Argentina--Day 1, Bariloche

March 6, 2008 HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SCOTT!!!!!

It was a long four flights, but after two days of travel, Anders and I made it to San Carlos de Bariloche (known simply as Bariloche). Henry met us at the airport which garnered a huge smile from Anders--and me.

Turns out the people of all nationalities love Anders--maybe they like all little kids. He was quite popular and folks wanted to chat with him throughout the trip. Some people just walked up, picked him up and kissed him. Others did not enjoy when he was crying and fussing on the plane...

Bariloche is a Swiss village of about 100,000 people that sits on the south end of Lago Nahuel Huapi and is surrounded by Parque National Nahuel Huapi. The Andes rise up sharply to the west and the steppe falls off to the east.

After waking Anders up from 12 hours of sleep this morning, we had breakfast in our cabaña. We rented a little place at Bungalows Capurro so that we could cook food and have a bedroom for Anders--it's hard to get him to sleep when we are all in the same room, like a hotel.

Starting the day with breakfast at Bungalows Capurro.

The evening view from our window of Lago Nahuel Huapi.

Then we went downtown to walk around a bit and do some errands. Bariloche is a popular ski resort in the winter (it's late summer/fall right now, of course) as well as the gateway to the national park. It is also the biggest tourist destination in Argentina.

Looking into el centro

El centro

Bariloche is a Swiss town and thus must have St. Bernards in the town square.

This afternoon we took the gondola up to the top of Cerro Otto--a mountain with a revolving restaurant and lots of tourist junk to buy. However, there is great view of Bariloche, the lake, the Andes and giant Mt. Tronadór.