After having spent only 1,5 days in hippies' town El Bolson I rushed together with my Italian and French travel companions to Bariloche, situated right on the east of the Andes, only two hours by bus away. A city known for excellent chocolate, immigrated Swiss, beautiful surroundings and Nazis. Right, Nazis. I heard it on the grapevine that even Hitler is thought to had been seen here. (I only saw one Neonazi)
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Before describing Bariloche I want to start this travel blog with a few things about my fellow travelers. I bumped several times into two of them (the Italian ones), the French ones I just got to know through Leila and Giulia.

Leila
(26 years, 5 months South America)
From Italy, with descents from Erithrea. She's a crazy girl with a cool haircut and loads of energy with a very inspiring life philosophy: Keep moving, keep changing. And she's a great cook ;)

Giulia
(26 years, 5 months South America)
Also from Italy, best friend of Leila. Good vibes, excellent humour and good taste for literature. A great cook too, and always ready for a joke or a weird sound.

Marion (22 years, 2 months Argentina + Chile)
From France, with a talent for handicraft and hand massage, she is a relaxed girl who knows what she wants. I enjoyed spending time with her as much as talking and listening to her Spanish with French accent (:

Pascal "Sweet"
(25 years, 7 months, in total 11 months, all Latin America)
Also French, brother of Marion. The philosopher, composer and ego shooter (and chess!) player among us. A really fascinating guy who has everything a French philosopher has to have ;)

Throughout our joint travelling (about one week all together, more time with the Italian) I enjoyed it pretty much sharing the beautiful moments of this journey and exchanging views. It was really sad to part company. However, I hope to see the French again, later on my trip :)

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Actually, I did not do as much I had wanted to do in Bariloche. I left at least 2 or 3 days earlier I should have. I'm not really sure, why. I think because I did not want to stay longer in the same place without Leila, Giulia, Marion and Sweet after they had left heading out for Chile or back to Buenos Aires.

There is really much to do and see in Bariloche. The nature surroundig it is just amazing! Not only the nearby beautiful, breath-taking national parks (where we could spend too little time because of one really annoying reason) but also the little town "St. Martin de Andes" (where we could not get because of the lack of time we had), the lake surrounded by mountains in front of the city (it was too cold to go swimming), the nearby Swiss colony (I did not see), the chocolate museum (I did not visit), the view points just by the city (I did not went there) but also the numerous mouth watering "Chocolaterías" (I visited several times) in Bariloche are a reason to spend more then 4 days in that place.

Somehow I totally regret not having seen so much, so I decided to continue my journey not skipping anything I would really like to do and see. ("Die Moral von der Geschichte", so to say)


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Back to Bariloche: this city in winter is the place where you can find most of the skiers and snowboarders of Argentina.

It is also the "chocolate capital" of Argentina where the best chocolate manufacturer (they say) is "Mamushka" with a Russian name and design. I noticed a huge difference between the chocolate you can get at a supermarket (sometimes really disgusting) and Mamushka's.

It is also the right place for nature-loving people: incredibly clear water which takes away your breath with turquoise and light blue colours in between surreal rock formations. Ash of the Chilean volcan errupted last year covering most of the area of the national park and looking like snow and feeling like flour. Whispering trees blocking your sight, imposing eagles and condors in the sky.

A beautiful place, no doubt.


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I arrived today in Mendoza, the wine capital of Argentina, 17 hours by bus away from Bariloche. I already bumped into one of my Torres del Paine fellow-sufferers, Lauren and hope to see the other one tomorrow. Here I will spend the next few days, staying at a very nice hostel. I am really looking forward to discover this area :)