Vina Del Mar, Chile

November 25 - 27

After two long bus rides (one of which was an over-night bus), we were back in Chile and in Vina Del Mar, the most popular beach in the country.  We had some seafood at a restaurant in Puerto Varas where we had a 5 hour layover in between our two bus rides.  Unfortunately, Gene ended up getting terrible food poisoning.  That's probably the worse thing that can happen to a person just as they board a 12-hour over night bus.  Poor guy was sick the entire ride, and neither of us really slept (really uncomfortable "cama" seats).  The bad news is that the food poisoning symptoms did not go away within the 12-hour time period we were on the bus.  Gene was sick for the entire next day, and didn't really start to feel better until the morning of our second day in Vina Del Mar.  

We did get to walk around Puerto Varas during our bus layover.  It's a beautiful city with a similar ski-town feel as Bariloche.  The city is located on the shores of the Llanquihue Lake with the Osorno Volcano visible in the background from the lakefront.  Here are some pictures from our short day in Puerto Varas.

Osorno Volcano behind Llanquihue Lake

Other end of the lake

Here's the restaurant where we ate in Puerto Varas, Fogon Las Buenas Brasas.  The food at this restaurant was actually some of the best we had in South America (aside from the oysters that were the result of Gene's food poisoning).

Our first day in Vina Del Mar was very low key.  I spent some time on the beach and walked around the town while Gene recovered.

Our hotel, Neruda Mar Suites, was on the far northern end of Renaca beach, just across the road from a large seal habitat.  Here are the seals hanging out on the end of the rock.

The coast of Renaca Beach

Renaca Beach

View from the top of the cliff above our hotel

We had an incredible sunset our first night.  

We cooked dinner and out on our balcony - this was our amazing view.

The next day we walked from Renaca to the main town of Vina Del Mar.  Here's the "downtown" area of Renaca, the famous hill with the landscaped seagull.

Renaca beach looking north 

(our hotel was at the far end of this beach)

Vina Del Mar Beach

These were a couple of the sand-figures

This military ship passed right by our balcony while we were hanging out that evening.  The Chilean naval academy is located in Vina Del Mar.

   

Bariloche, Argentina

November 20 - 24

Bariloche is a town in the Patagonian Argentina Lakes region in the foothills of the Andes.  We decided to rent a condo on Nahuel Huapi Lake in Bariloche for a few relaxing days before heading back to Chile.  The town of Bariloche looks a lot like Switzerland with Swiss chalets, chocolate shops, and a ski town atmosphere.  

The condo we rented had an amazing view overlooking the lake and the Andes mountains that surround it.  It also had a great kitchen, so we spent half our nights cooking dinner and enjoying eating on our balcony overlooking the beautiful scenery.  

This is the view from the plane as we make our descent into Bariloche.  That's one of the nearby volcanoes (Osorno or Pucon).

These were the views from our condo balcony.

We rented bikes the next day and biked around the Circuito Chico, a 28 km circuit around the mountain ranges and lakes in Bariloche.

This is the view from the highest point on the circuit, the Panorama 

Lake Moreno, one of the beautiful lakes passed along the circuit

Small trail leading to the "hidden lake"

After returning our bikes, we hiked up to the top of Cerro Campanario where there's an incredible lookout with views of Bariloche and the surrounding lakes and mountains.

That evening, we went back to our condo and cooked a delicious dinner and ate on our balcony overlooking the lake.  (I've obviously missed cooking!)

The next day, we went horseback riding through the Cerro Campanario area.  Our guide, Nacho, didn't really speak any English, so it was a good way for me to practice my Spanish.

Some of the views we passed during our trail ride.

Here we are with our horses at the end of our ride.

On our last day in Bariloche, we slept in pretty late.  I decided to take the bus to Cerro Catedral and hike to Refugio Frey, one of the best day hikes in Bariloche.  Gene decided to stay close to the condo and walk around the downtown area of Bariloche, checking out the shops.

Here are some pictures from my hike on the Refugio Frey trail.

Passing the alpine valley on the way up to the Refugio

Finally, I reach Refugio Frey (6 miles later).

Here's the view from the camping area looking down into the alpine valley.

Beautiful lake behind the refugio.  The wind was extremely strong - you can see the white caps from the waves in the lake.

My one picture of me using my automatic delay-shot timer on my camera :)

The clouds started to clear up a bit on the way back down, so I got some really amazing views of the mountain range in the distance and the nearby towns.

This is the main ski area in Cerro Catedral 

(completely empty aside from a couple of other hikers).