Bariloche

We thought that we will be out of this town in a day, but the surrounding landscapes are so beautiful that we decided to stay the weekend to see more of it. Moreover, our CS hosts Paula and Denis were very welcoming and cheerful people, entrusting us with a key to the appartment and making us feel at home. Denis is an outdorsman and a Russian, from Omsk. We spent an evening listening to his stories of the routes around Bariloche - all in our native tongue:) Paula is a nuclear scientist, the first one we have ever met in person! There is a research facility in town.
There is a very strong German influence in Bariloche. The first wave of the immigrants came in the 1850s to clear and work the land. The second wave came when the Germans were loosing the WWII. The ones who could stuffed their pockets with jewels and gold and immigrated as far as they could from their fatherland. We have met a few young people who told us that their grandfathers were Nazis. This is the main square.The scenery around Bariloche is said to be very ¨Alpean¨. There are cristal clear lakes, vast forests and snow-capped mountains.
The first day we took a town bus to the nearby place called Llao-Llao (pronounced Shao-Shao in Argentinian Spanish). There is a short but beautiful trail through a Coihue (Nothofagus dombeyi) forest, and in the middle of it there is an ancient Arroyan (Myrceugenella apiculata) grove.Stunning. We hitched half way back to town and took a bus home from there.
The second day we followed Denis´ advice and made our way to Lake Gutierrez, also a short bus ride away from town. There we walked to the falls and climbed up to the lookout where we saw this view.This time we got tired out much sooner than we thought we would and returned home.
Tomorrow we set out towards Parque Nacional Los Alerces, home to 2000+ year old trees.