Patagonia - Northern Lake District

From Iguassu Falls, we flew back to Buenos Aires to join our Discover Patagonia tour, National Geographic Journeys with GAdventures.  It was a small group of 16 older adults with five young people among us - a perfect mix.  We were the only first timers with GAdventures so everyone was trying to convince us how great the tour will be as most of them have gone multiple times with the company.

Our first stop was Bariloche in the Argentinian lake district.  It was a two hour flight and as we approached the town, we could see the volcano Mt. Osorno just in front of the wing.  It would be our only glimpse of the famous Chilean beauty.  We had lunch in town before we went on the "small circuit tour" of Bariloche.  Our first meal at a vegetarian restaurant was delicious - it was also our first taste of cooked leafy greens (spinach) in almost a week.  We were glad we passed over the fried chicken place the rest of group ate in.  (Cooked leafy greens do not seem to be part of the Argentinian or Chilean diet, at least we didn't see it on restaurant menus.)

Bariloche was breathtakingly beautiful with its layers of lakes and mountains around it.  We took the chair lift up to the top of Cerro Campanario to see the 360 degree panoramic view of the surrounding countryside.  The circuit tour took us to several viewpoints, including one by the lake.  It was past seven by the time we got to our hotel.  And we have signed up for another long day the following day - a 14 km round trip hike.  See for yourself how splendid the scenery was.

Panorama from Cerro Campanario

 

Idyllic! 

At the beach

Closer look at the lakes

Wildlife at the mountain top

The main square in town here with statue of President General Roca, notorious for his ruthless subduing of indigenous peoples in Patagonia.  I read about protests to have the statue taken down, that was in 2012.  It was still there when we visited.

The most important shop in town!

Next post:  The hike to the Mt. Tronador glacial waterfalls