Bariloche

I arrived here  on Saturday  and tomorrow I leave to cross the Andes into Chile. Bariloche (pronounced "Barylochay" with the accent on the "loch" ) is in northern Patagonia and is in what is called the Lakes District of the Andes, which straddles the Chile/Argentina border. The Andes here are not as high as they were in the north west where I was a few weeks ago--the heights are around 3500 metres rather than over 6000 metres around Salta

Like so many places in Argentina, I had never heard of Bariloche  until I started doing my research for this trip to Argentina. From what readers of the blog have told me, they haven't heard of the places I've been either. As I have mentioned in earlier posts there really seems to be a dirth of knowledge in English speaking countries about Argentina or indeed about most countries of South America (with a few exceptions like Machu Picchu  and Rio de Janiero and the Galapagos Islands). 

Maybe that is because for so many years Latin American countries were run by military dictators and there were rumours (which turned out to be true) of tens of thousands of "disappeared" citizens who ran foul of the military in their countries often for the most trivial of reasons or no reason at all. Pinochet and Galtieri were two whose names became familiar to us in the west for all the wrong reasons. At that time --which is not even 30 years ago--no one would think of visiting these countries for a holiday.

However I've been told by some younger travellers that this is a generational thing and that young people no longer hesitate to visit all countries of South America and that is firmly on the gap year/sabbatical trail. Be that as it may, I have certainly not run into very many native- English- speaking tourists  in Argentina--some Americans, a few Canadians, the odd Aussie or South African but so far only one English couple in two months! Of course English is the second language of tourism here as it is everywhere in the world these days, since the Germans, the Belgians, the Italians and even the French speak English to some extent. And there are quite a number of all of those nationalities visiting here, particularly French. 

Anyway, back to Bariloche. Bariloche is the winter ski resort of Argentina and is very popular with Argentinians in summer too since, being up in the mountains and with lovely lakes and outdoor activities, it is a cooler and more active alternative to the beach for those sweltering in the cities. From what I have seen, tourism is the only "industry" in the area, although on the Patagonian steppes just to the east of the mountains I did see some cattle.

The whole region is geared to up-market tourism with plenty of resorts and hotels and mountain cabins, all built in an alpine/log cabin style. There are a number of small and medium sized deep blue lakes dotted amongst the mountains, with a diverse range of alpine trees, some familiar and others unique to South America--so, aspen and poplar and cedar and pine but also monkey puzzle trees and lenga (a species of indigenous beech which grow to enormous height and girth here), the coihue (a native evergreen oak found primarily in this area, which grows to great size and has a straight-grained, hard wood useful for building),  and the rare, red-barked arrayan (a species of slow growing myrtle). 

The stone of the mountains is grey granite so none of the colours that I saw in the north west a few weeks ago. The mountains are not as high as the giants of northwestern Argentina, nor do they compare in size to say, the Rockies, but the tops are above the tree line and then suddenly you see the glacier-covered peak of a volcano, many of which are officially still active, which is not something you see in the Rockies. In fact last year the whole of Bariloche area was covered in an ash cloud from the mighty 6900 metre Aconcagua which is further north in the Andes.

Right now, it being early autumn in the southern hemisphere,  it is a comfortable 23 degrees  and there are beautiful roses and other temperate-region flowers. There are boats on the lakes and  grey sand beaches for swimming.  There are plenty of rivers and the area is a much-sought-after trout fly-fishing place. Apparently the trout, which are not native, were introduced at the beginning of the 20th century and grow to enormous sizes since they have no natural predators (eg no bears). It seems that there were no native fish for them to compete with either.

So the area is a mix of the familiar and the strange for me. Familiar, that is,  if you know the Rockies or the Canadian shield of Ontario and Quebec, or the Black Forest or the Alps, or Norway. I find that I am constantly reminding myself that this is Argentina not Canada .

And yet not 30 kilometers to the east of this flourishing mountain area, are the badlands of the Patagonian steppe. Dry craggy mountains, scrubby sagebrush and miles and miles of road snaking up, down and around the arid slopes. 

And this is where I had a little adventure the other day. I had driven north from the main town of San Carlos de Bariloche (normally just called Bariloche--about 100,000 people, founded in 1902) on the "Seven Lakes" road to San Martin de los Andes (a charming wealthy tourist town at the end of one of the lakes), a 6 hour drive much of which was gravel road. So rather than retrace my steps on my way back the next day, I decided to drive on the historic Route 40 which runs inland and parallel to the Andes all the way from the northern border with Bolivia to Tierra del Fuego. Only 30% of its length is paved but the 250 km stretch between San Martin and Bariloche is paved although there is very little traffic. 

There are no towns or services either--just one gas station in the whole 250 km. The surrounding desert is a stark contrast to the lush forests just a short distance to the west of it. The road runs up and down, over and around the barren hills in switch backs, necessitating frequent gear changes (manual transmissions are the norm here). About three quarters of the way back to Bariloche, suddenly I couldn't change gears at all. The transmission was gone. 

I was being tail-gated  by some of the maniacal Argentinian  drivers (tailgating at high speed is normal driving in Argentina) but managed to coast over onto the shoulder and stop. I put up my warning triangle and tried to look appropriately helpless and non-threatening without also looking like a fat-cat foreign tourist ripe for the picking. A kindly truck driver stopped. Between my vague understanding of Spanish and lots of sign language he understood and tried the gears himself and agreed that they were kaput. I had no phone and anyway there was no signal at that spot so we locked up the car and drove on in his truck until he got a mobile phone signal and called Herz for me and explained the problem. They said they'd be there in 40 minutes but he insisted that he was not going to leave me alone there so it was agreed that he would drive me to the only service station on the entire 250km stretch which happened to be only 15 km further on. He waited there with me until the Herz guy showed up with a replacement car. 

I have spent the  last three days in the lap of luxury at the Llao Llao Hotel (see photos) (my big splurge). The hotel, which was built in the days of grand hotels in the early 20th century and is a national monument, has been renovated and expanded and is now very much a world class luxury hotel. However this being the "shoulder" season I was able to in at a reasonable price and was upgraded to a magnificent suite overlooking the Lago Moreno and the Tronador volcano (see photos). But all good things come to an end and I am back in a little two star hotel pending  my departure tomorrow morning. 

Photos below. Watch out for my next post next week. 

View from my first night hotel room across Lake Nahuel Huapi, which at 550 sq  km is the largest of the lakes on the Argentinian side of the Andes

An inlet of Lake Nahuel Haupi near the tourist centre of Villa Angostura

Another of the "Seven Lakes" of which are the centre of the Argentinian Lakes District

Me on the beach at yet another of the lakes

and another

No he is not stuffed and no I did not use a powerful telephoto lense. This bird of prey seemed supremely uninterested in me and let me take all the photos I wanted to

Pleasure boats on yet another of the lakes

There are lots of rushing rivers as well.

Fly-fishing for the huge trout draws a lot of international visitors

The Lanin volcano, 3700 meters high

And again, from closer

The charming B&B, La Casa Eugenia, built in the early 20th century ,where I stayed in the lovely town of San Martin de Los Andes

ditto

Typical Alpine look of the hotels and tourist cabins in the area

Magnificent roses abound

Plenty of familiar trees--cedar, spruce, pine

and the unexpected trees, like the monkey puzzle,which make you realise you are not in  the northern hemisphere

The barren Patagonian steppes, only 30 or 40 kms east of the lakes and forests

ditto

Wherever in Argentina there are indigenous peoples you frequently see these shrines beside the road. These red  ones are  to Gauchilito Gil, who was supposed to be a friend and protector of the poor.

This shrine is to a legendary woman whose body was found in desert dead of  dehydration  but with her baby still alive at her breast. You can always tell these shrines by the piles of empty water bottles left beside them.

This is the luxurious Llao Llao hotel where I splurged and stayed for three nights. That's the snow-covered volcano Tronador at the back--3500 meters high

The lobby of the Llao Llao. This is not the place for those with acute sensibilities to seeing  animal skins and furs .

The outdoor pool (there is an indoor one as well) with volcano Tronador behind

No this is not a painting. This is the view from the jacuzzi in the suite I had--note Tronador peaking up at the back

View from my large balcony at dusk

The same view at dawn

Me in the bar of the Llao Llao Hotel

This shows the wonderful setting of the Llao Llao Hotel which is centre-left

Mendoza

I spent last week in the city of Mendoza in western Argentina, in the shadow of the Andes. Mendoza is the wine capital of Argentina---you have probably heard of their Malbec which is their speciality, although they grow all the other European varieties as well. And they make wine in industrial quantities--one of the bigger wineries makes 24 million litres a year: the mind boggles. So I spent the week doing wine tours.  Hard work--three wineries a day, but I persisted in the interests of science and this blog, you understand.


I went on three all day tours with Ampora Wine Tours (highly recommended--groups of 4  to 8 and excellent knowledgeable English speaking guides). This involved a lot of tasting but also good company from many different countries, and on each tour an excellent lo..o..o..ng lunch, usually a traditional asado (barbeque) with yet more wine.


Most of the huge quantities of wine that these vineyards produce is for domestic consumption although the US is becoming a significant export market and some goes to Europe. However Argentina imports no wines at all (lots of politically motivated import controls) and so the industry is a bit incestuous---they make wine to suit the local taste but the local taste has no comparators since there are no imports of other countries' wines and not many Argentines travel abroad. 


However  it seems that wine has been made in Argentina  for hundreds of years. Not only in Mendoza but  also in Cafayate in north western Argentina where I was last week. Originally the Jesuits planted vines to produce wine for the holy communion --and one suspects they had a glass or three on the side. Then in the 19th and 20th century the huge waves of immigrants especially from Italy but also from Germany brought their taste for wine with them. Wine is still the alcoholic beverage of preference in Argentina. 


Is it any good?...well...I think it suffers the same problems (or exhibits the same virtues, if you prefer) as US and Australian wines. It is very "in your face". It is consumed very young. There is lots of oak. Subtle, it ain't. I am told that this is to suit the local palate which wants robust [raucous] wine to stand up to and cut the grease from the traditional meat-based diet and especially the traditional barbeque.


However there does seem to be a trend to making better wine. The locals  no longer trot along to the vineyard next door with a bucket to collect the wine for Sunday's asado . Wine making was always a family affair but with Argentina's economic  troubles over the past few decades many of the vineyards have been sold to European wine makers. And the younger generation of these traditional wine-making families are scaling down the quantity, becoming scientific in their approach to wine-making, and focusing on quality. Although the standard is still to drink the whites within a maximum 18 months and the reds within 2 to 3 years, some premium reds are now being kept for --shock, horror! 6 or even 8 years! So there is an expectation that their wines will continue to improve.


They certainly seem to have the conditions for it. Although Mendoza and the surrounding country is a desert, that has its benefits apparently. All the water comes from irrigation, not rainfall. This means that the wineries can control the exact amount of water that they give each vine. And because of the desert conditions there is minimal risk of pests or funguses. The biggest risk is hail. Apparently there can be hailstones as big as tennis balls which can destroy a car, let alone a bunch of grapes. These hails storms are random and very localised however and so one field of vines can be destroyed and the next field untouched. The growers deal with this by having their fields dotted around in different localities and also by covering at least some of their better  vines  with a protective netting (see photo). Also, most of the wineries supplement their own grapes with grapes bought in from other vineyards, thus hedging their bets. And they are very scientific about it all (see photos).


The vines are grown in two different patterns. First,  the traditional rows of vines running east/west to get the maximum of the desert sun with limited water  thus producing red grapes with thick skins with lots of tannin and concentrated sweetness. Second, for the whites (particularly Torrontes) as canopy of vines trained across wires so that the bunches of grapes hang down under the canopy protected from the sun and so have thinner skins and are more juicy.


( Tangent:-By the way, the Torrontes wine, which you may not have heard of is my favourite of their whites. It is a wholly Argentinian grape variety and it is nick-named "the liar" because when you smell the wine, it smells very fruity and sweet but when you taste it is  dry, with high acidity and a slightly floral bouquet. This may be because it originated from grafting a muscat grape onto a local criollo vine. Anyway, it is very good.)


There is also a difference of altitude. Cafayate is very high up ---3000 meters and thus cooler making it more suited to the whites. Mendoza is much lower down --about 400 meters and thus with more intense heat. However in Mendoza they are starting to move up into the higher areas as well --up to 1500 meters, and this seems to be the new frontier of wine-making in Mendoza. 


Now, Mendoza is not only about grape vines. It is also the capital of olive growing--Argentina is a large olive producer but all its olive oil is sold to Brazil so you never see it. The Mendoza area  also grows wonderful fruits and nuts--and lavender. 


So how does it do all this, when it is a desert? Well, as mentioned above the secret is irrigation. Mendoza, although relatively low in elevation and relatively flat in terrain,  is very close to the peaks of the Andes which are full of rivers bringing the melted snow down from the high peaks. 


Centuries ago the indigenous people figured out how to harness this resource and began channelling the water from the mountain streams into canals to water their lands. The Argentines have been building on that idea ever since. The largest river is now dry (and its bed is now filled with diggers taking away gravel for building purposes). It has been dammed up in the mountains and its water contained in reservoirs from which large canals flow into smaller and smaller ones leading to each area on the slopes and the plains below the mountains which needs water. 


The channels are strictly regulated and water does not flow indiscriminately. You need an abstraction licence to take water. The vineyards are allowed to have a pond to hold reserves of water that they can drip-feed out to their vines when they want it. The streets of Mendoza and all the outlying towns and villages have mini-canals running beside each street. At first you think they are open drains but they are water channels. 


All the streets of Mendoza are tree-lined. In fact I've never seen a city with so many luxurious trees and lovely parks with fountains playing. It is a very pleasant and liveable city. When you look closer you see that the trunks of the trees lining the streets disappear below ground where they are fed by underground canals. The locals seem to take it all for granted and there is no water rationing in the city as far as I could see. But I thought it was quite remarkable and another example of how a desert can be made to bloom with the precious commodity of water.


Here are a few pictures. I am now in Bariloche (pronounced "Barylochay") in the last lap of my Argentinian travels.  It is now definitely Autumn and I have had to dig to the bottom of my suitcase for my warmer clothes. I cross the Andes on Saturday, but I'll do a post about Bariloche with pictures before then. 

Grapes are covered by netting to protect them from the random hail storms which can totally destroy a crop 

Me harvesting grapes in a competition we had on one of my wine tour---my team lost the competition !

A truck bringing the crates of grapes back to the winery for sorting and crushing

Grapes are initially sorted by hand to remove leaves and bad grapesAdd caption

Mechanism takes over and the wines are pushed down into the first fermentation vat by this screw

During its first fermentation the grapes rise to the surface to form a cap which needs to be broken up and recirculated

wooden wine press--a museum piece these days

Inside one of the huge wooden barrels which used to be used for fermentation

Stainless steel vats are the order of the day in most wineries--dozens and dozens of them

Concrete vats are starting to be used by some wineries

You don't see much of this! Argentinian wine is kept only for a couple of years (see blog)

Ah, that's more like it! A real barrel!

Uh....thousands of barrels!

The vineyards go on for miles and miles

The super-modern winery of O. Fournier

State of the art cloning techniques are used to create the perfect vine for each  location

Science is definitely important--although all the vineyards stress that wine making is still an art

Tasting fermenting wine from the vat

a flight of wine for tasting on one of the wine tours

drinking again

Mendoza is not only about grape vines--lavender is another crop as well as all manner of fruits and nuts and huge quantities of olives.

An irrigation pond at one of the wineries

A traditional asado--no fancy barbeque equipment

Meat is the principal diet and the markets are full or all sorts of meats for the asado

Many of these unmentionable innards  make their way onto the asado too

Despite Mendoza and the surrounding country being a desert, a unique irrigation system designed by the indigenous people centuries ago means every street is tree-lined and the many parks are full of fountains (see blog)

The unique and highly effective irrigation system that keeps Mendoza green (see blog)