A whole week in one place

We arrived in Bariloche ready for a week of lakes, mountains, and chocolates, and our time there did not disappoint. We had eight days of amazing weather and outstanding hosts in the Tognettis. Pablo and Gloria welcomed us into their beautiful home and really took care of us. After all the traveling and my getting sick in Patagonia we needed a place to recouperate. With a view of the lake and Gloria's beautiful flower garden, we took advantage of the opportunity to relax. Until, that is, they took us hiking. There are many hiking opportunites in the Bariloche area most of ours entailed running up the mountain after Gloria, trying to keep up with her pace, while Kelly the fox terrier ran around hunting for lizards.

After a few days of fun with the Tognettis, going on short hikes and having amazing steak dinners with them and the rest of the family, we decided to trek out into the mountains. The Frey Refugio trek came highly recommended and we set out on bright sunny day. We had to catch the number 20 bus and then transfer to the tourist bus to take us to Catedral where the trail head was. We got on the first bus no problem, but decided to double check with a woman if we were standing at a good spot to catch the second bus. She told us that we had the summer bus schedule and that our bus was no longer running and we needed to go into town to catch a different bus. We stood there a little unsure of what to do (and slightly panicked) just when a bus going into town came by. I was practically on the bus when Noah said we should just wait a minute to see if the woman might be wrong. Within two minutes (right on schedule) our bus to Catedral roared by. We were so surprised we almost forgot to flag it down!

We hiked around the base of Catedral with beautiful views of the surrounding mountains and lakes and through a burnt forest. We then walked up a ravine between two mountains and emerged at beautiful foliage-filled mountain ridge.The refugio was really cozy, with dinner and drinks provided. That night Noah experimented with some night photography.

In the morning we set out to climb out of the bowl and over the ridge. We quickly caught up to the group ahead of us and followed their frozen footprints up the icy slope. When we got to the top the view of the surrounding mountains was quite breath-taking but with a long hike ahead of us we quickly continued along the ridge.As the ridge continued, the trail became more and more rocky, and we started singing a Blues Traveler tune: Doesn't this seem most precarious, doesn't it seem like a chance to take? Doesn't this seem most precarious, why does it feel like a big mistake?

Although it took us a while, we made it to the end of the ridge and then walked for two hours back down to Catedral almost 1000m straight down the ski mountain. Quite a long day.

The next day we took a boat ride into the National Park known for its cinnamon Arrayane trees. We also went to nearby Victoria Island for some short walks and a look at some cave paintings.

The next day we moved into a hostel in town and started preparations for Chris's arrival. Although we worked hard, it was tough to get anything done because it was Labor Day weekend. So we took the opportunity to sit around and get some reading done.