BOTTOM LINE:
Explored the city of Bariloche, Argentina
Picked up our rental car and returned to resort
"Pasta Party" and game night at Racelette Restaurant at resort
NOTEWORTHY: When we booked our trip in October the exchange rate was 5 pesos to the dollar and the cost of rooms and flights was about the same as the U.S. However when we arrived in February, Argentina had just had a currency crisis and the rate was 11 to 1 so the cost of excursions,food, drink and ice cream was very reasonable!
BACK STORY:
This morning we caught the city bus into Bariloche around 10:30am. I love taking local forms of transportation as it gives me a greater sense of the people that make up the communities that we are visiting.
As we made the 9 miles into the city center, activity and congestion of people and vehicles became apparent. It was morning and the city was definitely coming alive.
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| Bariloche, Argentina city street |
With map in hand we found the Europcar store within a few blocks from where the bus dropped us off. The office had our reservations and were happy that we checked in but didn't want to pick up our car for a couple of hours. The clerks took our passports and drivers licenses to make copies as they needed to compile special documentation and certificates for us to give at the border crossings of Chile and Argentina.
Our trip in the next three weeks will involve multiple border crossings between Argentina and Chile. Because the Andes Mountain range splits the two countries, there are only a few roads that pass through the range. Our next time share will be north of here in St. Martin, however we have to cross back into Chile traveling northwest to then cross over into Argentina traveling east. The paperwork is necessary for a rental car with two foreign passengers!
We left the car rental business with directions to a currency exchange office. Argentina's pesos have been dropping in value. Currently the exchange rate is 11 pesos to one US dollar. If we made an exchange and paid for our rental car with cash, we would have a considerable savings for the three week rental...like nearly half the price!
The exchange office would only deal with fifty and one hundred dollar bills, which luckily I had packed from home when we realized the money situation. We feel very blessed with this situation and it should help neutralize the high expenses we incurred during our Australia and New Zealand trip.
After collecting our bundles of pesos (I felt like I had just made a drug deal) we headed down the street to the City Center to find an information office.
The center of Bariloche is quite a hub for governmental offices for the Rio Negro District. The brick plaza was busy with artist selling their wares plus St Bernard dogs waiting with their masters to have their pictures taken with tourist. We can't quite tell whether we have "US" written on our foreheads, but no one seemed to bother us with trying to sell us anything...which was nice.
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| Bariloche City Square |
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| Pictures with St Bernards...for a price! |
The information center was packed with locals wanting to book holiday excursions so we moved on. Bariloche is a city of some 100,000 people. It has a real Bavarian influence in architecture and what is sold in souvenir shops...cuckoo clocks, knit wear, beer steins, etc. We even saw a Fondue restaurant similar to one that I had taken our girls to in Switzerland back in 2002. Shop owners looked more European (lighter skin and eyes) than what I expected. They say that is more true in Buenos Aries.
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| Bavarian influences |
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| Mate' hot water cart |
Bariloche is surrounded by absolutely spectacular scenery.
One might think that the lake that Bariloche sits at the edge of is the focal point...but once you begin moving your eyes and head around, you begin to see the most incredible mountain formations that frame the lake. As you gaze around the mountain ranges that encircle the lake a jutting pinnacle or the shadow of a high peak compete for your attention.
Walking around the town was quite pleasant and safe feeling. The story about Bariloche being the chocolate capital of Argentina was true...and the air did indeed smell of chocolate while passing a confectionary store. On one corner there were three competing chocolate businesses. I only tried one sample, but Bruce found the queen of all chocolate companies that was offering all varieties of handmade chocolate ice cream. He said it was the best, most rich ice cream he had EVER had! Two large scoops for $3.00. It's a good thing we aren't staying any closer or he might be tempted into a nightly "run!"
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| Rich ice cream selection |
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| ice cream cones/cups offerings |
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| Happy Bruce!...he said that it was the best ever! |
Next order of business was to find "Movie Star Mobile" cellular service. Our request was quite simple: a SIM card for local service, data and international call capability for an iPhone5. We requested to have a clerk that spoke English. When our names were called, we presented our request. Everything went smooth. Our paperwork filled out, passports taken and new cell number given. When our clerk asked for my phone and realized that it was an iPhone 5 and not a 4 everything began to unravel.
Bottom line, they gave me the SIM card for my phone and told me that they couldn't configure it for internet. They had serviced iphones four years ago, but no longer do it. They gave Bruce the card that they had first unpacked for my phone and said that if he could use it, he could have it. We left with no activation, two free SIM cards and directions to a Kiosk across the street where we could paid money to "load up" the card so that we could use them in Argentina. We did that and two days later, they don't work!
Back to the rental car business we found them waiting for us with all of the documentation and keys. We presented them with cash, looked over the car for dents/scratches and were on our way to find a grocery store and head back to our resort.
Grocery shopping here was quite interesting...everything seemed so cheap. A bottle of good bourbon, $6, eggs $1, etc. I found that they don't really eat packaged cereal. They only had granola or oats. The fresh vegetables and fruit were very sad...poor selection and little variety. I'm thinking that perhaps they have fresh farmers markets where produce is purchased.
We arrived backed to our room in time for a short nap as we had signed up for a "Pasta Party" which started at 9:30pm. When we showed up for that activity we were greeted by the restaurant manager with a cheery, "Hi Barbara and Bruce." She had become our new best friend at the resort. Her two daughters married US men and had lived in Maine and NYC until they moved last month to live in Atlanta, GA. She loves anything US!
There were about 30 people in attendance...most from Buenos Aries. The time together was to be spent sharing a meal of pasta and playing games. It was thoroughly enjoyable as a young couple who sat at our table spoke English and could interpret what was being said. Games included, "Name that tune"...theme songs from movies and TV shows. Since most of the shows originated in the US, we did well. Then we had to name characters from the shows. Then we had to sing the theme song. There was an Argentina version of Scattagories, Tango demo and a lot of laughs. It's amazing how well a person can communicate without words!
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