From hot to cold and (almost) white Christmas

Back in Bariloche we have some time to do our next update, starting with the wine tour in Mendoza!
There is different ways of doing this. Either you book a guided tour (with bike or bus) or you take the public bus to Maipu (the fee is 2 pesos per person, but there is NO coins in supermarkets or anywhere so you don't have them! Solution: a friendly person pays for you with the electronic card). The bus driver was so kind to drop us off directly at the bike rental point of Mr. Hugo where you get a bike, a map with the wineries around (12k distance) and a bottle of water. It's around 11 and the sun is getting stronger, so you bike to the first one (Trapiche, closed :-( ) and then to the one further away so you can make your way back. Arriving at the Bodega, you start with the tour through the Bodega (this part will be skipped in later tours) and you end up with tasting (and maybe buying) wine.

Since it's around 12.30 now, we decided to have lunch there before we went to the next one (tour and tasting). We did this with 4 Bodegas where we tasted different wines before we went back to the "chocolate and liquor" place (where you can taste chocolate and liquor, right). At the end, we headed back to Hugo where he offered us some really cheap wine, before we headed back to town with the public bus.
We probably had 35 degrees next day, so after breakfast we stayed in the shade of trees or anything else to bear the heat. We actually wanted to leave this day (Sunday) but there were no buses available, so we had a lazy day in Mendoza and we had some nice pasta in the evening (we used the kitchen in the hostel since the people from Argentina know how to grill meat but they have no clue what to do with pasta!)

Our hostal (bar) with pool

 On Monday, it was hot again (around 35 we guessed), so we chilled in the pool of the hostel (actually it was 2 x 2 m wide) but nevertheless refreshing! We had to wait since we were facing an 15 hour bus ride and we booked first class service from Andesmar and to shorten the time, we visited the snake terrarium and had a coffee in the street cafe (where my cell phone got stolen by some children, the Sony Ericson one :-( )

 Since we didn't want to spend the day in the bus and arriving at night in Bariloche, we waited for the nightbus... very good idea:
First Class service means, that you can convert your seat to a bed (180 degrees) where you can really sleep, not just nap in the seat. The food is exactly the same as in the normal bus rides, but you get a proper knife and fork and a napkin. Furthermore, you also get free red wine for dinner (tasty wine) and we got a 3 times refill and last but not least, before the lights are switched off, you get a glass of champagne for a good night... I'd say it's definitely worth for a long bus ride to spend some more :-)
Next afternoon, we drove through an amazing valley before we arrived at Bariloche (called Swiss Argentina) and it really looks similar. There is a lake (blue) mountains (high) and the town is a skiing resort in winter. As we left the bus (still in shorts) we noticed the slight breeze (which was a strong wind) and the slightly chilly air (it was freezing cold there!). So we organized a hostel and put on some warm cloth and visited the town. Besides all the chalets here, there is also cheese fondue and plenty of chocolate (like in Switzerland).

Bariloche

Next day, we had the plan to climb (hike up) to the mountain close to Bariloche, but the bead weather (wind, wind, wind and rain that was close to be snow) and a dog blocking the way stopped us from doing this (we wouldn't have seen anything anyway). So we just had a stroll around the lake and did some sight-seeing and tried to organize a car for the 7 lakes and for the Caretera Austral. Unfortunately, drop off at El Calafate in the south is ridiculously expensive (1500 CHF EXTRA) so we changed our plans and we are going by bus down there, but this later.

Cold and windy

The 22nd of Dec, we had our car and started with a round trip around Bariloche (and it was still cold there as you can see on the picture). The area is great and we also visited the small Swiss Colony in the west of Bariloche, before we headed north to the route of the seven lakes (there is more lakes then seven but never mind). Our first stop was Villa La Angostura, another skiing resort town where we stayed the night. But before we went to bed, we looked at the beautifully snowy mountains around and a little bit of Christmas feeling arouse :-) . Here, we also tried a specialty: roasted lamb, very tasty!

Snow in Summer

Next morning, we hiked the peninsula and we had a pick nick at a remote, but beautiful lagune before we drove further north. The 7 lakes rout is gravel, so we didn't went fast but it's anyway nicer and the temperature was raising, it wasn't freezing cold anymore. We stopped now and then and enjoyed the view, before we arrived at the lake Hermoso. We stayed in a small cabana close to the lake which was just great!

Lunch at the lagune

Just another lake (look at the mountains top)

Our cabana

After breakfast (24. dec) we drove the last part to San Martin de los Andes where we spent Christmas. It's also a small town at the shore of a lake and fortunately, the temperature was high now so that we could walk around in shorts again! The town itself is cozy and laid back and we had a wonderful dinner for this evening.Next day, even in Argentina all is closed down, so we enjoyed the warm and sunny weather and hiked to a mirrador and from there to the lake for swimming in the refreshing lake.

What happened the days after we'll write in the next entry!  

Quick update... Mendoza and Bariloche

It has been a while since we had time to update the blog and it's gonna take some more days until we update it properly, therefore here a quick update:
Wine tasting in Mendoza is great, we liked it and bought some wine as well!
Since we couldn't get a bus on Sunday, we waited 1 day longer in Mendoza (around 35 degrees) to get a first class bus to Bariloche and first class is really great! You can sleep in the bus fairly good and there is good service too!
Drawback: my phone (old sony Ericsson with the 076 323 .... ) got stolen the last day in Mendoza :-( but I still have the iPhone :-)
Bariloche is a nice town that could be in Switzerland as well (and you get fairly good cheese fondue as well!) although it is summer, it got freezing cold here! We rented a car to drive the 7 Lagos road and at 23.12 we had SNOW around us!!! Almost White Christmas ;-)
We spent Christmas in San Martin de Los Andes (another ski-resort town in the mountains) with now better weather and temperature, 25 degrees.
Tomorrow we plan to hike the Lanín volcano (2days) and head back to Bariloche after this, to spend new year there.
More in some days!
Merry Christmas and a happy new year!!!