We arrived in Bariloche to clear skies and sunshine on Friday 30th Oct and the weather stayed perfect all weekend. As we've been staying in hostels for over 2 weeks we decided to treat ourselves by staying somewhere nice for the weekend so we have booked a junior suite as the Design Studios which includes lake views and a hot tub in our room - it's awesome!
Saturday was the rugby World Cup final between NZ and Australia which we were going to try and watch in town but nowhere was showing it so we ended up opening a bottle of champagne from the mini bar and watching it from the hot tub! Definitely the most decadent way I've ever watched a rugby match. After that we walked down to the Lake Nahuel Huapi which is so clear and still, it's like a mirror, and then into town that evening and got terribly drunk! Sunday was a complete write off.
Bariloche is famous for its chocolatiers and there are specialist chocolate shops on every street. We stopped as the well know RapaNui for milkshakes which were sooo good - filled with chocolate bits and chocolate sauce.
On Monday we finally had a chance to try Alto el Fuego, the steak restaurant recommended by Ben's friend Rachel Jones and the best restaurant in Bariloche. It was the best steak either of us have ever had, absolutely perfectly cooked! Ben had bife de chorizo and I had entrana steak again - it was sooo good!
One thing I've noticed about Argentina is the dogs, they're everywhere. Some are strays but some are owned and just guard people's houses. Here in Patagonia they are all huge! We've seen St Bernard's, Great Danes, Alsatians and loads of other huge dogs sitting outside ppl's houses or wandering the streets. They seem to like Ben and I, we've been followed home a couple of times by strays.
Our stay in Bariloche ended on Tuesday when we caught a 17 hour overnight bus north to Mendoza.