Paradise in the South!

Hola from Bariloche, Patagonia the most beautiful place on earth!

Sean and I have decided that we have found our new home... Patagonia has proven to be one of the prettiest places that both of us have seen and we have had the pleasure of taking in the fresh mountain air, crystal clear lakes, snowcapped mountains and lush hills peppered with bright colored spring flowers for 10 days now.

Our transition from Mendoza to Bariloche was easy and friendly and in a moments time after getting off the bus we found ourselves at a really cool hostel that over looks lake Nahuel Huapi (the largest of the 7 lakes of Patagonia) and a large looming snowcapped mountain.

Being low on cash we were a little nervous that we wouldn´t be able to do much without a tour guide but contrary to thought we realized that we could do a whole lot more than we imagined on our own. The day after our big hike up Catedral we took it easy hanging around the town gathering maps and information about the nearby local mountains and sights and gluttonously consuming ridiculous amounts of chocolate - something Bariloche is known for.

The following day we woke up early, something we are not used to these days :-) and heading out with a few new friends to Cerro Campanario (a small hike to a look out) by local bus. It was a short 30 minute, vertical, butt kicking hike to a magnificently crowded view point (or you could cheat and take the chair lift up, which everyone and their mom did). It was beautiful but we desperately struggled to get a picture without a stranger in it.

After that Sean and I left our new friends to walk 500 meters up the road to a bike rental place where we rented bikes and headed out on a 26km (16m) ride. The bike ride has probably been our highlight here despite the fact it was a killer for the calves and buns! But it was so, so beautiful to ride past bushes and bushes of bright spring flowers (that we learned only bloom for 2 months out of the year), pine trees and the famous Arrayanes trees (beautiful big trees with striped cinnamon colored trunks famous for growing in the forests of Patagonia). For most of the day we pedaled up hill inclines to arrive at look out points, waterfalls and the most breath taking sights... To be honest I can´t really describe and do justice to the beauty of this place and part of me feels like I am a broken record running out of adjectives that would properly describe the exquistness of Patagonia. Even the pictures that we have taken really don´t capture the charm of the south and because of that I feel like we have to take it in that much more and try to remember the mountains that literally are stacked upon one another and go on for what looks like eternity.

Sean and I have been taking total advantage of every mountain we have access to and trail or no trail we try to scale up it for the view. Because Bariloche is really known as a ski/snowboarding town the mountains trails are maintained but empty and open to the public. So everyday we have been taking the local buses to all the routes offered and embarking on a new adventure, and it has been pure bliss!!! The other day we found a trail marked Cerro Tacul and took it up until it placed us on top of the mountain. It was our first totally unobstructed view... Not one human hand had touched, developed or chopped anything in our sight in a 360 degree view point. So we sat down and had lunch and stayed there for a couple hours until the sun had taken its toll on our skin.

Yesterday we decided to get out of the town and drive around the 7 lakes. We had met a couple of friends a couple days earlier that wanted to go so the 4 of us rented a little red car and headed out down dirt rode that took us for miles into the forest of pine trees, rushing lakes and quiet lakes then desert lands with giant unusal rock formations and then flat lands with clouds streaked with pink. It was like driving through 4 states in a matter of hours and it was so cool.

Today we headed down to the shore of the lake where we laid in the shade for half the day reading a book and admiring the literal crystal clear waters of Lake Nahuel Huapi.

Tomorrow will be a tearful goodbye for us as we head towards the Atlantic Ocean town Puerto Madyrn to catch up with the peguins, sealions and whales.

I hope all is well with everyone! Muchos besos desde Patagonia.

Ciao!

Lyndsay and Sean

Patagonia!

Hey guys,
I know its been awhile since the last blog, but we really haven't been doing too much blog-worthy stuff in the last ten days or so. To get you caught up since the Atacama desert(our last blog) we left San Pedro, drove straight down to Santiago for 24 hours, changed buses and took another 8 hour ride to Mendoza, Argentina. We were staying in a really relaxed hostel in the center of town where we basically just went on walks, read books in the park and watched movies. Very uneventful and totally relaxing. Mendoza was one of the nicest cities I have been in, and I am not just talking about South America, I am talking about anywhere! The streets are very clean, people are nice and highly educated, Lynz went nuts shopping in the zillion clothing stores and we both were extremely happy to see a SUBWAY sandwich shop again! Turns out in Argentina both Education (through your masters degree) and all medical services are free, not only to citizens but to foreigners alike. Kind of makes us want to move down there and get a free masters degree, or at least a free Yellow fever shot (which we paid $150 for in the states WITH insurance!)
Three days ago we jumped on another bus from Mendoza to Baraloche in Patagonia where we are now. We decided to spoil ourselves for this bus ride and paid for ¨Cama¨ class which translates to ¨bed¨...we also booked a week in advance to make sure that we had the upstairs seats against the front windshield for the 18 hour ride...it was an AWESOME decision! As soon as the sun came up we were just surrounded by crystal clear lakes and rivers, huge rock formations, clear blue skies and even a bit of wild life.

As we came into the Baraloche district, we couldn't´t help think of how much it looks like lake Tahoe in California.

Arriving at our hostel we were blown away by how posh it was, they have beautiful lake views from everywhere in the hostel including the HOT TUB room!

This morning we woke up early and headed out for a hike since it was perfect weather outside. We had been recommended to take a bus around the lake and hike up a ski resort that is closed since its summer down here, it supposedly boast one of the best views around. Arriving at the resort we didn´t know what to expect, but lucky for us the place was a ghost town. We just started walking up the mountain until we reached snow, then we kept walking until we reached the top about two hours later. We could not believe the view, I don't think either of us had any idea what a beautiful place we were in until we could see it all in perspective from the top.

We spent a few mins taking some pictures before sliding on our butts down the snow then hiking the rest of the way down in soaking wet shoes...not so fun.
We are thinking we are going to have to change our plans and stay in this town a week or maybe even two before heading back to the cities which we had planned to do much sooner. This place just has too much to offer in the way of hiking, fishing, kayaking, biking and much more. Stay tuned and we will put up another blog soon and let you know what we end up doing!

Sean and Lyndsay