Dec 23 Bariloche

Bariloche is the heart of Patagonia in Argentina (half of Patagonia is in Chile).  The name Patagonia means “big feet”.  Apparently when the Europeans arrived, they found the indigenous people to be much taller than they were, hence the name.

As you can see from the pictures the mountains and lakes are incredibly beautiful.  Note the glacier on one of the mountain tops.  There are also volcanos although the active ones are on the Chilean side.  One erupted on June 4, 2011 spewing ash for a year, carried by the winds to the Argentinean side.  What looks like a sandy path in one of the pictures is actually ash, which is silica.  The ash cloud was so dense at times it preventing flights and sheep had to be moved North because they were dying of lung ailments. 

The tip of South American is the confluence of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans so water at the top of the mountains that flows into the Chilean side goes into the Pacific and that from Argentina goes to the Atlantic.  In the past the temperature has been very unstable in Patagonia, changing by the hour.  With global warming in the last decade the weather has been both warmer and more predictable.  It has been beautiful with temperatures in the 60s in the morning and evening and around 80 in the afternoon.  The sky is perfectly clear.

There is a lot of bamboo but it is different from ours in that it lasts for 40 years and then dies after dropping it seeds.  One of the pictures shows the stands of dead bamboo acting as a cover over the path.  There are also unique trees, some seemingly as tall as redwoods and others orange from tannin.

I was able to take a kayak into one of the lakes and through a path to a hidden bay where I could swim.  The wind picked up and I could almost surf across the waves.  It was heaven.

Karen:

This area was originally settled by Germans and Swedes. It is notable that you almost never see Indians, as they were exterminated by the Europeans. For lunch we went to a German owned restaurant, where we had German goulash. They also showed us how they brewed their local beer.