DAY 31 - 33 16th August - 18th August: Bariloche

After my 26 hour bus journey I was excited to get off the bus even though I had know idea where I was going. Landing in Bariloche was like coming into an entirely different country compared to Buenos Aries. It was full of mountain ranges, deep blue lakes. I arrived at a hostel called below 41 around 3pm. There were lots of people there and everyone seemed really nice.

That evening I stayed in and decided that I was going to go skiing the next day. I was quiet scared as I was unsure on how my knee was going to cope but I thought I better try it before I get to Canada anyway.

So the next morning I woke up early and got the 8:15 bus to the ski slopes. To hire equipment here was really cheap it was 70ARG for the day (£10), but then I found out how much a ski pass for the day was so it ended up being about the same as Europe maybe a little cheaper.

I had such a great day skiing the night before there had been some heavy snowfall and the sun was shining. I stayed at the slopes until the last lift; it was a great day. So odd about two weeks ago I was lying on a beach sunbathing and scuba diving and now I am surrounded by snow and skiing. Living the dream I suppose.

The next day I decided to explore the town of Bariloche as it is supposed to be the South American Switzerland with the best chocolate. After a short walk along the lake I entered the main square that was inspired by Swiss architecture and the merchants are proud of the chocolate produced there. It seems that ever other shop sells chocolate. I decided to stop and see what the hype was about and have a hot chocolate - it was amazing, although I think it was the first time that I had eaten chocolate since I had been away - so maybe that's why it was so amazing.

There is not that much to do in Bariloche itself - its more of a hub to do other activities. I decided to book my ticket to Puerto Varas for the next day and went back to the hostel to pack and organize my stuff. That evening I decided to go out this ended up being a very very bad idea - although I did have fun.