On Tuesday morning while hanging out at the B&B, my skis finally showed up.  It was like an Christmas for me.  I quickly unpacked everything to make sure it was all there and that nothing was broken.  Everything checked out so I decided to head out to explore Bariloche a bit.

About 4 kms from the B&B is a teleferico/gondola you can take up to one of the nearby mountaintops called Cerro Otto (Otto’s Hill) to get a view of the whole area.  I jumped on the bus, got in the gondola and up I went.  While it was sunny below, the mountaintop was still covered in clouds.  But, there were a couple of breaks in the clouds so I expected that with a little time and patience, I could take in the view of the lake and Bariloche.  On top, there was a revolving restaurant.  And the quality of food was about what you’d expect at such a touristy place.  But, the place was warm and the prices weren’t too outrageous.

After lunch, the clouds parted as if they were waiting for me to finish my sandwich.  So, I obliged and the sun shined through.  I walked around the outside paths a bit and snapped some nice shots of the landscape.  It was absolutely stunning.  The large crystal-clear, blue-green, glacial waters of Lake Nahuel Huapi are surrounded completely by the snow-capped Andes.  I descended and walked down to Buzillos Avenue which runs along the lake.  I spent the rest of the day walking along the road admiring the view and taking a few more pics.  I made an important stop to make and appointment for ski lessons for the next day.

I only learned to ski in February so I thought it was probably worth the money to have a couple of lessons to get back into the swing of the sport.  It was a good thing I did.  On Wednesday morning, I met up with my instructor, Pablo, a native of Bariloche and who has also spent 3 season in St. Moritz, Switzerland as an instructor.  So, I knew I was in good hands.

The slopes here are more different to Colorado than I first imagined.  The slopes tend to be steeper with snow that’s a little icier than in Colorado.  As a result, I fell a lot more than I did in Colorado.  In addition to the regular runs, the Argentines have made little “caminos” or narrow roads to ski on so for a novice, the margin of error is much less.  The color coding of the runs is slightly different: green, blue, red and black.  But, all the differences are manageable and it was great being back out on the slopes.

On the second day, Pablo took away my poles and made me ski down some blues without them.  My initial reaction was to say, “you gotta be kidding me,” or as I expressed it in Spanish, “¡Qué chucha!” which has a slightly stronger sentiment.  But, I then thought about all the 4 and 5 year olds that learn to ski without poles and I thought, well, I’ll do it for the children.  Anyway, it all turned out well and was a good exercise for me.

Friday I took off to rest a bit which my legs really appreciated.  I joined an afternoon boat tour on the lake which ran from 2-7PM.  The weather was cold, but the sun was out and the boat was warm (and served hot drinks).  We first sailed about an hour to the Bosque de Arrayanes or the Arrayanes Forest, the only one in the world I’m told.  We hiked a little and then made our way to a little cabin.  This place was made famous by Walt Disney. The cabin and forest were his inspiration for Bambi.  And, the one you see in the movie and the books looks exactly like the one we encountered in the forest.  Who knew?

On and off the boat, we were doing what I am now calling the tourist “Snap, Snap, Shuffle.”  This is the phenomenon that occurs when you are at a tourist site and everyone is trying to snap a photo of the same thing.  If all goes well, the people in front of you take their picture “Snap, snap” and then shuffle out of the way.  Sometimes though, things don’t go smoothly and you have an inconsiderate, or simply clueless, person that forgets the shuffle part of the “Snap, Snap, Shuffle.”  Then you have to break into the “Snap, Smack, Shuffle.”  That usually does the trick.  And, the person is usually more considerate the rest of the trip.

We climbed back on board our boat and went to Isla Victoria, a site where the government’s scientific agencies study various flora including foreign species.  We went for about an hour-long hike which included a section of huge sequoia trees imported from California.  Afterwards, I made my way to a small confitería (bakery) to get a large coffee complemented with a hefty splash of hot chocolate.  On the way back to the harbor we were treated to an amazing sunset in the NNW sky.  We are far enough south that the sun looks like it sets in the north.

On Saturday it was back to the slopes for a final lesson.  It was a great day.  There was quite a bit of cloud cover on the top of the mountain which kept most of the people away.  The snow was very good but the further we descended, the more ice we encountered.  As a result, I found myself on the ground a little bit.  But, today was a breakthrough day because everything seemed to click and I feel more than ready to go it alone.  Of course, being a slight klutz, I did fall a final time near the bottom of the mountain due to the ice we encountered.  I later learned that many consider this last run one of the more dangerous on the mountain due to its icy conditions.  Being more than a little tired, I struggled to get up, but I finally did and made the last dash down without any more complications.  Well, now it’s time to take off the boots and enjoy a nice glass of wine.

Originally Published August 19, 2007

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Tags: Argentina travel, career break travel, Jeff's Career Break Blog

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