My new reality

After our indulgent tour of glaciers we spent a day travelling north to Bariloche, 1.5 hours by plane.  This mountainside ski town overlooks beautiful lake Nahuel Huapi  and has extreme Swiss/German influence.  Indeed, a few Nazis were found here and returned for war crime trials.  Apparently Juan Peron was a friend of Hitler.  Anyway, the Andes mountains are surrounded by spectacular lakes 1,000 feet deep or more.  We stayed at the lakeside Hotel Charming with rooms scattered about a beautiful property filled with roses in bloom.  Although the receptionist Santiago was pleasant and pleasant to look at, it took about an hour to get checked in.  Never mind, welcome drinks were welcomed.  We dined at Foco at the recommendation of the next, more efficient, on-duty receptionist and enjoyed trout and lamb (again). 

The following day we took a road trip in our Fiat rental on the  Route of the 7 Lakes, starting in Bariloche and ending in Jose de San Martin de los Andes.  (You may remember from my earlier blog in BA that Jose de San Martin is a national hero for liberating Argentina, Chile, and Peru (with Bolivar) in the early 19th century and is lain to rest under guard in the Metropolitan Cathedral of BA).  Anyway, it was a spectacularly sunny day for a 197 km drive down winding roads and stopping at various Miradors for panoramic views of the lakes and mountains.  San Martin was a cute mountain town with lots of shops and restaurants and a city park whose trees were filled with green parrots.  We ordered lunch at a tiny sandwich shop and were greeted with enormous sandwiches and tasty empanada.  We headed back the same way we came, the road quieter and faster for the tour busses that were now absent though we almost hit a sheep in the middle of a sharp curve, so that was fun.  Back at the hotel we relaxed poolside for a bit before dinner at the hotel. 

Our second day in Bariloche we headed near by for a short hike up Cerro Llao Llao, 4 miles round trip and maybe 1,000 ft elevation.  My legs were still tired so it took a few rest stops but the view was well worth it.  Positively stunning views of lakes and mountains made for a Zen moment.

We stopped at the beautiful Hotel Llao Llao to check out the lobby but we were denied entrance.  Would you want sweaty hikers in your fine establishment?  I guess we’ll have to stay there on our next visit!  There were many other beautiful hotels, hosterias, and homes as well as a few golf courses along the shore with gorgeous mountain views.  This was a very different vibe from the Patagonia we’ve seen thus far, more upscale yet with a European feel.  We continued on through the park for more scenic vistas and stopped at the quirky Colonia Suiza, a tiny remote village originally settled by Swiss immigrants.  It’s now a tourist trap of outdoor eateries and a circus-like atmosphere with hobbit-styled buildings of gnarled wood, multicolored banners flying everywhere, and amusement park rides.  And dust everywhere from the dirt roads. We lunched at a one-man outdoor grill, waiting seemingly forever for our beers and sausages but that guy hustled: serving, cooking, taking orders.  He reminded me of Pinocchio with his puppet-like gangliness. We eventually got our beers and meals, ate, and headed back into Bariloche proper but we were underwhelmed by the older town buildings, a rather small, sad artisan market, and rambling one-way hillside streets.  This was not the touristy Bariloche but the place where people actually lived and did business.  We returned to the hotel since Andrea and I had scheduled much-needed massages so the guys headed out to Kunstman’s, a German Brew House nearby.  After a delicious, relaxing massage or beer, depending on who you talk to, we dined at Anima, a tapas place.  This was a rather interesting dining spot as we had to order our selections before arrival to the tiny, exclusive restaurant.  The tapas were wonderful: a burrata type salad, a pear and ricotta salad, a crispy flat tortilla laden with crispy sopprassada, grilled  beef and lamb, and chocolate ganache.  Steve, our personal sommelier, ordered two delicious bottles of Mendoza wines.  Very nice.

We intended to visit the “hippy” town of El Bolson, 2 hours away, before our evening flight to Mendoza the next day, but learned too late that their artisan market would not be open that day, Wednesday.  Oh well.  A change of plans was required so we headed to a Volcanic Cavern tour just north of town.  Well, upon arrival we found out they have one tour daily which we missed.  In this internet age details can still be lacking on websites.  We headed back up the 7 lakes route to cute, touristy Villa la Angostura which we had passed two days previously.  After a little window shopping and a light lunch we headed to the airport past the beautiful lakes once more.  Onto Mendoza, our last stop.

Our short flight to Mendoza coincided with an electrical storm so our baggage was delayed about 1.5 hours.  While waiting we chatted with a young Swiss couple we had met previously on our long bus ride to see King penguins back in Punta Arenas.  Seems everyone is on the same circuit.  Finally the luggage arrived and we headed out into an unusual rainstorm which flooded the roads.  Mendoza is in the desert and receives barely 9 inches of rain a year.  The extensive farming in this region is supported by irrigation canals which are fed by snow runoff rivers from the nearby Andes.  There are canals alongside sidewalks, roadways, everywhere.  Water is released a couple times a week into the system to water the lush trees and plants in the city as well as the orchards, vegetable farms, and of course, vineyards all around.

We stayed at the Casa Glebinius, a collection of villas in a garden setting all with a cozy Spanish vibe.  The next two days we went wine-tasting with a tour group called Trout and Wine.  Jimana was our guide and we headed out to start tasting at 9am.  We visited 3 wineries day 1: Familia Blanco, Salentein, and Andaluna ending with a wonderful lunch at Andaluna (tenderloin, again).  Salentein and Andaluna had spectacular settings in the Uco region, the architecture of these wineries were stunning.  We’ve seen more and more of the contemporary low and long concrete buildings  with extensive glass everywhere which sat perfectly amongst the vineyards.  Salentein has an art museum and a performance theatre in the barrel room.  Malbec is the Mendoza pride but we tried a few I’d never heard of: Borada (red), Torrentes and Semillon (white) as well as Cabernet Franc which is a blend of Cab Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc.  After a few tastings and a large lunch we hung at the pool until dinner.  Andrea had selected another tapas place, Bandillas, where we met a friend of a friend of Andrea and Steve who had relocated to Mendoza.  Dinner (steak, again) and conversation and another 2 bottles of wine were enjoyed by all.

Our last day we headed out once again with Jamina for 4 tastings.  We visited boutique winery Mendel where Valencia gave the best, most informative tour.  The wines were very good.  Next was Casarena, also a boutique winery, where Lucas gave a very enthusiastic tour.  Both had great Malbecs and Cab Franc.  For lunch we stopped at Terrazzas.  The lunch was ok (the worst steak I’ve had) and the wines were not to my liking but I had a lovely time chatting with Carina from Bogota, Jimana from Mendoza, and Myoko from Japan.  We finished our tour at Budeguer, a hobby winery from the family that supplies Coca-cola with sugar cane.  The tour guide looked like a teenager and some of the wines were ok.  By then, i was officially wine’d and steak’d out.  I changed my annual physical appointment to a later date so as to get my cholesterol under control when I get home.  The weather was sunny and in the 80’s, almost too hot for us.  We relaxed poolside until dinner at the hotel (lamb ravioli-so good), then enjoyed one last evening slumbering in Argentina.

We loved our travels in South America.  Everyone was friendly and helpful even with our lack of Spanish.  We’ve had people stop to help us on the street, unasked.  Everyone says “hola” or some form of  “Buenos dias” at the breakfast sitting or on the bus or passing on the trails.  The scenery is unbelievable.  All of our flights and bus connections were on time (well, maybe not the bus or the luggage carousel).  The dollar goes pretty far: most dinners for 4 with 1 or 2 bottles of wine (and these were substantial meals as my waistline will attest) were under $150.00.  Wine that sells at the store back home for $40.00 is $10.00 here.  Tipping usually is 10%, which seems paltry considering the excellent service we received everywhere.  This was a great trip.  Can’t wait to go back.  Salute!