Bariloche

The last leg of our end-of-the-year-2017 trip took us to Bariloche which is (apparently!) the most visited spot in Patagonia. It is a nice place and with all of the amenities (including decent veggie food options), although we would not consider it "real Patagonia"... at least compared with where we had just travelled from it seems a little too manicured, with nice lawns and nice houses and golf clubs etc.


Still, it is a convenient gateway to some of the wilder parts of Patagonia, and provides easy access to many spots of outstanding natural beauty nearby. The city was redesigned in the 1930s to have the appearance of an alpine town. During the 1990's it also became famous as a haven for Nazi war criminals (not sure why but this is not that hard to imagine).

Having a bit of fun on Cerro Llao Llao

We'll have to come back another day and spend a few days in the backcountry nearby, this time we're kind of travelling through only on our way back to Chile (having no real other choice since the Carretera Austral on the Chilean side was cut after the landslide we mentioned in the previous post).

One doesn't need to venture far from Bariloche to have views like this one (Brazo Tristeza, Lago Nahuel Huapi)...

...or this one (Lago Moreno Este, with Cerro Lopez in the background)

With only a day to play with we decided to stay close to the city and went for a pleasant afternoon stroll in the Parque Municipal Llao Llao. One can get there by public transport in about an hour or so. Our little walk took us through dense forests (but with good hiking trails) to the Cerro Llao Llao viewpoint and thereafter to a couple of beaches (more or less hikes 1 and 2 on this website).

Soaking up the last bits of fresh Patagonian air and the views before heading home

It was a pleasant finish to our Norther Patagonia trip, and the following day we embarked on our 24h bus journey back to Santiago (via Osorno).