Bariloche (Patagonia) & Mendoza, Argentina

From Pucon, we took a day bus to Bariloche in Argentina. The benefit of the day bus meant that we were lucky enough to see more of the Lake District, with its beautiful scenery in all its glory. We crossed the border back into Argentina and it immediately felt good to back on Argentinian soil. I am not quite sure what it is, but Argentina has by far been my favourite country, maybe the people, maybe just the atmosphere, I´m not sure but have definitely enjoyed being back here.

Bariloche has a population of 120,000 people, what was once a small town has grown and spread its settlements in and around the mountains. Everyone it seems in the last 100 years has wanted to live in Bariloche and I can understand why.
The town is surrounded by beautiful landscape, more snow capped mountains and situated on the Lago Nahuel Huapi, a stunning, large lake, part of the National Park. The town itself is heavily influenced by the Swiss and you can easily let yourself believe you were in Switzerland with the lakes, mountains, and Swiss-German street names not to mention the numerous chocolate and jam shops.

Bariloche is located next to the Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi which is popular for a number of activities including trekking, rafting and kayaking. We opted for a 3-4 hour hike in the National Park which was more like a gentle stroll on a Sunday afternoon, a pleasant change from the hikes and treks we have been doing over the last few weeks. The trek took us through forestland and finally finished by the lake where we were looking forward to a leisurely kayak, however, typically the weather was against us again and the wind would have made it tough going and rather unpleasant. The next day didn´t prove any better, so we left Bariloche without having Kayaked and took an overnight bus (19 hours) north to Mendoza.

Mendoza is a cosmopolitan, tree lined, large city with a European come Argentinian feel. At low altitiude (760 metres above sea level), flat streets, funky shops, a warm and sunny tempo made this city a pleasure to be in. I definitely took to Mendoza after a nice walk around town, lunch in the Plaza Indepencia and a nose in the boutique shops.

The afternoon of our first day was more adventurous as we had locked ourselves in to hurling ourselves off the top of Cerro Nerco, and paragliding down whilst admiring Mendoza from above. Gear on, instructor and parachute attached, we ran, ran, ran until the wind swooped us up into the air. We launched ourselves into the sky at 1,700 metres and the wind took me as high as 2,300 metres (an increase of 600 metres). My instructor Eduardo had 22 years and over 1,200 flights under his belt, and so all I could do was trust him, sit back and enjoy the flight... and that I did!

The afternoon wind was perfect and the flight lasted 20-25 minutes, Eduardo said I was priveleged to have had such a long and good flight. After a few parachute acrobatics, we descended and landed at speed. Somehow, I managed to land on my feet rather than on my bum like previous skydiving experiences. Paragliding was awesome, a strange feeling comes with just floating through air, all chilled and relaxed.

Mendoza produces 70% of the countrys wine and so a wine tasting excursion should definitely be on the agenda as it certainly was for us. With 1,000 wineries in the region still in operation we were spoilt for choice. We spent the morning being taking around wineries, both industrial and traditional boutique style, sampling their produce as we went.

The highlight of the day however, HAD to be the lunch... 2 and 1/2 hours of just eating and drinking wine. Copious amounts of GOOD food just constantly flowing from the kitchen and into our bellies whilst the waiters continuously topped up our wine glasses. No more smelling or swishing the wine around our mouths, this went straight down the hatch and was appreciated in just the same way. Lunch was finished with yummy Almond ice cream (Dad, you were not far from my mind at this point... you would have loved it), and all was left to do was jump back into our bus, get to our hostel and not move for the rest of the day as we were too full and rather exhausted from all the eating and drinking.

After Mendoza we headed 8hours through the scenic Andes mountain range which will take us to our final week in South America. A week of pure relaxation by the Chilean coast.