Video: Flying Away on the Patagonian Sky

Taken off from Cerro Otto at 12:30pm, April 20, 2014, with Ernesto Gutierrez.

Bariloche: Restaurants, Accommodation and Tours

Restaurants

In Bariloche, because of the schedules of my tours, I pretty much snacked along the way during the day, and only have one formal meal in the evening, There are actually a lot of restaurants in Bariloche, but mostly targeted to tourists in al centro area, and be aware that they might have added service charges on the bill already. I did try a Parrilla (steak grill house), the ribs (asada) and chorizo were extremely tasty, the portion was big. For another two nights, I tried some locally caught fishes, trouts seemed to be a common item on the menu, the other fish I had started with M in Spanish. I should have written it down. It was stuffed in a ravioli. For some reasons, I have been eating ravioli a lot in Argentina, even though sometimes I didn’t expect to be ravioli, but it arrived at my table as a ravioli, like this last fish dish. They must have a different way to call it, other than ravioliones. It was good, the sauce was kind of a herb, olive oil and infused with other stuff, very tasty. One afternoon, I did go into one of the local dives, and had a hamburger, other than the beef, they did add a ham in there to fulfill the name “Ham”-burger. On the day I took the bus to Buenos Aires, I had a Milanesa Completa at the bus terminal cafe, it was an overly cooked breaded pork sandwiches, I thought it was pork anyway, or was it a fish, it was as rough and dry as pork anyway. It was pretty bad, you might as well have crackers. Not worth a try.

La Parrilla de Julian

Address: Mitre 458, San Carlos de Bariloche

Website: http://www.laparrilladejulian.com/

There are two La Parrilla de Julian in Bariloche, the other one is in Av. San Martin 590

Linguini Restaurane Italiano

Address: Mitre 370, San Carlos de Bariloche.

This one is pretty touristy and they sure added service charges, but at least the food was pretty good and service was good. Just a few stores from La Parrilla de Julian.

Tours

As I mentioned one of my other posts, in Bariloche, it seems a lot of tours are in Spanish only, if you are lucky the guide may speak a few English words to you, especially about the important information like when you are supposed to get back to the bus. That being said, the so-called “english” tour is also useless, since they might not be able to get all the English tourists to join the same tours the same times, end up they might throw you in one of the local Spanish tours anyway and have the driver or guide to put you in the front of car, and give you some handicap’s attentions. Definitely avoid booking those English tours online (for instance, viator.com), I did that and didn’t think the tour was worth what you pay for. Ideally if you know a little bit of Spanish it helps, just join the Spanish tours, you will be able to get by. If you do not speak Spanish at all, I would recommend you to go to the tourist office (there is one in Centro Civico) and ask them how to get around the Bariloche areas by local bus, and do it yourself. If you do that, you might want to check the bus schedule ahead of time so you don’t miss a bus, the time between bus can be long. Otherwise, you might need to hitchhike back, which is not uncommon here too.

Here are a few personal comments about various point of interests:

Cerro Otto: Nice cable car ride, and have a good view of the lake. But I would skip it if you are going to do Circuito Chico tour.

Circuito Chico: this half day tour includes a few sightseeing spots along the lakeside head to the peninsula where the famous hotel Llao Llao is located. This tour included a chairlift to the Cerro Campanario, the chairlift fee is usually not included. The view on Cerro Campanario is better than Cerro Otto, to me anyway. They would also make a few stops at the overlooks along the way. They said the view on Villa Cathedal was even better, but I didn’t go so I cannot comment.

7 Lake Route: It should be a beautiful ride if it is on a sunny day. I recommended to do it yourself, rent a car and drive along Route 40. There are many spots you can and possibly would to snap a pictures. If you join a tour, likely they would make less stops at the overlook and would bring you to Villa la Angostura and San Martin de los Andes, both extremely man-made tourist town like, I would avoid if possible.

Parapente en Barilloche: I totally recommend to do paragliding in Bariloche, but during the autumn (the time I went), the weather can be uncertain, if it is too windy, you cannot take off. If it is not enough sun or winds, you might not be staying on the air very long. I did it anyway since I have wanted to experience that. With the lakes and snow mountains around Bariloche, it is undoubtedly an amazing place to do paragliding. I went with Ernesto Gutierrez for the tandem flight, he is a local guy, very experienced, been paragliding for over 21 years at the time he took me to take the flight. I am usually afraid of height, especially when I stand at the edges, but to be honest, I don’t even feel the fear with this paragliding experience, because the take off were only in a split second, the wind just lifted you up flawlessly after you run two and three steps. The view and experience are simply extraordinary. Ernesto speaks very good English and he explained to me about the paragliding, the wind, and also about the animals around the area. A good guy, all in all.

Ernesto Gutierrez

Email: parapente@bariloche.com.ar

Telephone: +54 0294 15 4413037 or (locally) 15 4413037.

La Trochita (The Patagonian Express): Another highlight I did in my trip. It is not exactly in Bariloche, but it is nearby. There are two possibility to take a ride on La Trochita, one is from El Maiten which is closer to Bariloche, but they have less scheduled tourist train. The other is from Esquel, which is where I took a ride on La Trochita. Esquel is 4 hours bus ride away, also surrounded by mountains and nearby a national park. If you have some spare time, I think it worth to check Esquel out. The only problem with La Trochita is that you cannot really buy the ticket online, lucky me, I bumped Jorge, a local guy who runs a B&B in Esquel, and he was very kind and helped me to reserve a ticket ahead. He is just really friendly, gave me lot of explanation about the train and even gave me a quick tour of Esquel in his car. I really appreciated his help.

Jorge Miglioli

Hosteria Canela, Los Notros 1440, Esquel 9200 Chubut, Argentina

Telephone: +54 (0) 2945 453890

Website: http://www.canelaesquel.com/index.html

Accommodations

There are a lot of options, you can stay in a local hotel, there are abundant, but also check out Airbnb. This is the first time I use Airbnb and I have found a studio apartment on a nice location, it is clean, modern, comfortable and with a lake view. It is US$48 a night during time I went, it was Easter holiday, but the price varies from season to season. It can be as low as 30 some dollars or even less. I am more than happy to have stayed where I was. Ana was the host. She was very helpful, when I first landed in Bariloche, my luggage was delayed, and she asked the airline to call her if they cannot locate me when the luggage arrive. On the last day, when I dropped off her key, she took me to bus terminal too. That is very kind of her.

Ana Alquilar

Airbnb Profile: https://www.airbnb.com/users/show/511775

Day 9: Paraglided over the Patagonian Sky

Called Ernesto last night after I got back from Esquel. He said, “Si, look like we can take a flight tomorrow.” I tried not to be overjoyed yet, since I have been here for a few days, one thing I am quite certain is that the weather can be very uncertain and can be changed drastically over night. Woke up at 8:00am this morning, supposed to call Ernesto at 9am, but it is Easter Sunday, most of the shops were closed. I was not able to find a public phone. Went to a supermarket, asking the security guy for a telefono, first he pointed me to the mobile phone accessory section. I pulled Ernesto's number written on a paper, and made my hand sign like I was calling on a phone. He finally understood, he seemed to say there is no public telephone around, he ended up lending me his cell phone to call Ernesto, that is very kind of him. Ernesto confirmed me it is still a go! Holy mole, I am going to fly today, I screamed inside. It is muy muy exciting! The sky was partly cloudy, but I didn’t care, I just wanted to experience that feeling of flying.

Ernesto picked me up at 10:30am. We met up with Paulo and another guy (forgot his name, he had long hair, wore goatie and a pair of white sunglasses). Done some admin stuff like writing down my name, birthday, passport number and address (I was supposed to also sign an insurance release form too, but because I don’t read Spanish, he was like, I guess you don’t need to sign that, wonder what might happen if (touch wood) something were going to happen to me). After that, we changed to another jeep to drive up Cerro Otto, the road was bumpy. At one point, from the backseat, I was like looking at these 3 macho rough looking unmarried men talking in Spanish in the jeep with a broken windchill driving in some mountain roads up the hill and into the bushes, I wondered what I have signed myself into. We stopped at one side of the hill and Ernesto said we are going to test the wind here. It is a smaller take off place. He took a plastic bag with him when he got out of the car, he picked up some old cans (crashed them) and also empty bottles on the side of the road and put in the plastic bag, I wondered how he gotta test the wind with that, whether he would collect enough weight in the bag and throw it into the air. Turned out those are just trashes he would threw them into a bin at a station later. Geez... There was actually a thinly standing flagpole at the cliff, they looked at it to see the direction of the wind, he also threw some sands up in the air too. It has been a calm day, not much winds, and quite cloudy, not much sun. He said it is possible to take flight, but without wind and some thermal heating from the sun, we may not be able to stay in the air that long, for 10-20 mins top, common for autumn days here.

We ended up driving up further to another take off place, where we waited for the winds to pick up for a while. It is so complicated, one day it was too windy, next day it was not enough winds. Because I am light weight, even without winds, we could still easily take off, with some winds, it could be easier and better. He started to prepare me, put me in this jump suit and a helmet, all securely fastened with chains and belts. Some other people joined us at this second take off spot, I was not sure if they were with Ernesto, or they were just other paragliding fanatics and gonna do a flight themselves at some points. Anyway, they helped Ernesto to prepare the giant yellow wing which we would fly with. They laid it flat on the ground, with many tiny little strings hooked to Ernesto backpack. The take off place was actually a slope off from where I went up with a cable car a few days ago, it was not scary to stand there, but you better have some shoes that have teeth at the bottom to grab on the mat or soil. We were all set, he hooked himself up with my belts standing behind me, and he would say go, and I needed to just run forward (downward along the slope actually). We did, within a second, the wings were lifted up and we were in the sky already.

I meant the take off was just in a split second, I didn’t even have time to scream, and I was already got absorbed into that Mary Poppin moment and of course the sight in front of me, I think I mumbled, “Wow, this is amazing!” (a few times). I looked down, it was not that scary actually since the backpack I was carrying, it would turn into a seat once I let my arms got through the strips, quite comfortable actually. You totally felt in control. We circled in the air a few times, almost like an eagle would have done. He let me control the wings a little, pull downward was almost like a brake, and it slowed down the descend. Letting go of the handles, you felt the winds running on your face again meaning we were gradually descending. “I am loving this!” I thought. I definitely need to do this again someday.

As he expected, we didn’t stay in the sky that long, just no winds and heat in the air to keep us up. The landing itself was interesting, we were going to land in a small backyard. Depending on the angle we landed, there are different things I am supposed to do. One type I am supposed to run forward as we land, the other, to be honest, I missed what he said. I was kind of distracted on the air. I thought I am going to run anyway. But it was not as easy as you think, it took a lot of strength, since the wings may still be pulling you in the back. We got very close to the ground, I could jump off my comfortable seat and start running. But in a split second, I fell forward on the ground already, turned out Ernesto was running much faster than me, so I fell forward, it didn’t hurt or anything, and we already landed anyway. Simply amazing! Ernesto is very experienced, have been taking flight for over 21 years. Just a friendly dude. I think his skill made me at ease too, I am so glad that I have done this today.

Ernesto took me back the apartment, I called Ana to arrange key drop off with her. She came by the apartment at 2pm. She was very kind and took me to the bus terminal, kissed cheeks and said ciao ciao. Off I went. 

Well, paragliding is definitely another check marked on my Argentina checklist. Still alive, yay! To complete my full South America travel experience, the next item on the list is a long distance cama bus ride from Bariloche in Patagonia to Buenos Aires (the New York City of South America). How could I come to South America and not take one of these long distance buses!? I imagine I probably am the only one who actually interested to experience this. :) I only have planned one overnight bus, everywhere I go is by flight. I may be dead tired tomorrow or I may be fine. It is a 20 hours bus ride, I know that probably sounded terrible. But it scheduled to leave Bariloche at 3:20pm, and is supposed to arrive Buenos Aires at noon tomorrow. Timing wise I think it is perfect, I would be just sleeping here on the bus. Not too crazy about sitting next to a youngster who originally took my window seat. We started off with the wrong foot, oh well. He is sleeping now. Maybe it would be ok. More to report about this bus journey tomorrow.

Day 7: A Rainy Day with Typhoon-like Wind

I woke up very early today, the winds were so strong, and it sounded like a hurricane outside the window. By the time I arrived at the meeting place for the tour, the sky was just about to get brighter, it was 8am in the morning. I was greeted by the guide, sat me down on the first row, and then we headed out to pick up other tour mates. Of course, at the end, I was the only one who didn’t speak Spanish again. I think the problem here is that there are not enough demand for English tours, so end up they would just throw you in one of the other Spanish tours, with a guide giving you some special attention. So, the Bariloche mama from the tour agency yesterday was right, it was a waste of money to go to an so-called “English” tour, which you would pay almost 2-3 times as much. There is really no difference. Well, ok there is a tiny little difference, at least the guide today did tell me what time I should return to the bus. And occasionally he would translate some names of the lakes for me, like Lago Villarino, he would tell me this is Lake Villarino. No kidding! :)

We were supposed to ride along the 7 lakes route and visited two towns. It was pretty much raining all morning, so the marble green lakes were not as pretty in the pictures. But I have to say, this 7 lake routes kind of reminded of the road to Hana in Hawaii, or the Big Sur (route 1) in California, with some sections turning into the winding roads in Vermont during the Falls, because of the Fall foliages here I guess. It would have been very pretty if the weather is better today. And if anyone is interested, I would even recommend to rent a car to drive along this route, instead of joining this tour. This tour seemed to focus more in getting you to the two towns, which were a big disappointment to me. They were kind of plastic to me, very man-made tourist town with many shops and restaurants. They had no character whatsoever. I would probably enjoy more if they made more stops on the overlooks along the way. But with the rains, so I guess it is understandable that they skipped some overlooks.

Anyway, I believe there are beauty in everything in the world, even in the most boring tour, I usually found something else that might be inspiring or interesting. Today, to me, the highlight para mi was actually noticing a tea cup the tour driver had, when they made stops, he would pull it out, poured some hot water, there were already some tea leafs which looked like metals actually. He would drink it through a metal straw. The interesting part was that they shared it among each other, the same cup same straw. All the tour guides and bus drivers would gather around, smoking and passing this common tea cup, and sipping away. Meanwhile the silly tourists would be snapping photos of those dull lakes in the fog. I wonder what kind of tea they were drinking. Could it be coco tea? The way they drank it was like a smoking pipe.

Not much else to report about the tour today. Been there done that. Now I am looking forward to my Patagonian Express train ride tomorrow. I need to get up really early to take a bus down to a small town called Esquel, meeting a person named Jorge whom I actually got to know on Tripadvisor. He will be giving me the ticket and tell me the taxi driver name who will be taking me back. I only hope the weather will be better tomorrow.

Oh another interesting observation here, like Ushuaia, there are a lot of stray dogs everywhere here as well, I think it might be an Argentinean thing or a Catholic thing, I don’t know. But there are also mucho mucho hitchhikers on the roads, a lot of them are not even solo, but a whole family (a dad with two little girls dressed in cute outfits). I was like, mmm, that looks kind of odds. But maybe because these small towns by the Andes are so remote, and the only public transportations are mini buses, and they are not as frequent as one hopes. So, perhaps it is more common to hitchhike. I don’t know if I can ever do that though.

Also, another observation, in the US, we usually wait to be seated by the door after you entered. Here it is definitely not the case. Everytime I go in a restaurant and try to ask for a table from a server. He or she would be like oh sit anywhere you want. From what I see, usually you would grab a free table and then they would come giving the menu. Speaking of restaurant, today I had Ravoliones de Espinaca (some kind of preserved vegetables in the Ravoli or something) and dinner I had Trucha con Salsa de Hongos y Papas Espanolas (I think it is Trout in mushroom sauce, looked bad but tasted good actually.)