Leaving Chile we returned to Argentina, the two Peter's third visit and Sean's fourth. The bus to Bariloche was relatively painless and we arrived in the afternoon. The weather was glorious, the skies were clear snd the sun was shining, but there were telltale signs of the bad weather piled up at the sides of the roads and paths - the ash.

Volcan Puyehue is on the opposite side of Lago Nahuel Huapi from Bariloche, about 90km away. This is the one that has been erupting since June, that we could see from the summit of Villarrica. It's interesting to notice the difference in attitudes from each side in relation to the eruption. The volcano is in Chile, but the Chileans find it quite amusing that most of the ash is landing in Argentina, their not-so-loved neighbour - our guide on Villarrica laughed when he told us this fact. Argentineans on the other hand are cursing the Chileans, as if it's their fault.

Puyehue has been erupting for so long that the media no longer reports on it. This is obviously fine for locals, reading the news everyday you'd get bored with hearing about it. But it makes it hard for us tourists, who could easily arrive knowing nothing. We had heard about it through word of mouth in Santiago but could only find one article online, a month out of date, so we had no idea what we'd be arriving into.

Our hostel, Penthouse 1004, has the most amazing view. It also has the best kitchen we've had the pleasure of using in the whole continent: three gas ovens where some hostels had none, tons of free spices and oils, loads of counter space and great views out the window. Located on the tenth floor of the tallest building in town, it gives a great aerial view across the lake. On the day we arrived, off in the distance we could see Puyehue and it's ash cloud, blowing north east, away from the town.

Bariloche is very touristy and has a Swiss feel to it - you'd think we were in Central Europe, hopping from a German town to a Swiss town, but that is the theme of the Lake District. We hung out by the lake on our first afternoon, on an ash-coloured pebble beach, after passing by the St Bernard's posing for photos. The main plaza, Centro Civico, has chalet-like buildings, built of log and stone. Bariloche is famous for chocolate and ice cream, as well as adventure sports and outdoor activities.

After exploring on our first day and having done nothing rigorous in a while, we were in need of some exercise. Having been told on Wednesday that the weather would be glorious on Thursday, we were annoyed to find that even if the weather was glorious we couldn't see it through the massive cloud of ash. The wind had changed direction during the night now taking the Puyehue ash cloud right over the town.

But we still had bikes booked for a cycle and our route is one of the top things to do, so we went ahead with it anyway. The Circuito Chico ("short circuit") loop is a 60km cycle path out of Bariloche and through part of Parque National Nahuel Huapi. 60km was a bit too much for us to consider, so we cheated by taking a bus to Km 18.6 and picked up our bikes there, meaning we had only to cycle 23km. It worked out well as it meant we weren't cycling through town, getting ash thrown in our faces by cars and buses.

Our cycle was mostly through the national park, meaning very few cars, plenty of other cyclists and even one hiker. We passed the base of two mountains on our way, Cerro Otto and Cerro Lopez, but climbed neither as well as passing a lake and a couple of beaches. The scenery was... decent - I've certainly never seen ash-hued landscapes before, but it wasn't as good as we were expecting. Sometimes we couldnt even see the far side of the lake, the ash was so thick. The heat made it tough, the ash made it tough and the hills made it tough. We were happy to finish and enjoy a chocolate and some cold beer.

Friday was more of the same - good weather blocked by the ash. We had a few notions to go kayaking or rafting, but the rafting was booked up and the kayaking only made sense if there wasn't ash. So we decided to relax before our next journey.

It might not make sense to relax before a bus journey. You spend your time sitting down after all. But when it's a 27 hour bus journey, things change. That amount of time stuck on the same bus, in the same chair, is enough to drive you stir crazy. But that's what our next journey is - we leave Bariloche, head south east to Rio Gallegos on the Atlantic coast, then turn back west to El Calafate, our destination, in a kind of upside down seven shape. The road directly south to El Calafate, called Route 40, is famous for road trips but it's not paved so takes longer on a bus that the upside down seven route. Let's hope the movies are good!