Saturday,
12 January 2013
I started the morning with writing my blog, since we
were not scheduled to leave on our walking tour until 9:30. I got down to breakfast around 8:30 and Alex,
our guide, joined me. We all gathered in
the lobby and the guide led us into a room that the hotel had prepared for our
use. The guide, Georgina, spoke in a
forth right manner about some of the problems in Argentina. There is dissatisfaction with the Catholic
Church because it is apparently well known that Nazi war criminals were helped
to escape particularly to this part of the world, where there is a strong
German community. Apparently the church
also supported the government that caused a lot of people to disappear. The
Argentinean economy is in bad shape heavily through mismanagement. After the Volcano last year, the airport in
Bariloche remained closed for 8 months which directed the tourist trade to a
town further south where the Argentinean president has large holdings.
Bariloche lives on tourism. The southern winter brings skiers to the
largest ski area in South America.
Bariloche is a sister city to Aspen and people work Aspen in the
northern winter and Bariloche in the southern winter.
Famous statue in Bariloche that is constantly fought over
Saint Bernard Dogs - You are supposed to pay to take their picture
Looking down to the lake
View on the beach
View on the beach
Monkey Tree - Pine Tree indiginous to South America
Bus used for tours
Bus used for tours
Door of Municipal Building
We were taken on a walking tour. The down town area is not very big and we had
covered the main part in a relatively short time. We were shown where to exchange money. I wanted to get something for Herman but I
had no luck. I seriously considered a
beer stein that I saw in one of the stores, but I felt that $40 was a bit
excessive, I may change my mind later. I
was walking around with Margaret and Mark.
She wanted to get a pair of earrings.
Initially I was interested in the wood serving platters that were being
sold on the street. After I touched them
and found a certain degree of roughness to the work, I changed my mind. I feel that for platter, the wood should be
very smooth and these items weren’t.
Margaret, Mark and I went to a pizza place for lunch
and were joined by our guide, Alex. I
had two cheese empanadas which were good.
In fact we all had empanadas of different kinds. I didn’t want a heavy lunch as I am planning
to go out for some of that world famous Argentinean beef. The steaks that Herman and I had at Norman’s
in Jerusalem came from Argentina.
Up the ski lift and picture of me with mountains behind
Magnificient views from the top
Me on the upper level
Looking down on the lakes
The tour group enjoying the scenery
Two Israeli's on the after service wandering
Looking down from Panorama Point
More views from Panorama Point
Me with the lakes behind me at Panorama Point
Another view from Panorama Point
Famous resort - Jaujau (sp?)
Famous resort
the snow covered mountain in the distance
We got back to the hotel in time for our afternoon
optional tour. Basically we were driven
around the lakes and given information about the area. The big stop was at a ski lift which is set
to run for the summer. I was a little
antsy going up as it has been many years since I’ve been on a ski lift. The view at the top was magnificent. We met two young Israelis on top. They were young men on their wander lust time
after they finished their service. One
of the young men who was from the Arad
had been spending time in Chile because that was where his parents had come
from and he wanted to meet his relatives who were living in Vina Del Mar. The trip down on the ski lift had even better
views. Our next stop was at a place
called Panorama Point (?) where there was a magnificent view of the area. I took some videos. Our final stop was near a church where we got
a good view of a famous resort called Jaujau (sp?). We then got on the bus and headed back to the
hotel, where I decided to rest a while.
Eleven of us went out for dinner at Don Molino. I had the ½ steak, which was about 10
oz. I couldn’t finish it and I made the
mistake of ordering a salad as well.
While the food was good, it wasn’t the fantastic that we were
expecting. When we got back to the
hotel, I collapsed.
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