This Blog's for the Parents

So we kind of realize that much of our blogging has been about dangerous adventures in a somewhat sketchy city between the hours of 2 am and 8 am. I'm here to change that.

Since arriving in the beautiful Patagonian village of San Carlos de Bariloche, our trip has taken a dramatic turn for the better--at least what we're sure to believe our parents will think is better. Instead of operating on a schedule of 4 pm wake up calls and 7 am bed time, we have been doing many more things during the day since our time here and consistently get up around 8 am. This is primarily because everything beautiful about this place can only be enjoyed when the sun is up. And this place is extremely beautiful.

We arrived June 12th and have since mountain biked 30 kilometers, climbed the tallest mountain in the area, had the best steak of our lives, and also sampled some incredible chocolate for which this place is famous. All in two days. It's really impossible to describe the beauty of this place, but of the places I've been it's something like a cross between Lake Tahoe and New Zealand.

We arrived in Bariloche with a hostel and virtually zero plans but when you stay at a hostel, the recommendations for things to do are virtually endless. In fact, there are people that have been staying in this town for 5 months and others who are just staying here for the entire winter season to snowboard. There are so many incredible things to do. Right now on our list of possible excursions we're considering skydiving, horseback riding in the mountains, four-wheeling, golfing, renting a car and driving, etc. Unfortunately we'll probably only be able to do two of these things since we leave Monday afternoon for our Amazon adventure in Peru.

I diverge. The first thing we did was wake up on Thursday morning and head to the most beautiful mountain biking loop in the area. I've tried mountain biking once before with my wonderful brother-in-law, Ken, and it was more than I could handle. He may be in his 40's but he rides a bike like he's 20. I don't.

Lucky for me, this mountain biking trek was primarily on a paved road. Unfortunately, it was also full of hills that destroyed my ego when Luke took off up them and waited for me at the top of every single one. I blame it on my 2 years of aging over him.

The views were absolutely incredible. I've been to some beautiful places in the world but this spot is definitely up there with the best of them.

Short hike off the road to the beach. 

Panorama of that same beach.

This is called the "Hidden Lake." It's hidden. Which is why... 

We decided it was necessary to jump in. We didn't have bathing suits. Read between the lines.

During the mountain biking trek we stopped dozens of times for pictures because around every turn was another breathtaking view. Sometimes the views were mediocre, but my need for oxygen made taking pictures a favorite pastime.

While on the loop around the lakes and mountains, we came across one of the most incredible hotels I've ever seen. Supposedly it's a 5-Star hotel that we could never afford, but maybe one day my Dad and I will come back here and I'll recommend it as the spot to be! After all, it has a golf course that puts Pebble Beach to shame. It has the beautiful lake views combined with the snow-capped Patagonian mountains that people usually only read about. Not to mention, it's a measly $40 per round.

Dad, isn't this place tempting? Notice the golf course in the foreground.

After the bike ride, my legs were pretty much shot. We headed back to the hostel and got some recommendations for some steakhouses around town. We found a spot where they have 400 gram steaks for $10. It was an easy decision. The only bad part about the restaurant, and apparently every restaurant in this town, is that they don't even open until around 8 pm. And that's considered extremely early. According to the owner, locals don't even start eating dinner until around 9:30 or 10 pm.

After the steakhouse we were invited by some locals for a beer at the brewery across the street from our hostel. We again proceeded to have a great time talking about our adventures over a couple beers. Once again, Luke proved to me the importance of improving my Spanish as he stole the show with his superb language skills. I really need to do some work. Everything was going well for him until someone took my cell phone and started looking at my pictures and stumbled upon some compromising paparazzi pictures of Luke. Those pictures will not be posted. They can be viewed by email request only.

Finally, we called it a night around 11 pm and headed to bed. This morning, we decided it would be a great day to climb the highest peak, Catedral. With poor planning as usual, Luke and I decided to get our clothes washed last night. That meant that all we had for this hike was shorts for Luke and windbreakers over t-shirts. To say we froze during our 2 hour hike would be an understatement.

We headed out looking like stupid tourists wearing shorts and t-shirts up a peak that reaches 2,000 meters. At the bottom they told us it would take 3-4 hours--they don't know Americans very well. We summited in less than two hours. I think the cold motivated us to get it done as soon as physically possible. The views from this peak are supposed to be the best in Bariloche, Unfortunately, we decided to climb on a day where the fog cover was so bad we could barely see 50 feet in front of us. The pictures below don't really give this place justice, but it was also pretty fun climbing through fog and having virtually no idea where we were going. As with most of our adventures, we had no idea where we were going. At the bottom of the mountain we asked people where the trail was and they simply told use to just start climbing--we did--without a trail. Eventually we found some roads but they kept meandering up the mountain so we took the direct route through snow and rocks. Maybe that's why we made such good time.

Excellent visibility.

It cleared up for like 5 minutes. Enlarge this picture. It's a panorama.

At the summit we ate at the restaurant and had some much-deserved coffee with hundreds of other tourists that had taken the Gondola up--suckers. Everyone was staring at us since it was 32 degrees and we pulled up in shorts and t-shirts. Nobody really believed we climbed the whole thing which explains why nobody checked our tickets for the Gondola ride back down. One Paraguayan guys kept yelling at us from the ski-lift, "You crazy Americans!" We loved it.

Right before the guy yelled at us. 

Our ride down was much easier than the walk up but it was kind of terrifying since we couldn't even see the ground from the Gondola with all the fog. After that, we took the bus back to town and walked around looking for some shops to buy souvenirs and chocolate. We stumbled upon the second Cathedral of the day. This one was the Cathedral for the Archdiocese here which actually is one of the most beautiful churches I've ever been in outside of Rome. It was right on the water and had a spire that was about 120 feet up. We'll definitely be going there for mass on Sunday. During the walk back home I ended up buying an awesome leather hat for $40 and Luke spent about $10 on some chocolate that would put Hershey's out of business.

Lakeside Cathedral.

My new hat and the guy that sold it to me. 

That's all for now. Pictures below for your enjoyment. I'm going to shower and maybe nap before dinner. Miss you all and hope to have some more great pictures in the next couple of days before heading to the Amazon.

God Bless.