Bariloche was another hop over the border from Chile to Argentina. Point to note : why are border officials determined to stamp over pre exisitig stamps. I have other empty visa pages. Spread it out a bit guys.

As we all know volanic ash comes with its own unique problems. That pesky volcano called Puyehue is in Chile. This one in particular caused several flight cancellations as far as Brasil on the east and Austrailia to the west. Although it still spews out volcanic ash on a daily basis it is only poor Bariloche that bears the brunt of it for the most part. As Bariloche is a huge tourist attraction this ash is a thorn in the side for the locals. Even so much that local and national media do not care to report on it anymore!

We booked into a hostel called Penthouse 1004. It is ten stories up and perched on the shore of Lago Nahuel Huapi. In short the view was epic! There was a huge balcony the length of the penthouse with views across the lake to the Andes in the background. The day we arrived we were blessed with glorious weather with the sun reflecting off the lake.

Bariloche is another adventure hub with rafting, kayaking, cyling and even fly fishing to keep the visitors entertained. These are only the summer activities. The winter season attracts a whole other group of visitors with its plethora of winter sports! Even though the sun was great I can only imagine how different/fun the ski season would be.

I opted to do the cycle circuit around the Circiuto Chico in the Nahuel Huapi national park. The loop is actually 60 km but I was feeling a bit lazy and got the bus out as far as 18.6 km. The fact that the aforementioned pesky ash cloud had blown in over Bariloche that morning meant that the majority of the views were no longer views. We practically had the road to ourselves going through the park which was nice. Especially when we were struggling up the never ending hills. Stopping off at a tiny seculded lake and hilly outcrops made it all worthwhile.

When I first saw Bariloche it reminded me of a ski town. Wooden cabins, equipment and rental shops lined the main street. Restaurants are as common as the 'gor-tex' label. Bariloche is famed for it's ice cream and chocolate shops too. It is quite expensive but you know how the saying goes 'when in Bariloche...'

I had a 27 hour bus to El Calafate to get that was looming over my head. It was going to be the longest bus that I had or would be getting during my entire trip. The ticket cost in the region of €115. This was brilliant considering the comfort, entertainment, food that you get. Regardless, El Calafate and hiking related fun was all ahead of me