Bariloche, Argentina

Getting to Bariloche involved a 28-hour bus from El Calafate. Twenty-eight hours. On a bus. To save money, which is the justification you give yourself when you’re backpacking and can’t quite bring yourself to check flight prices. I had a weird dream somewhere around hour fifteen, which is basically inevitable when you’re sleeping semi-upright in a moving vehicle for that long.

We arrived and promptly spent too much money on dinner, which felt ironic given the whole point of the bus was to be frugal. The next day we hopped on the city tour bus, which turned out to be entirely in Spanish. I understood maybe every fifth word, but the scenery spoke for itself. Bariloche sits on the edge of Lago Nahuel Huapi, surrounded by mountains and forests. It’s often compared to Switzerland, and it leans into it hard — there are chocolate shops everywhere.

With some downtime I hit the gym (a recurring theme at this point), walked around town, had coffee, and sorted out some life admin. Booked flights to Ottawa for April 10th, which suddenly made the end of the South America leg feel very real.

The adventure highlight was paragliding. Running off the side of a mountain and floating over the lake district with the town sprawled out below — it was one of those experiences that’s hard to put into words. The views were absolutely unreal. We also took the cable car up Cerro Torro and had coffee at the revolving restaurant at the top. A revolving restaurant. On a mountain. Argentina does things differently.

But the best day in Bariloche was the mountain biking. A few of us, including some blokes from Karratha (of all places — small world when you’re from Western Australia), hired bikes and rode through the lake district. The scenery was incredible and the weather was brilliant for once. Weaving through forests with lakes on either side, mountains in every direction. One of those days where you just feel lucky to be alive and doing what you’re doing.

Back in town, we visited a memorial in the main plaza, then went out for an amazing steak dinner. Argentine steak never gets old. Afterwards we headed to Dusk nightclub for a big night out. Lou fell asleep in the toilets at one point, which was the unofficial signal that it was time to call it. We grabbed burgers on the walk home, as you do.

I should mention that a significant portion of my spare time in Bariloche was spent going to the gym and watching Celebrity Juice on my laptop. Not exactly the stuff travel memoirs are made of, but that’s the honest truth. Sometimes the highlight of your day is Keith Lemon and a treadmill, and there’s nothing wrong with that.