Buses, Views and Policia!

Next up was an epic 19 hour bus journey south to Bariloche. I was hesitantly optimistic as the bus to Mendoza had been brilliant but knew 19hours would be a trial. We set off packed up with rice cakes and cheese and sandwiches for Ed and do you know, it was a really very comfortable journey. Two films both in English helped the journey go quickly, we’d paid to get the best seats on the bus which were comfy 140degree recliners, the toilet was functioning and relatively bearable, all in all it was a fab experience.
Just I was thinking how wonderful the experience was the bus pulled up at a Police check point. A nice police lady jumped on and checked everyone’s passports, all was fine and the next thing we knew Ed and I were being told to gather all our things and come with them.... no one explained what was going on and they pretended not to understand or be able to reply in Spanish. My thoughts were that maybe someone at the bus terminal had put something in our bags and Ed was panicking that it was a chance to bribe the Brits, worried about how to bargain in Spanish and just how much they were going to ask us for.
We got escorted to their office where they proceeded to unroll and nose around in every single pocket and part of our rucksacks. I tell you, I’m not travelling with dirty laundry again! After going through every part of our bags, getting excited at a packet of plasters-trying to explain those in pidgin Spanish was fun-they realised we had nothing of interest and let us go. Very strange I asked again what they were looking for and this time they bothered to respond and said it was a routine check, the bus conductor said maybe the sniffer dogs had found something. We put it down to Ed’s ratty bag, remember the rat in Thailand that chewed Ed’s bag to get to his hidden dairy milk buttons? Maybe our bags looked a bit tatty and they thought we were hiding something.

Anyway, off we went again and we arrived to a very chilly Bariloche. It was really exciting to head to Patagonia, this is where Ed’s dad spent much of his youth and we were excited to see his homeland. This is also where the weather we had anticipated kicked in so it was on with the jumpers, hats, gloves and scarves all while you folks are twittering on about the hot weather you were having!

Me doing some postcard writing in the main Plaza of Bariloche.

Bariloche is a really beautiful town, set right on a lake with snow dusted mountains in the distance. It is Argentina’s lake district and the area is dotted with gorgeous blue lakes. We spent the first couple of days sleeping, eating and mooching around town, but I soon got itchy feet and we stepped up the visit a notch or two with a visit to the local museum and a couple of hikes. The best walk took us on a ski-chair lift to an amazing viewpoint. We said it was the most amazing view we’ve had all trip. Overlooking snowcapped mountains, lakes, beautiful autumn trees, two young eagles were swooping and playing and we are pretty sure we saw Condors over in the distance.

Fabulous views from the top of a mountain over Argentina's Lake District


Hopefully by now you are understanding the miniscule portions and massive variety that Argentine food offers?