Grateful for wrong turns.

When we looked out the window of our room at the Design Hotel this morning, it appeared that the lake had disappeared overnight. The ash had blown in overnight from Chile courtesy of some strong winds. Good thing it was our last day. We'd been lucky to see Bariloche in its glory with sunshine and blue skies. That's how I'll keep my memory of it.

We did a little shopping and toodling around town before hitting the road. We appeared to be at peak time and the effects of the city's one-way streets, steep hills, alternating rights-of-way reared their ugly heads. Man...traffic in that small town is a problem and parking is a bitch!

After lunch we hit the road headed east. The winds were incredibly strong and we could barely open the car door for this photo showing the haze and the beauty of the valley.

There were a few other beautiful spots further on and then the scenery became boring and the 450km day felt longer!

One of the themes of this trip is "Don't wait for the next one...it may not come!". We've seen it come up all over the place from the gas stations (made worse by the gas shortage) to scenic views we drive past to bathrooms! Oh man! The last 10km into Neuquen were painful as it was rush hour on a road with street lights all over the place. When will I learn?

We used the Lonely Planet as a guide for places to stay in Neuquen. We stopped at a place that they said was nice. For 420$ we'd have to share a double bed, there was no street parking and the place was a dive. We checked out the other three places and even another one we'd spotted on the road and they were all scary. Guille went into one and was certain she was coming back to the car with a head full of lice! What was the Lonely Planet reviewer thinking?!?! Did s/he even go in and look at these places?!

Deciding that the first place was the lesser of the evils, we headed back to Hotel #1. We would have stayed there too if I hadn't led Guille one block too far. Because of the one way streets we couldn't go directly back. Looping around a corner we saw a nice hotel. Thank God. They were full but directed us to another one, a small hotel chain Guille knew from Bahia Blanca that had only opened two months prior.

For the same price as the first place, we got two twin beds, a clean and quiet room AND....parking on the second floor courtesy of the car elevator!!!! How cool is that?!

Moral of the story? Some things are worth persevering for and sometimes a wrong turn can lead you in the right direction! Hurrah.

Plus...in our hotel search we passed a funky looking restaurant that intrigued us both. We headed there for a late bite and had the best pizza in Argentina! So, if you're ever in Neuquen, go to Ache and order the Ache Special!

(FYI: that's the Spanish name for the letter 'h' and is pronounced a-chay...not ache as in toothache!)