Wednesday, January 30 – Bariloche

Today was pretty low key. I spent the morning doing some trip planning and working on the journal. Then in the afternoon I decided to take a short hike to the west of the hotel along the lake (the city centre is to the east). My ultimate destination was a little beach called Playa Bonita.

Travel Tip: For international travelers who obtain cash via ATMs, I highly recommend that you open a Schwab checking account. Using their ATM card incurs no foreign transaction fees, and, this is the big one, at the end of each month they refund all ATM fees. Huge! My first two stops on this trip, Argentina and Uruguay, have low limits on the amount of cash that can be withdrawn during each ATM transaction. I therefore ended up utilizing an ATM five times in January. Each time I was charged a fee of a little over $6. On February 1st I received a $30 refund from Schwab. Nice! I also have a Capital One credit card that charges no foreign transaction fees.

I forgot to mention a funny story from my flight to Bariloche. When we landed several of the passengers applauded. I was trying to remember the last time I experienced that. I’m pretty sure it was when I flew from Moscow to Yerevan on Aeroflot Airlines. In that case though the clapping was fully justified, considering parts of the plane’s interior were held together with duct tape!

Thursday, January 31 – Bariloche

I took an excursion today to Puerto Blest, which is a part of Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi. This is the first national park of Argentina, established in 1934. Ironically, I’m currently reading a book about Theodore Roosevelt’s 1913 excursion into the Amazon, and prior to entering the rainforest he toured other parts of South America and visited this area.

The day started with a pickup at the hotel around 8:30. We then took a short drive to Puerto Panuelo on Lago Nahuel Huapi. From there it was about an hour boat ride to our destination of Puerto Blest.

Puerto Blest (and Bahia Blest) is the starting point for three different hikes that are part of today’s excursion. The plan was for the group to go with a guide on each of the trails, but there was also the option for individuals to go off on their own and then meet at a designated point and time (maps were provided and the trails were well marked). So, of course, I took the latter option (I was one of the few). It worked out great because I had the trail (and photo spots) to myself (plus I’m anti-social!).

The first hike was along a river that branches off Bahia Blest and formed a lake called Lago Frias.

The second trail wrapped around the bay, first along the water, and then moving to the interior.

The final hike went uphill along a waterfall, culminating at another lake. I took some pictures of the waterfall, but frankly, after Iguazu I didn’t have the heart to post any. (that sound pretentious, I know)

The return boat ride to Puerto Panuelo originated from a dock opposite to where we were dropped off at Puerto Blest, but adjacent to the last trail of the excursion. The was called Puerto Cantaros.

I was on the outside part of the boat again for the return trip. It was warmer than this morning, but more windy, so I sat on the leeward side.

The excursion ended with a drop off at the hotel around 6:30. A full day!