Bariloche and Seven Lakes drive

After having an excellent breakfast in the morning (the best we've had on our trip so far), we walked around downtown Bariloche. It's Christmas Day, so many places were closed, but a few restaurants were open. We tried to book a couple of tours, but all the tour places were closed. The only one open is the one who picked us up at the airport. We decided to cancel going to Tronador tomorrow. Diana doesn't want to deal with the windy roads and the long day. Instead, we booked a boat ride and tour for Puerto Blest, the rain forest, and waterfalls. The day after that, I booked for Tronador.

Bariloche is a hodgepodge of Swiss architecture, apartments, run-down buildings, and so forth. Some say it's an Alpine village. I don't think it measures up to Switzerland. Nothing does. It still retains some of the charm it once must have had in abundance, but it needs a good rennovation. The views are great, the lakeside serene and picturesque. I like the Town Plaza area, and some of the side streets are nice. There are a ton of teenages in town for the holidays. Noisy, rowdy, boisterous teens. It's the same all over the world!

We hired a private remise driver to take us around the Seven Lakes area. We started at 3:00. First we drove around the eastern side of the Nahuel Huapi lake. It's beautiful of course. The terrain is arid, semi-desert of sorts. Then we drove along the north side (entering Nahuel Huapi National Park). The roadside is decorated with beautiful retamas (yellow flowers) and lupinos (long-stem purple flowers that occassionally have shades of white, pink, and yellow). There are all types of trees including pine, cypress, and Douglas Fir.

The driver (Julio) stopped along the way so we could enjoy the scenery and take pictures. He was very friendly and explained a great deal about the area. We stopped to take a picture of Bosque de Arrayanes trees with their reddish bark, then continued on to an Alpine-like village called Bahia Manzano. It has a nice lodge and port. There are a few hosterias (lodges) and houses with Swiss architecture.

Next, we stopped in a town called Villa La Angustura. It also has Swiss style buildings. We got some ice cream there and headed towards some more picturesque sites.

Another lake we saw is called Lago Correntoso. There is a small river separating it from Napuel Huapi. We had a beautiful view of both lakes from a bridge towering over them.

After that, we headed close to the Argentinian-Chilean border (we got with 3 kilometers). We saw Lago Espejo (Mirror Lake), so named because it's easy to see reflections in it. To the left are some of the snow-covered Andes peaks in Chile; to the right are some gorgeous Argentinian mountains.

Finally, we drove down to the beach area of Lago Espejo. I swam for a few minutes in what I thought was going to be very cold water. It was just right! Very refreshing in a beautiful spot. Diana dipped her feet for a few minutes.

The weather was great today. It was warm and the sky was clear.

For those of you who celebrate it, we wish you Feliz Navidad!