Final leg of "Dale Patagonia"

Our last day on the road. All good things must come to an end and we had had an amazing trip. We weren't back yet though, and we had some more 'sploring to do.

We left Neuquen earlier than I think we managed to leave any other town on this trip, around 10AM or so. We'd planned on hitting several of the Valle Alto 'bodegas' or vinyards along the way and we still had a long drive.

The first sign we saw was for the third vinyard on the map, in order from west to east. How on earth had we missed the other two? Well...good thing #3 was Humberto Canale because we'd be itching to get to that vinyard ever since our first sip of his 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon called Intimo back at Lago Puelo.

Initially Guille (my ever faithful and kind translator) was told by the security guard at the gate that it would be impossible to visit. When she asked if we could at least BUY wine, we were welcomed in. Funny how that works!

Guille and I both grabbed our wallets and cameras though I worried we'd stand out as tourists. A few moments later and out of the blue came a fellow photo-enthusiast with a camera slung around her neck who came to say hi and see who we were.

It turns out Dolores' husband works for Humberto Canale. She's the one who told us that there was a big festival in the town of General Roca and the vinyard was hosting a couple of big events for it that afternoon so that's why they were so busy and weren't doing tours. Aha!

She got us access to see the museum before we bought our cases of wine. Then the sales manager came by and got chatting with 'Horseshoe Willy' as I've nicknamed Guille, and he invited us for a tour of the aging rooms. In the end Dolores led us around which was nice because not only is she lovely, but she could appreciate the extra time we wanted for taking pictures.

After the tour Guille went to ask the sales manager, Juan, for a wine glass with the logo of the bodega on it. There was another man standing talking to Juan whom I recognized from the brochure. It had to be a Canale so I walked over to say hi too! I wasn't going to miss that opportunity!

Afterwards we swapped notes and neither of us thought we'd heard him introduced as a Canale. Still, I was pretty sure I recognised his face. Once we got Internet we googled the vinyard and discovered he's the current head honcho there though his last name isn't Canale. It turns out he's the grand-nephew of Humberto Canale. Pretty cool!

As we left the bodega we decided not to bother seeing any other vinyards that day because they'd only be disappointing after this one! We also shook our heads at our good fortune. Had we found the other two vinyards or left Neuquen any later we would have definitely been turned away. Sometimes things happen the way they're supposed to. Yay.

When we pulled in to Bahia Blanca much later in the evening and parked in front of Guille's apartment, the odometer read 3450km!!!! What a run! I traced the route on the map while it was still fresh in my mind and below you can see where we went! At his point we concluded that "Dale Patagonia" was a wild success and we're continuing to scheme on how to make the Bolivia trip work out next month...

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!)

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah...my oh my what a wonderful day.

We milked our time at Llao Llao to the max and only checked in to the Design Suites Hotel at 10PM yesterday. Zach had stayed there on his way through Bariloche and told us he'd been upgraded to the jacuzzi suite. Guille couldn't resist checking if we could have the same. Fantastic! We made good use of it as you can see. We ate the empanadas we'd had delivered (!) and a bottle of wine in the tub!

One of Guille's dreams as a golfer was to play a round a Llao Llao. Since our laziness yesterday eliminated that as an option, we headed back today to tick that off her list.

While she played nine holes, I went for a hike nearby. It took just under an hour up and down through a forest to get to the beach. I found a nice spot to sit, dip my toes, have a bite to eat and take some photos.

As I headed back a funny looking 'puddle' on the beach caught my eye. There was an area back from the water line that had a pool of water with floating pebbles on it. They were volcanic rocks from Chile. I sat and played with them for a good while. If I dipped my hands the little groupings would break apart and float away to make new groups. If I threw a rock in the middle of the highest concentration of them, it would leave a hole but then they'd drift back together in a matter of seconds, effectively healing the hole. Very cool!

Next we drove around a scenic loop called the Circuito Chico. There were a lot of cyclists on the hilly route and little shoulder on the road so we were alternating between looking at scenery and watching out for cyclists. A slight detour off the circuit took us to this small, dusty little Swiss settlement where we stopped for a coffee and a snoop around.

In the evening we went in to Bariloche town. So far we'd been outside of the town centre along the banks of Lago Nahuel Huapi. The town of Bailoche is a lot like Banff only bigger. It's a mountaineer and tourist mecca. It's also famous for chocolate. Who knew?! We couldn't resist buying a few samples but we had to hold off sampling them as we were off for a cheese fondue for dinner which was delicious!

Las Peresosas

Translation: the lazy girls!

Rough day today! Ha!

Up at 9:30, down for a delicious breakfast, a wander around the property, a trip to the pool, a massage, a late lunch, some reading/journaling, a yoga class and happy hour. What can I say? We deserve this! ;o)

Not much to report today really so I won't. I'd rather go be lazy!!! Here are are some pictures to give you an idea of why that's the order of the day!

Our table for breakfast is the one in the sun:

The big hall:

Around the grounds:

Goofing around:

Guille at the pool:

Llao Llao Hotel - the lake side:

I gotta see it for myself!

When we did the math, we couldn't quite believe that we'd actually spent five nights in the same place! Lago Puelo was a real gem. I could imagine that given masses of people it would be a zoo, but the fuel shortage, rumours of volcanic ash and mixed weather kept a lot of people away. Lucky us. It was an unspoiled gem and we enjoyed our time there very much.

Today it was time to hit the road again and we began our drive north to Bariloche shortly after noon. The drive was incredibly beautiful. I can see why this region is so well known. Bariloche is apparently THE tourist destination in Argentina.

Despite that title, we were advised NOT to come to Bariloche. The winds from the north and west were blowing volcanic ash from Chile and apparently the visibility in the area was poor. That argument worked in reverse for me. I wanted to see it more, not less, for four main reasons:

1. I've never seen volcanic ash and as a geoscientist I was rather curious to see it.

2. That news may in fact keep the crowds away and the town may not be as crazy which is appealing.

3. My plan was to hit the spa as a treat. If it was crummy outside all the better, I wouldn't be missing anything.

4. They might be wrong.

And they were wrong. Or maybe they were right for the day before. The ~50km/hr winds were fierce and what little ash there was was quickly clearing out!

It was certainly the wrong day to wear a dress with all the wind but all my other clothes were in quarantine! The first thing we did as we pulled into town was look for a lavadero to take care of nearly two weeks' worth of stinky camp clothes.

As we pulled up to the fancy-schmancy 'Llao Lloa Resort and Spa' , 25km west of Bariloche town, I wondered out loud if they'd even let us into the lobby. This place features in the 'Leading Hotels of the World' book. It's expensive but after 35$ (~$8) per night of camping for 10 nights, it averages out quite reasonably.

Guille has the most amazing luck/karma out of anyone I've ever met. Things just happen for her. I've christened her 'Horseshoe Willy'!!! I can't go into all of the examples I've witnessed on this trip but she has a charmed life and she is deserving of all of it. So it came as little surprise that we got upgraded to a suite with a balcony overlooking the lake!

Once we walked into our room and saw how gorgeous it was we literally did a happy dance! This place is a real treat and we were so appreciative of being here. Pictures can't do it justice but here are a few attempts:

The front of Llao Llao Resort and Spa:

The view from our room:

Mate and a hike to Chile leads to further wanderlust

In my 'Che Boludo' book, the explanation of Argentinian mate culture is two pages long. In my Lonely Planet book it's only one. It's hard to capture all the subtleties and nuances of this daily ritual that is a fundamental part of an Argentine's day in any number of pages in a book.

Today Zach got a crash course from Guille as he christened his new mate gourd. He'd been curing it for a couple of days in preparation for its first cuppa!

She covered the preparation of the yerba herb including the shaking of the yerba in the gourd to get the powder to the top. There was mention of the ideal temperature of the water (apparently 82'C is best). The straw is not to be moved nor held. There is an ideal amount of water to pour and a deisred 'frothiness' to the wet yerba. Then there is the cebador. This person serves all those partaking in the mate ritual. S/he serves her/himself first to make sure it's okay for others, before serving to others. Those being served are not to take too long with it (or else they're reminded it's not a microphone!!!). People are served in a clockwise fashion. You only say 'gracias' once you've had your last round. Phew...lots to think about! But that's how we started our day. It's all very fascinating!!!

Following mate and a slow, lazy breakfast, we set out from the campground for a hike. The four of us, Zach, Ann, Guille and I headed for the pier to arrange for a boat ride across Lago Puelo to start our hike on the Los Hitos trail. The trail goes all the way to Chile but we stopped about 5km from where we got dropped off at the park ranger's residence at Arroyo Las Lagrimas.

It was a beautiful sunny day and we all walked and talked and got to know each other better. Zach told us a bit more about the charity he cofounded. He's doing his drive across South America to raise more money for it. We also started to figure out how Guille and I might be able to join Zach as co-pilots for his end-Match leg up through Chile. We also were eager to tag along for the early April Bolivia stretch. Plans are vague at this stage but we're both eager to make it work. What fun it would be!!!

It could have been worse.

No hurry to do much of anything today. We thought about doing the Los Hitos hike along the lake but it was windy and well... mañana. We have the luxury of time to move things around as we wish. In that sense Guille and I are well matched. Some people are more rigid about plans. 'But you said we'd go for the hike today' might be the reaction of some. We're both a bit more of the kind of travellers to come up with a bunch of options, choose one, possibly change our minds and do something else! In many ways it's refreshing not to care too much. We're both just happy doing anything.

Instead we read and chilled at the campsite in AM and then headed out for our hike at La Pasarela at 15:30. On the way we pulled over to the side of the road to rearrange the contents of the backseat. Guille had reminded me that it's best not to do that at the parking lot of your destination in case someone sees what's inside. Good call.

We move everything except for some dry food and some camping gear we hadn't been using. I left my flip flops and some odds and ends like my little perfume, my funky sunnies and the umbrellas. To make things look particularly unworthy of further attention, we left a roll of toilet paper and paper towel on top of everything. Below our seats we stashed our iPads which have been making our day bags just that much heavier and more awkward.

The hike over the pasarela was lovely and the waters of the Rio Azul were indeed a beautiful blue colour. The hike was between Mapuche (native) farms on roads lined with berry bushes and apple trees. There were cows and sheep and the sun came out and warmed us up. It was great....until we got back to the car.

Guille got in on the driver's side and exclaimed that it was slightly open and not locked. Initially I thought she'd left it open but then she got out to confirm her suspicion that in fact the lock had been damaged when someone had broken in!

Our hearts resumed beating once we confirmed that our iPads were still there. Then we assessed the situation more carefully. The bags with camping supplies, food, my perfume and the toilet paper (?!?!) we're gone. I guess it could have been worse. Obviously the robber had been in and out quickly. Had he looked more carefully he would have found other, more interesting goodies. We got off lucky. In my 'Che Boludo' book, the expression for that is "La sacamos barata".

We knew thefts like this happened. We'd heard about one two days prior in the same parking lot. We'd thought to move our stuff out of site and into the trunk. We'd seen the police patrolling the parking lot as we started our walk. We thought we'd be okay. I guess you can only do so much.

When we got back to our campsite, Zach and Ann were there all set up in the campsite next to us. They're traveling together on this second leg of his journey around South America in Babe. It's such a small world as I know Ann from the Shell office in the Hague and she knows Zach, whom I met in India. Now they both know Guille and the world is even smaller!