Dan & Rach's World Trip

Got to Bariloche in the Lake District of Argentina a few days before New Year. The whole area is stunning, mountains, forests, lake, probably the most beautiful place I have ever been to.

Spent the first day relaxing before going for a hike up one of the hills. There was a cable car but I made us walk up as It cost 5 USD each! Although the views were amazing the walk wasn`t, they have these flies that are as big as your thumb here and don`t go away when you swat them, you have to kill them! When we got to the top it was such an awful walk that to get back down we snuck onto the cable car as they were not checking tickets. On the way home went to a local brewery and sampled all the local beer they brewed

Being the "adventure capital" of Argentina we went White Water Rafting the next day, not bad although try as hard as I could I couldn`t get the guide to flip the raft either acidentally or on purpose (the Americans onboard din`t think this was funny) so we will have to do it again in New Zealand. That evening we had a chocolate fondue as this place is alegedly world renown for its chocolate - Rach loved it.

Third day we went for a long hike through the forrests and hills surrounding the area before heading into town for New Years Eve. Rach was badgering me to hurry up and leave the hostel as it was nearly 9pm, but when we got to town amazingly everthing was shut! We hadn`t been told about this and it came as a surprise to find all the bars closed, bars closed on New Years Eve! Found one bar open but all the tables were reserved for a set meal so we just sat at the bar drinking. However we had no idea how we were going to eat until we got drunk and Rach had the great idea of asking if we could have the set meal at the bar. After some delibertaion they said yes but it was all such an anticlimax. Even after midnight (no chimes, no old langs aye, no kissing or dancing in circles) the town was still pretty deserted, seems all the locals go to their homes for parties so I have no idea what all the tourists did unless all the hotels lay on events. When we got up today still nothing was open, we cannot even buy water from the corner shop!

Anyway we are off to El Califate today down in Patagonia to see some glaciers do some hiking and go camping for a couple of week.