Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Day 6 - Argentina 2025: Bariloche

I got to the national airport with 3 hours advance time and the place was a zoo. I had noticed that for being such a large city Buenos aires didn't feel crowded; the reason, of course, is that all families are in vacation. Many must have departed as soon as school let out, and the rest were starting in Epiphany and won't come back until school comes back in session in February. And many of them are heading south to the mountains, so the flights are full. But I checked in without problem and, once I had my boarding pass safe in my pocket, I told the lady that I wanted to lodge a complaint and ask for a refund for my other flight. With a condescending smile she told me that I had to do that through their app, which in reality means I was screwed and they would give me the run around until the end of time. Time to go zen and let it go.

I landed in Bariloche at 15h30 and half an hour later I was driving the 24 km to my lodgings in Bariloche. I was warned that there are all sorts of radar traps for speeders, and that one must pay for parking in Bariloche either through the app (arghh) or by locating one of the orange vest parking people. Big Brother is watching!

My lodging is in Posada del Ñireco, along the Arroyo Ñireco on the east edge of town. It is a modest room in a beautiful large house that caters to vacationing families with expansive lawns and relaxing spaces and away from the main action of town. I needed to get some basics, so I drove to the town, paid for an hour of parking, and used the time to have a very fine dinner. Afterward I stopped at a supermarket, bought a pocket knife, and came up with a plan for wandering in the surrounding mountains and lakes for the next three days. Unfortunately I am not allowed to cross into Chile with my rental car (which in 21st century fashion has a GPS chip so Big Brother can watch me), so my plan of weaving through the border will have to be retooled. 

Downtown Bariloche, which 20 years ago was a quaint and beautiful Alpine town, feels today more like Incline Village at Lake Tahoe, clearly catering to urban tourism during the summer, and skiing in the winter, which makes for a lively main street. It was the place to exchange dollars to pesos, and once again I walked out of there with a roll that would make a gangster pat his coat with satisfaction. It is scary how fast I am burning through hundreds of thousands of pesos.

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