Esquel and Bariloche

We got on the bus and immediately settled down for the 'night', Leo had been asleep up until boarding and we wanted him back to sleep asap. We, unaccustomed to late nights that we are (sadly!) were pretty ready to get our heads down too, so were a bit perturbed to find a film and food and drink round apparently appropriate for 11 o'clock at night! Luckily for me, the film looked awful so had no compulsion to keep my eyes open, and before I knew it, I'd been asleep for hours and it was the wee hours of the morning. We were travelling on a decent bus, with reclining seats to 160 degrees, so it wasn't really that uncomfortable at all, apart from a slight dead arm from having Leo sleeping on me too. He's so sensitive to any slight movement that I hardly dare move in the night for fear of waking him. A little more shut eye and we were practically there, arriving punctually (for Argentinian time) around half an hour late, 6.45am. We stumbled out of the bus quickly and did the usual, me, trampling off to change Leo in the nearest facilities whilst Ari dealt quickly with the luggage as the bus departed on its onward journey. We hailed the taxi and I wondered if the hotel would accept our arrival at such an early time, on arrival they were fine and bless them would have our room ready in half a hour. A quick bag count revealed we were a bag short, my handbag. In the kerfufle of getting off we must have thought the other had it. Drat. I jumped back in the taxi to go back to the bus station and pray that if it was on the bus it might be handed in at the next town. Pretty unhelpful staff gave me a number to call later on in the day, once they'd had a chance to call the bus on arrival in Bariloche. No bag appeared however. As we thought about it, it became more and more likely that we hadn't forgotten the bag at all, we're used to triple checking behind us and Ari had actually checked underneath the seats before leaving. Stolen on a nightbus. How obvious. Really peeved to have been the victim of a crime I spent the whole of the day fretting, phoning and in a mood about my lost items. Cards to be cancelled, possessions gone forever. It felt awful. Still, this was the worst and only bad thing that had happened so far, so in perspective, couldn't really be that aggrieved. Still, not nice. In the meantime we planned our excursion for the next day, we were going to hire a car and take a drive to the nearby Los Alerces National Park, for nice walks and sightseeing. The Esquel area is set in the beautiful mountainous lake district, in the winter it's great for skiing, in the summer lovely for trekking, walking, mountain biking. Something positive to look forward to the next day.

The drive was pretty straightforward (I wasn't driving), roads easy to navigate, hardly anyone on them infact. Some of the road was gravelly and required a slow pace, but soon enough we arrived at the entrance to the park. Funny, no one there, we'd expected to pay the customary fee. We drove on and came to the information centre, except it wasn't clear what it was until we found a solitary gardener who pointed it out. Luckily the inside was inhabited and I was given very helpful information on some walks that would be good to do with baby, some places to visit and must see vista points. We set off with map in tow enthusiastically, even Leo was enjoying the ride in his car seat.

The park is really breathtakingly beautiful, our first stop was a short climb to a vista of the lake with snow capped mountains in the background. Our next two stops were to see some waterfalls hidden within forest growth, the next to find a little place to eat our picnic. After a long drive along the lakeside, we came to a lovely place by the shore. We were the only people around. Sure, there was evidence of life, the odd car passing, a parked car here and there, but we didn't see anyone. We couldn't help but be blessed to have the place to ourselves. You just don't find this kind of solitude in such a beauty spot anywhere very easily, I can't remember ever having this privilege before.
Our leisurely lunch was curtailed only by the need to move on to prevent Leo from trying to eat the stones on the beach and to make it further round the lake for the highlight of the area, the view of the ancient alcerce trees across the Lago Verde.
It was quite a drive going at a snail's pace and when we got there we weren't altogether sure we were at the spot. The weather, having been beautiful, warm and sunny was beginning to turn and on bumping into some humans (finally) they assured us the hike up to the vista point was worth it but it was an hour long. We went for it and hoped we wouldn't get caught out and virtually sprinted up.
The view was indeed spectacular, and after a short while, set off back down in a hurry to get back to the car. The whole trip took us 25 minutes. And so it was time to drive back, a long slow drive, but the weather held, and Leo had a good sleep, aided by the bumpy motions.
A beautiful day, but we were tired and we had another bus journey to look forward as our travels were to take us slightly north and deep into lake district territory, Bariloche.

We bid farewell to Esquel and I bid farewell to my handbag, knowing that we were never to meet again. Ari never did like it, it did scream TOURIST!! (no it wasn't a bum bag) and had far too many pockets that were more hindrance than help, but still it had been with me thus far and I do tend to mourn old friends. The bus I'm having trouble remembering, there have been so many and it can't have been too bad, except that Evan Almighty was the film which I found hysterically funny despite understanding it was a bit crap (really enjoying Steve Carell in the US Office at the mo so that might have something to do with it-honest guv) and right at the end the film froze and then started from the beginning again. I had a good mind to complain except that it would have been a bit embarrassing as no-one else seemed to be watching it.

We arrived in Bariloche and found our lovely cabana (chalet) type place for the next few days. Bariloche is a town situated right on lake Nahuel Huapi and is really picturesque. They've cultivated a really swiss image, complete with chalet style buildings, St Bernard dogs and chocolate shops at every turn.
We popped into the tourist information to see what we could amuse ourselves doing over the few days and glazed over as the lady described lakes, boats, tours. Seemed like more of the same, in short, we needed a rest. There is plenty to do and see in and around Bariloche but I have to say, we did none of it. We hung out in our nice cosy hotel, went for a swim, admired the lake view, and that my friends, is it. One of the most important things about travelling is to know when to rest and do nothing, and this was our time.