Circuito Chico

After my accomodations turned out to be so lousy I decided to change my travel plans spontaniously. So I'm now travelling on to Chile. So yesterday I took a bus to the bus terminal which is located at the other end of the city. There I bought a ticket to Pucón in Chile. I don't have an accomodation yet but how hard can that be at the end of the year...

Afterwards I took the bus, which requires the Sube card from Buenos Aires, which I'd given away, to the Circuito Chico to rent a bike. Luckily I got on the bus at the end of town because after the third stop the bus was crammed with people.

Also, Bariloche isn't a city it's a comunity. The town is called San Carlos de Bariloche and is located in a narrow stip along the coast of Lago Nahuel Huapi. It's a little inconvenient, as so often, that you always need a bus or car to get places. So I probably should have taken an accomodation in one of the suburbs, e.g. Casa de Piedra at kilometer 12.5 or Villa Los Coihues. You can do hikes from there and you only need the bus to get into town. The connections are pretty good and a bus goes every 20-30min.

As recommended I didn't go to the first bike rental place directly next to the bus stop. But a smaller one about 200m down the road which was also cheaper. The first question was "Do you have a reservation?" Reservation? Who? Me? No... Ok, it's the high season, I could have seen this coming. But as I was alone I was lucky and got a bike.

A 29er 27.5er with Maxxis-Wheels :-) Didn't expect that here. With this bike I started out towards hotel Llau Llau (pronounced "shau shau"). Before that I went by a little store to get something to eat. Using hands and feet I was able to communicate with the owner who brought me everything I needed to assemble my own sandwich :-) for only $45!!! Add 2 apples and for $65 I had everything I needed. The Circuito Chico is a round trip tour along a road which goes around Lago Moreno Oeste. It's 25km long and goes up and down hills all the time...
As said, my first stop was hotel Llau Llau, a real posh place including a golf course.

From there I went to a small beach which I reached via a gravel road going towards Villa Tacul. There I had my tasty sandwich.

One of the few places without wind :-)

Afterwards I drove towards the Patagonia micro brewery. Rumor has it that the beer is good and the view even better. Right at the entrance there was a small hop field.

And then I sat there with a tasty wheat beer and enjoyed the view. Wow!

Afterwards I drove back to the rental place and after about 30km I was back and my thighs were on fire.

In the evening I was looking for a bank because the credit card reader at the hostel was broken and I had to pay cash... What can I say? All my information about cash is down the drain... In short, there are 2 limits, $2000.- and $3000.- and I have not yet found out which branch has which limit. Even the Banco National de Argentinia in Bariloche has a limit of $2000.- if the ATM works at all... So always try the $3000.- and maybe you're lucky.