Finding our happy place in Bariloche
We have come to realise that exploring untouched parts of this earth’s natural beauty feeds our soul. And as we leave Bariloche, we both have a shared sense of contentment that we had yet to experience during our travels so far.
We arrived in Bariloche (part of the Lake District of South America) with a renewed sense of adventure – we wanted to move away from the safety of booking tourist trips, and instead find ways to explore on our own.
Bariloche is a lake side town and walking down the high street and seeing the snow-capped mountains and the lake framed by the town’s buildings, reminded us that sometimes you have to look beyond what is right in front of you to find true beauty. Bariloche would be our base but it certainly wasn’t where we would be spending our time.
After a lot of research (of course!) and a few trips to the tourist office and national park office, we planned out our three days in Bariloche, which we felt made the most of this incredible area.
On our first day, we took a local bus to Cerro Campanario, where we opted to take the estimated 30 minute ascent to the top rather than pay for the ski lift up. Laura, being the mountain goat she is, decided that we would be cheating otherwise. We all but ran up the mountain, and within 20 hot and sweaty minutes we were at the top enjoying the rewards of our efforts with the breath taking views. We exchanged a look and knew we had made the right decision to go it alone in this incredible destination.
After taking in the vista, we descended the mountain, and hopped back on the local bus to the Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi. Armed with a very basic map and a back pack full of sandwiches, we began our six hour walk around the national park, ending with another mountain, Cerro Llao Llao.
The walk took us on a nature trail through woods and every so often to a look out point (‘mirador’) on to the vast lake. Each viewing point was as breathtaking as the last, and throughout, we felt like we were seeing the lake for the first time. It’s stillness gave us both a sense of peace and calmness within. We stopped at one viewing point for a little while and it was just meditative; it gave us a shift in mindset, reminding us why we were on this journey in the first place.
We had read about Refugios (a hut on a mountain only accessible on foot, providing food and shelter for trekkers) and whilst we weren’t planning to stay over night, we found Refugio Frey, which could be accessed as part of a day hike and so without question, we had it in our sights for our second day.
It was obvious to Laura that we had to be on the first bus out of town that morning at 7.15am so we could start the walk before 8am! We had been assured by the national park office that there would be lots of people taking the hike and it was clearly marked, but at that time of the morning there was no one to be seen.
We were dropped off by the bus in a vast empty car park of a deserted ski resort and looked for the sign in the distance that we had read about, which indicated the start of the trail. We were greeted by two stray dogs (so many in South America), who walked with us to the foot of the mountain, as if guiding us there, and they watched us as we started our next adventure.
We began our four hour ascent which wrapped around the mountain. Whenever we were unsure where to go, there was not a marker to be seen! Relying on intuition alone, we continued to navigate over rocks and through streams. At one point, we climbed over rocks with a waterfall cascading over them. We were convinced we must have gone off track somewhere, but kept ploughing on in the hope we hadn’t and determined not to turn around. Eventually, we would find a tiny marker some distance further on, reassuring us we hadn’t. This definitely was becoming the adventure we had been looking for.
On route, we discovered a small Refugio; this was a tiny little hut built into the rocks with nothing more than wooden slats on the floor and a wood burning stove for warmth. With the excitement of this discovery and new found energy, we bounded off to continue our hike.
We had become accustomed to the fact that parts of the route were not obvious so thought nothing of us scrambling through bushes and into a big field of bog land which we had to wade through. The views were amazing with nothing but snow covered mountains surrounding us and we eventually found a little marker in a tree which led us up a hill covered in fallen trees, branches and brambles until we hit a path. On our descent we realised we had totally gone off track and missed a well-walked path behind the Refugio!
We eventually reached the last 10 minutes of the hike and were stopped in our tracks by thick snow. It was difficult to navigate the snowy traverse, but we were determined to reach the Refugio. The last section required us to cross over a snow covered river, marked with a few wooden posts and rope. Ever the gentleman, Nav went first. He lost his footing at one point and grabbed the rope. All the wooden posts popped out of the ground and we quickly realised it wasn’t there to steady us!
What we were greeted with when we arrived, we just could never have imagined. Sheltered in a valley of snow capped mountains, we found a little house-like building, a hive of activity of trekkers and rock climbers. The middle of the valley was filled with a lake, covered in snow; we had climbed to the source of water.
The sun was beaming and we found a log bench to sit on; to drink in our surroundings, enjoy our lunch and watch the rock climbers make their risky ascent.
Eventually, we tore ourselves away from this hidden community and made our descent. This was when we started to meet other people on the trail. They were making their way up; clearly not as keen as Laura for the early start!
The day was something neither of us had experienced before and it gave Nav an understanding for Laura’s love of hiking and a new found thirst to discover these hidden areas of beauty, inaccessible without the challenge of a hike.
Two day hikes complete, it was now time to turn our attention to a recommendation from a Belgian couple we met in Mendoza, who said without fail, we had to hire a car and take a drive through the renowned Seven Lakes in the area – a 400km round trip from Bariloche. Conscious of cost, and determined to stick to our new motto ‘seek our own adventure’, we put an advert on Couchsurfing to see if we could find two other like-minded travellers to join us and share the cost, so we could take on the road trip on our last day in Bariloche.
We thankfully did, and met Matt and Ryan with our little white Chevrolet first thing in the morning on our last day. We had our set roles; Nav as Driver, Laura as Navigator, and off we went. Lake after lake after lake. We stopped at random view points to absorb the unique views each one had to offer, as we ventured to our furthest point, a town called San Martin de Los Andes. We stopped for a little wander around this town and then hopped back in the car to venture back home.
The Belgian couple had recommended an alternative route back and described it as a little off-road and quiet but definitely worth it. Not ones to want to miss out, we decided this was our route back home.
Once again, we were not disappointed. This trip was like a rock safari in a rock desert where you could see many strange and detailed rock formations resembling different animals and objects. We meandered up and down the valleys, on this gravel road surrounded by mountains for over 100km, and only saw one car the whole time. We still can’t believe the sights we saw in Bariloche but this just topped it. Even our co-passengers couldn’t believe it; it surpassed anything they were expecting from the trip.
Our time in Bariloche had come to an end, and indeed our time in Argentina, and what a finish. It has changed our perspective on travelling, reminded us that we are on this journey to explore the wonderful sights of this world we wouldn’t see without going off the well trodden track, and the rewards are just indescribable.
As we cross over into Chile, we look forward to more adventures together.
