of the various lakes we drove along and the shadows of the mountains towering above. We arrived at our campsite around 11pm. Bariloche, is Argentina´s most popular tourist destination, in summer, hiking, outdoor activities and relaxing by the lake are in high demand, whilst in winter Bariloche and the surrounding towns and valleys are transformed into some of Argentinas best ski resorts.

We had the luxury of sleeping in the next morning which we took and used to full advantage. When we finally awoke, we decided to take a chairlift to a nearby viewpoint. The panoramic view from the top was absolutely stunning, and well worth the slightly nervous dangling in the light wind. From the top one can look over a collection of lakes and mountains, on all sides. The photos, I will eventually upload, look as though the background is fake, but I can assure you it wasnt. We stayed up on the viewing platform for nearly an hour, soaking in the views, and the warm sun. After this, we ventured into town for some lunch. The easiest way for me to describe Bariloche is, Switzerland on steroids. The town is an attempt at a recreation of a Swiss resort, with streets lined with Chocolate and Fondue shops, however it hasnt really come off. It is still a fantastic place, and the scenery surrouding the town is stunning. We walked around for a bit after lunch and then returned to the campsite.

The next day we took a fully day excursion, partake in an extreme watersport known commonly as ´duckies´! This is a slightly more extreme version of white water rafting. It takes place on the same grade 3/4 river as the rafting, but is in much smaller 2 man rafts. The calmer upper section of the river, was used for familiarisation. We practised flipping over (somthing we would have to perfect), paddling and maneuvering etc. The river itself, like most of the scenery in Argentina (that isnt desert) was stunning. The crystal clear water, had a slightly luminous blueish tint. The river valley was a textbook example of a V shaped Valley (Grant, GCSE Geography, you should know what I am talking about!). Towering trees clung precariously to the steep sides, some had falled and lay strewn across the river making further obstacles, whilst others seemed to constantly threaten to give way. The first few rapids we went down were fairly tame, but being so low to the water and going so quickly (as it is such a light craft) made it all the more exciting. There was one other duckie of two people and two instructors in Kayaks. The first serious rapid we went down, was less than successful. We went second, behind the other group. As we followed them, their boat became wedged on a rock in the middle of the river. Despite our best efforts to avoid them, we ended up on top of them, pushed them off the rocks and got stuck ourselves, until we could maneuver off them. As we moved downstream, the rocks got larger, the river got faster, we became even more terrified. We flipped a couple of times, but came up safely and continued. We got to one rapid that was classed as grade 5, and so we had to walk the craft past it, to our ~(outwardly) great dissapointment, (inside I was feeling more relieved)! The final few rapids negotiated, we finished the journey in Chile. The close proximity of Bariloche to Chile, meant that the ending point was just inside the Chilean border, so I actually rafted from Argentina to Chile. We went back to the starting point to try off and were treated to a delicious Argentinian Parilla (traditional barbecue). We returned to the campsite and then went out to savour some of Bariloches famed nightlife.

The next morning, the weather was atrocious. Rain had closed in and so we pretty much just stayed in the campsite all day. At least that is my official excuse, and the copius amount of alcholic consumption the night before, and the strange pounding sensation in my head, coupled with a general disdain for the sight of daylight, genuinely had nothing to do with my decision!

As we rolled out of Bariloche at 6am the next morning, we passed the various nightclubs with streams of people staggering out, into the rain. The drive to Pucon (just across the border in the Chilean lake district) would be a scenic and relatively short drive for us to enjoy.