So remember I said I´d be taking buses at night so as to not waste the day? Well I took a bus from Valparaiso to Pucon and I´d set myself up for a good old sleep. So around 11.30, most folk were settling themselves so I stopped reading, curled up and proceeded to conk out. 1am arrived and the young fella sitting next to me opened and started eating a packet of crisps……NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!! if everyone´s asleep, I´m sure there´s an unwritten law that you´re not allowed to eat crisps – with “open-mouth” munching noises especially!! In Oz when myself and Kate were annoyed, while telling the story we´d point our fingers and say NOOOOOOO!! If the annoyance really merited it, the finger would waggle from side to side 🙂 Yeah okay we´re weird but you´d have to see it…. Anyhoo this young fella definitely would have got a waggly pointy finger on several counts. I´m a big believer that you only get one shot at sleeping on a plane or bus and yep, you guessed it, I was still awake at 8am when the bus got into Pucon. Now, in fairness, the young fella wasn´t the only cause for concern. Every time I closed my eyes and started to drift off, I get a weird sensation, open my eyes and there was an old lady sitting in front of me (who couldn´t sleep at all) staring at me!!! Hello???? I know it´s public transport but again that surely violates some other type of rule, right???!!!!

Anyhoo, rant over, I arrived in Pucon which is a really cute town (or is it a city, I´m not sure) Now it´s totally purpose built for tourists but still I have to say I really, really liked it. There´s a little bit of a swiss theme going on with all the wooden shop fronts and touristy things to buy. Woolies are the big thing here, hats, scarves, ponchos, etc. the funny thing is even if you have been to Chile, these still look familiar….maybe we had some souvenirs around the house when I was little or something. There are loads of big chunky knits, you know the ones that are soooo soft, squishy and you just have to touch them….. – not in Chile, scratchy hard wool that would drive you mental!!! Anyway I signed myself up to climb the volcano the following day and I was a bit nervous because I´m so unfit but since I didn´t do the full day glacier climb in Franz Josef (and this is the same deal) I said I´d give it a go. Had a walk around the town, but everywhere you look, this volcano is in the background…..waiting…….

So that evening I wandered down to the company to sign (i.e. waiving their obligation for anything at all that may happen to you) forms and there was rain fore casted so the whole thing was called off. So disappointed!!! Of course now I was stuck in Pucon for another day (which was certain to rain), which is a day I desperately need for somewhere else and I was stuck with a wooly hat and gloves……….well at least they´ll be useful in freakishly windy, rainy and massively unpredictable Patagonia. AND aren´t they just fantastic?????? Anyway I met an Italian gentleman in the hostel and he was going trekking in the National park so I said I definitely wanted to something worthwhile with my day. Woke up to thundering rain at 5am and it rained solidly until about 9.30 so that ruled out the National Park. Then the sun came out and there was a 1.30pm bus so I said I do a short trek but of course the bus was full!!! Then the twitching started because I´m not able to do nothing all that well. One positive about staying an extra day was that my legs returned to their normal state and I didn´t look like a 90 year old woman anymore. The bus just seems to swell out the legs big time. I hung out with a Cork lad, Darren, and we chatted the day away. I also got to try one of Pucon famous hamburgers which are pretty much the size of your face!!! If you´re ever there, try one from Rap, I´m not a hamburger fan but they are mighty fine 🙂

So I finally made it to Bariloche, via Osorno where I was going to stop for a night to check it out but now I´m glad I didn´t to be honest!! My friend Pam told me that Bariloche was here favourite spot in Argentina and I have to admit I liked it a lot too. It´s really touristy, kinda wooden fronted shops……

that look like swiss log cabins, chocolate shops, more woolies and trekking gear as it is a kind of gate-way to Patagonia. You also get great views of one of the lakes as you are strolling around the town. 

There is loads to do here and I met up with four german girls……

and we headed off up Campario to see the whole range of lakes and mountains around Bariloche. It was pretty spectacular.

After that we went on a 25km bike ride, which sounds like a lot but it was fine really. You can do the whole circuit which is 60km and I thought that would be a bit much, especially since you have to cycle from Bariloche and deal with traffic. Anyway it was lovely, the sun shining, at least for the first 5km and then of course it started raining!!! Booo to it. Still though we saw a lot, there were beautiful view and we cycled up the hill to a fab hotel called Hotel Llao Llao to take in the view there (needless to say they didn´t leave us in or anything!!!) We all really enjoyed it, I just didn´t feel a knackered as I thought I should have, although this is what we looked like half way through so maybe it was more taxing than I thought 🙂

Anyhoo we celebrated with a steak from El Boliche de Alberto – which is THE place the have steak (medium/rare whether you like it or not……. good job my tastebuds have changed)

around these parts. Even poor Kerstin whose a vegetarian tried the steak, well we are in Argentina. And indeed it was fantastic!!! Totally stuffed though. Ended the evening in the hostel with two of the girls and some Cork lads who´ve been in Bariloche for a week or so. Kinda nice to chat to people from home for a while, especially when they are a good laugh!! Some of them (the ones who weren´t afraid of the rain!!) did the cycle too. The funny thing is, the place that rents the bikes talks you through where to go and what stops to include. The guy really stressed that when you´re on the way back, make sure to take the turn for his place or you´d end up in Bariloche!! Of course one of the Cork boys forgot this and added 20km to his adventure – classic!!!! We had fun with that!!

The next day I was leaving in the afternoon so I had a stroll around in the cold, cold wind. Dreading heading south now as it´s going to be sooooo much colder there! Did the other must eat treat, which was chocolates from a shop called Mamuschka. Think I need to get out of Argentina or I´m going to need bigger trousers 🙂

I know I´m really lucky to be doing a world tour but sometimes I do get jealous of people who are just doing one continent as they get to stay somewhere until they feel like moving on. That said I know I´d be really lazy and never see anything. I have to say though I would have loved to hang around Bariloche for another few days but I saw a lot and really enjoyed it and I needed to keep those thoughts with me for my upcoming 36 hr journey south into Patagonia and the first stop is El Calafate…….

Sorry it was such a long one. More photos on http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindybear/sets/72157613443695699/ & http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindybear/sets/72157613443766439/