San Carlos de Barrrrrrrriloche

7th of November to 14th of November

Driving through Patagonia

The bus ride from General Roca to Bariloche was very scenic. We had lakes and sandstone plateaus (aka the Grand Canyon from Roca😉) and lots of vineyards and fruit orchids, later we got mountains.

Mom saw pink flamingos while dad and I were snoozing, so we only have her word on it!

Dad explained that in South Africa we have the Klein Karoo and Groot (big) Karoo which looks very similar, but here they have the biggest Karoo.

Some things about Patagonia

Patagonia is a region encompassing the vast southernmost tip of South America, shared by Argentina and Chile, with the Andes Mountains as its dividing line. The Argentine side features arid steppes, grasslands and deserts, while the Chilean side has glacial fjords and temperate rainforest. It is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean on the west, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and many bodies of water that connect them, such as the Strait of Magellan, the Beagle Channel, and the Drake Passage to the south. Patagonia could be defined as the provinces of Neuquén, Río Negro, Chubut and Santa Cruz, together with Patagones Partido in the far south of Buenos Aires Province and the archipelago of Tierra del Fuego that is sometimes considered part of Patagonia.

Argentine Patagonia is mainly a region of steppe-like plains, rising in a series of 13 sudden terraces about 100 m (330 ft) at a time, and covered with an enormous bed of shingle, almost bare of vegetation. In the hollows of the plains are ponds or lakes of fresh and brackish water. Towards Chilean territory, the shingle gives way to porphyry, granite, and basalt lavas, and animal life becomes more abundant. Vegetation is more luxuriant, consisting principally of southern beech and conifers. The high rainfall against the western Andes (Wet Andes) and the low sea-surface temperatures offshore give rise to cold and humid air masses, contributing to the ice fields and glaciers, the largest ice fields in the Southern Hemisphere outside of Antarctica.
The name Patagonia comes from the word patagón. Which Magellan used in 1520 to describe the native tribes of the region, whom his expedition thought to be giants. The people he called the Patagons are now believed to have been the Tehuelche, who tended to be taller than the Europeans of the time.

When Spanish explorers first arrived, Patagonia was inhabited by several indigenous tribes. In a small portion of northwestern Patagonia, indigenous peoples practiced agriculture, while in the rest of the territory, peoples lived as hunter-gatherers, moving by foot in eastern Patagonia and by dugout canoe and dalca in the fjords and channels. After their independence from Spain, Chile and Argentina claimed the territories to their south and over the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries began colonizing the land. Indigenous populations’ lives were ruined as more immigrants arrived, took their land and destroyed their habitats. This caused war but the fierce indigenous resistance was crushed by a series of Argentine and Chilean military campaigns.

Now the contemporary economy of Argentine Patagonia revolves around sheep farming and oil and gas extraction, while in Chilean Patagonia fishing, salmon aquaculture, and tourism dominate.
In the early 1800s two extensive surveys of the coasts were done HMS Adventure and HMS Beagle. The latter expedition brought Charles Darwin, who spent considerable time investigating various areas of Patagonia onshore, including long rides with gauchos in Río Negro, and a 200 mile (320 km) expedition taking ships’ boats up the course of the Santa Cruz River. (We even passed a town named Darwin!!!)

Skitown

As we stepped out of the bus in Bariloche there was cold mountain air and we immediately froze 🥶. Not only from the cold but from the scene spread out around us: In front of us was a road, some houses and evergreen trees, behind was a huge lake and snowy tipped mountains. Yes, you read that right. Snow on the mountains. Brrrrrrr.

The whole week my brain was telling me that it wasn’t right, it’s too beautiful.

We saw the first backpackers since awhile and lots of tourists from all over. And for some reason on every street corner there would be a local guy shouting ‘cambio’ at passer bys!? And later dad dropped his 6 by shouting ‘cambio’ at every corner 🙀🙄😬!!!!

San Carlos de Bariloche comes from the Mapuche name ‘Vuriloche’, meaning “people from the other side of the mountain”.

The town is more commonly known simply as Bariloche.

It is the largest city in the Argentine province of Río Negro, with 135,755 inhabitants. Bariloche’s economy is strongly based on tourism. It is the country’s third most visited destination after Buenos Aires and Mar del Plata. It is the most popular city in all of Patagonia.

It is located in the foothills of the Patagonian Andes on the southern shore of Nahuel Huapi Lake, near the border with Chile.

We grabbed an uber to our apartment and it turned out we were staying in someone’s backyard again, but at least there was a bbq. Unfortunately my bed was a single person flip out couch that was basically on the floor. Luckily I was close to the heater 🫠.

Cold and chocolates

On Saturday we walked around and slowly killed ourselves with the chocolate smells and the cold.

Bariloche is Argentina’s chocolate capital. It’s chocolate tradition began in the early 20th century with the arrival of European immigrants, mainly from Switzerland, Germany, and Italy. The Alpine climate of Bariloche reminded these Europeans of home, making it the perfect setting to recreate their traditional treats. These settlers brought with them not only their architectural influences but also their expertise in chocolate making. Italian immigrant Aldo Fenoglio opened one of the first chocolate shops in the 1940s, and over the years all the shops in Bariloche joined in. The cocoa is brought in from Brazil.

In the end we went to a cafe because we were freezing cold and needed something warm. So mom and dad had coffee and I had hot chocolate, only to discover that in Bariloche they make their hot chocolate with pure chocolate and milk instead of buying the instant mix from the shop! I was in heaven 🫠😋🤩🤤!!!

Then we continued walking down the shopping street while ogling all the chocolate shops 🤤💖.

for my bff Rosalie, who loves chickens!!!

Gletsjer Lake Nahuel Huapi

On Sunday we walked around more in town and around the lake and buying stuff for dinner and tasting chocolates. We found a Malvidas island war museum but it was closed.

Facts about Nahuel Huapi Lake:

It is 464 m (1,522 ft) deeper places might exist
It’s area is about 137637acres
Highest temperature is 11.6°c (summer) and it’s lowest temperature is 3.8°c (winter)
It’s altitude is 765 m (2509ft)
It is one of the largest lakes in northern Patagonia.
It was made by a glacier

It is drained by Limay River and it is part of the watershed of Negro River which discharges into the South Atlantic.

Hail the braai

We went back home and dad set up the bbq and started the fire. Then we were sitting outside around the fire. Once the meat was ready, we went inside for dinner.

After dinner, dad started the fire again and we were standing around it when the clouds went dark and a hard wind started blowing. Then there were a few drops of water so we rushed inside, only to find seconds later it started hailing! Not a little, like in Bahia Blanca. It was a proper hail storm, but what was funny is that dad covered the bbq so the fire was still going!! So yeah that was crazy!

During the week we mainly did school and work as normal, except that on Wednesday mom and dad were invited to an adults party by a friend of friends so they got me a babysitter 🙄. Even though the time they were leaving was way past my bedtime, they just wanted someone to be there just in case. Later it turned out dad misheard what the girl was charging and they had to pay quite a high rate for every hour! Just for watching a sleeping 13 year old!!!

Meet Negrito

Every night we would take a walk after dinner and one time I saw a shop selling little crocheted black sheep for 23$ and after a lot of thinking I got dad to buy it for me and I would pay him back with my b-day money! Mom came up with the idea of calling him Negrito which is basically ’blacky’ or ‘small black’ in spanish (and we later discovered that it is also a term of indearment in Argentina!)💜!

Falkland Museum

During the week me and dad took the bus down town to the Falkland museum. Entry was 5$ but we did get free stickers, and the museum had more than just stuff about the war. There were also things about special animals that inhabit(ed) the islands and Darwin. There were 2 huge screens that you could do stuff on but I didn’t because after this guy finished, they switched off the screens 😑.

Picnic at the lake

As our bus only left in the afternoon, we had an extra day to spend in Bariloche. We spent it walking around. The sun was out and the clouds had lifted. It was perfect for pictures and a picnic. We went down to the lakeside where there were picnic tables and benches. We picked one and started cracking eggshells (for the 100th time this trip) and making sandwiches. While eating we would have these little birds come steal our crumbs and eye our breads. Later when I looked behind me a little bird squadron was forming, all of them taking turns to steal crumbs. When I looked over to this older couple who where also eating lunch, I saw hundreds of birds eating their crumbs and soon realized they were feeding the birds! At some point a large bird came to inspect the crumbs and dad said it looked like a family of hadidas (a very very noisy South African bird named Hadidas Ibis) later we checked online and indeed it was part of the Ibis family it was a Glossy Ibis!

Argentinians take their braai very seriously (maybe not as seriously as South Africans, but still). Although they don’t have braai places everywhere, when they braai they will put entire sheep!! 🐏

Last Bus to Comodoro

Our last long bus ride was 840 km and 11hour. This was a night bus and boarding was at 4pm. Dad and mom surprised me by spending a little more money for the front seats.

So we watched snowy mountains, ice cold lakes, pine & evergreen forests, canyon like plateaus, and endless shrubland.

And best of all, an amazing sunset at 9pm!

And dad’s neighbor, who must have been 20ish, brought a giant Stitch (from the movies Lilo & Stitch) with pink rabbit ears as soon as she got in her seat closed all her curtains🙄!

Mom and Dad watched the sun rise in Comodoro, while I was fast asleep. But they kept dozing off as well.