argentina: bariloche

bariloche is a well known town in argentina...the town itself is an outdoors town, not a cultural town...you go to bariloche to take part in activities outside the town...i was hoping to go for a couple hikes...
on my bus to bariloche i was in one of the front seats, so i had fantastic views driving across the country...beautiful lakes, views of the mountains in the distance, etc...awesome...as we got closer to bariloche, the weather started turning bad...and it stayed bad until i left bariloche...boooo...i wanted to go for a couple good hikes, or at least go into hills just outside town, but none of that happened...i felt like a drowned rat for two days!

after buying bus tickets to my next destination, i took a taxi to the center of town...the taxi dropped me off at a hostel, i went in to check prices...the prices were significantly higher than what was listed in the guidebook, it was clearly another instance of lonely planet syndrome...(prices go way up after being listed in the guidebook)...i walked a bit, and then randomly ended up talking to a guy on the street...mike, from canada...he said he comes to bariloche every year to lead ski trips...he directed me to one of the hotels he uses, and i was very pleasantly surprised to find it affordable...yahoo!! thanks canadian mike!!

even though it was raining, i hoped the weather would calm down, so i went for a walk...my first stop was at an ice cream shop...YUM...
as i said, the economy of bariloche is built on people staying in town while participating in activities around the town...you can see (when it's not too cloudy) beautiful mountains around the lake...most of the shops in town are of two varieties: chocolate shops, and athletic gear shops...i have no idea why there are so many chocolate shops in bariloche, there are heaps...over my stay in town i think i stepped into most of them, just to see the differences...
i saw a lot of people wearing ski gear, which surprised me, since i've heard that this was not a good ski season so far...not much snow on the nearby mountains, and what snow is there is crappy...i don't know how the number of tourists this season compares to most seasons...my visit was at the beginning of august, so there is still a month for the season to continue...

i walked to the lakefront, hoping for a nice photo or two...that did not happen...it was all grey, low clouds, and really windy...
i ended up having dinner early...the steak wasn't as big as i've been eating during this trip, but it was cooked perfectly...woo hoo!!
on the way back to my hotel a man asked me to go get a drink...he said he'd seen me around town all day, and i fascinated him...uuummmm, no...i was a bit creeped out, thats just wierd...approaching a strange woman after dark is not cool...
instead, the rest of my night was spent working on postcards, i have heaps of them that need to be written...
the next morning, it was still raining...BOOOO...my hotel breakfast was tasty, i ate slowly...i didn't leave my room very early, there was no motivation to do anything with the crappy weather continuing...
i had more ice cream, yum...i took a few more photos...it wasn't raining as hard, but it was still cold rain, and super windy...trying to keep a hold on my umbrella, and keep the rain off the camera lens was a losing battle...
i bought chocolate at several shops...YUM YUM YUM...
that night, i had trout for dinner...tasty :)