WELL, I've been awol for the last 11 days so here`s the catch up. The Perito Moreno glacier, which is the world`s last advancing glacier was mindblowing. It`s very active, particularly in the mornings and evenings, and enormous blue chunks crack off into the water below which creates a sound exactly like thunder/how you would imagine an earthquake to stand. I feels like nature at it's most powerful. We spent 5 hours there ogling it before heading back to El Calafate on the bus to warm up.
The next day we headed to Barriloche. Also known as the bus journey from hell. Because route 40 is so bone rattling and bumpy it takes 36 hours to travel there by bus, or you can take the slightly shorter 28 hour bus (which is also much more comfortable) which goes back to Rio Gallegos, then North to Como Rivadavia and then diagonally across the country to Barriloche. So thats what we did, and in the entire time we have been travelling so far we have always found a bed at the first hostel we've turned up to. This time, at our most exhausted, hungry and freeezing - it gets very, very cold in Barriloche - the hostel we had set our hearts on was full. So off we traipsed back into the snowy darkness to the next one on our list, a place called 41 below. Which by this point was what it felt like my body temperature was. We had a quick shower on arrival, met a very nice Welsh boy and headed back out with him into the cold for a delicious Mexican dinner at a restaurant called Zapata. We then collapsed into bed and slept incredibly well (despite the fact that I was in a precarious top bunk which felt about 50 feet from the floor). Anyway, the next day we went back to our first choice of hostel, the Penthouse, and booked in there for two nights. It´s one of my favourite hostels so far: cosy, welcoming and on the 10th floor with awe inspiring views of the lake.
Our first full day in Barriloche was spent cycling the circuito chico, a 6km bike ride which takes you to some of the most beautiful spots in Barriloche. The famous Llao Llao hotel, hidden beaches and lakes, and even streams fed by snow melt from the Andes. They`re so pure you can drink from them (it´s basically mineral water) which we did. Best water I've ever tasted. After that, despite 10 hours of cycling and having very sore legs, we walked to the top of another Cerro Campanaro to see the grand finale, an incredible view that had been recommended to us over the whole of Barriloche. As a result we were frozen to the bone and could barely walk the next day, but it was totally worth it. Best day so far.
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