Bariloche

I flew into Bariloche on a cold day with poor visibility and wandered around with the hood up on my big coat. There were many others similarly dressed who had not got their adrenalin fix due to the weather!
It all seemed too touristy, too many hotels and hostals thrown up too quickly. A young person´s adventure playground.
What a difference a day makes. Cool at first with fluffy white clouds and an increasing amount of blue sky and a steadily rising temperature. On a tour bus we drove out of Bariloche and saw many lodges and beautiful houses along the lake. This is just a fantastic location in Argentina´s Lake District.

We stopped at Cerro Campanario to take the chair lift to the top for one of the top 10 views in the world! (I cannot find out what the other 9 are) It was incredible, the visibilty was perfect and the view is 360 degree. Mountains and lakes all arranged to perfection. It is the best view that I have seen, ever! Not the best viewing situation because there are many people here wanting to take photographs. I am hoping for some "What about...." comments. Queen Charlotte Track, Bay of Islands, Urupukapuka...all gorgeous with tranquility which this does not have, but it does have 360 deg.

We stopped at a couple of other great viewing points and back by 1.30 from a 9am start. I knew the guide would only speak Spanish and one of the girls in the group made a point of explaining to me, in English, at each stop, what was going on. So friendly!

I was dropped very close to my hotel but, of course, got lost! I decided it was time for a good meal and went in this posh restaurant. I knew it was posh as nobody else was wearing walking boots nor photographing their meal. I may have ordered 2 main courses as the salad had venison, smoked salmon, cheese, dips, and hardly any green stuff.

Then the Patagonian Lamb - seven lamb chops! I did not order dessert.