#16 A Bike Ride in Bariloche

Although the main purpose of our trip to Bariloche was to complete some errands, somewhat unintelligently (but perhaps not surprisingly) we arrived on a Friday evening leaving only Saturday morning for chores before everything shut up for the weekend. So that left us with all day Sunday to spare. While the two of us keep talking about doing some treks, or at least half-day walks, we always seem to convince ourselves out of it ('who needs to walk when you can simply ride there' sort of logic) and today was no exception, a mountain bike ride preferred over the myriad of (free) hiking in the area.

The day didn't start out well. First we were told to call ahead at 8.30 in the morning only to wake up to find that the bike hire shop didn't open till 10, and the first bus wasn't until 10.30. Then, after specifically checking that the bus left from town at 10.30 it drove past us at 10.18 as we were searching for an open kiosk to fill up our bus card. The next calamity occured when instead of trusting our instinct (and following the map in our hands) we got off a bus stop too early after following other tourists, who were following another set of tourists, who were not hiring bikes. What's an extra couple of kilometres walking when you are already biking 35kms! Finally, we found it was necessary to book the bikes after one of only two bike hire shops was dry.

Looking hot in my orange biking vest!

The amount of misinformation we had received that morning had me slightly frazzled and when it became clear that this wasn't a mountain bike ride at all, strictly pavement with some bum-numbing gravel thrown in for good measure, I was reaching implosion point. That said it was a very rewarding way to travel and beautiful route. Even if we purposely took the unrecommended direction in order to chill out at a brewery on the way back without the worry and added challenge of riding while slightly inebriated. Of couse it was closed, despite assertions to the contrary, and we had only ridden an extra 3kms off the main drag (and back)! There was a 'Swiss village' just round the corner with markets, food stops, and a chocolate shop, located on 'Zurich street'. Slightly strange choice of location for a 'New Switzerland' given it was one of the only spots on the way without a backdrop of Alp-like scenery, but a nice place to stop.

Unfortunately just shy of arriving in Bariloche the zip on our Oxford 'lifetime luggage' tank bag broke meaning we were left without a storage component for our bits and pieces we need access to every day (lock, phrasebook, bike papers, water etc). A nice thing about the Argentina we have experienced thus far is the lack of large chain stores; locally owned hardware shops, for example, are commonplace. For small outfits they often get incredibly busy and it's not unusual for the entire place to be full of people each with a numbered ticket waiting for their turn to be served, much like your local fish and chippie. Bariloche continued to be unkind to us; when I finally tracked down a leather repair shop I was told it would take at least 5 days to fix meaning we had to think of another option. Like a bad imitation of a Liz Hurley dress it was pinned up for the next ride. Reece had a little more luck locating some screws that had come loose on the bike and at a local plumbing store we found a replacement for the cap that had fallen off (or more likely not screwed on at the previous stop) our tool holder.

As the main street of Bariloche is lined with chocolate shops, where sweet treats of every variety can be bought by the gram, we were able to reward ourselves for fulfilling our various errands before heading off to our next stop on Ruta 40: El Bolsen.

Check out the ash formation in the foreground