Bariloche

Arriving into Bariloche, we got our first taste of approaching autumn with our choosen campsite in town closed for the season. Never the less, we drove out of town and found a beautiful campsite overlooking Lake Guttierez for the night. The following day we booked into Hopa House hostel and explored Centro cívico and along Av Bartolomé as well as prepping for our next multiday hike. With the national park office unfortunately closed for the weekend, we sought some advice from our hostel. Our choices being a challenging 4 Refugio loop hike where a guide is usually recommended or a slower pace 2 Refugio hike with the option to spend a third day in the valley. Keen for a more chill birthday hike we opted for the latter.

On the 1st of April, we bused out to lake guttierez and started our hike up to our first camp site at Refugio Frey. On route we bumped into Rowan and Ingrid coming down and had a nice catch up! Refugio Frey is a beautiful rustic cozy cabin set on the lake where we had a relaxing evening playing chess and chatting with Marco from Seattle and a french American couple who had cycled all the way from Ushuaia.

The next morning we had a lazy breakfast watching some climbers scale a ragged peak and I had a very quick icy dip in the lake. While everyone else had a gruelling day with two passes to cover, we had a shorter day with only one pass to get us to our 'wild' campsite in the valley. However this turned out to be still a strenuous task with a good bit of scrambling on the way up and down. We found a nice spot in the valley to camp at beside a small waterfall and were alone until we heard some voices passing our tent in the dark to set up camp.

After a night in the valley, I woke up to a birthday cake with candles, kinder Buenos and card from Joe! No easy feat to buy and hide from me since I am with him everyday! After a birthday breakfast, we hiked up and over our next pass to make it to Refugio Jacob and were treated to great autumnal views over the lake on the way down. Refugio Jacob previously burned down so it's not as old as Refugio Frey but still has a lovely alpine lodge charm! We spent the day chilling and reading in the sun by the lake after a birthday swim followed by the last of our dehydrated hiking meals and some wine from the Refugio.

On the 4th, we hiked out from Refugio Jakob to Tamba Baez and walked across to the river to a small village where we arrived just in time to catch a local bus to bring us back into Barioche. Unfortunately our hostel was booked out for the night but we found a last minute deal for hotel flamingo with parking right in the centre. All decorations were up in the centre for a chocolate festival to be held over Easter weekend. After a few days in the mountains we treated ourselves to some beers in Manush recommended by Estephi and steak at El Boliche de Alberto.

Our last morning in Barioche, we explored the Easter market and chocolate shops as well as stopping off at Rapa Nui- A massive icecream store complete with ice skating ring.

Recommendations:
Refugio Frey- Refugio Jacob circuit: Book night before for camping at the refugios
Rapa Nui for ice cream
El Boliche de Alberto- be there for opening time, always a queue
Manush Centro- beers
Hotel flamingo- Whatsapp for last minute dealOkumaya devam et