18th - 20th April - San Carlos de Bariloche

Arrived at 11.30am in pretty good shape after such a long bus journey. We checked into our new accomodation which is a log cabin style youth hostel. As has been the case so far we have a private room and do not have to share a bathroom with 8 others like the other guys.
We headed off to look around the pretty, small town. Very touristy, like Jindabyne with lots of restaurants and shops selling outdoor gear. After a quick hamberger, Jon, Greg, Gui, Vicky and Cat and David took a bus about 5km out of town to a gondala. We took the gondola to the top of Cerro Otto. About half way up we entered the clouds, so there was limited visibility at the top. We set off outside and it was blowing a gale. Luckily the trail was protected and we had a good walk back down the hill and into town. Once we were out of the clouds we had a magnificent view of the town, lake and mountains. We went out to dinner with Zaida and a few of the others to the best steak restaurant in Argentina. The chef showed us the different cuts of meat and as the portions were so large we shared a half serve. The meat was exceptional.
19th We were booked on a private tour through the hostel to take us to Mt Tronador, the highest mountain in Argentina. We passed some amazing scenery, Lakes like a mirror and Huge mountains with many colours due to the leaves on the trees changing. Our first stop was a 1 hourkçhike uphill to the top of a 70m waterfall. Again fantastic views of the valley and surrounding mountains. Next stop was lunch at Pampa Linda for a lunch of caserole and mashed potato. The drove on to have a walk to another waterfall. We walked through a native bamboo forest. The next trek we did was to the base of Mt Tronador and we hiked to the end of one of the 4 glaciers on the Argentine side. More amazing scenery, Sonya (the local guide) was fantastic giving us real insite into the Park and the flora and fauna. Finished the day shopping where we found gluten free pizza bases and biscuits. So we went bak to the hostel to make Pizza. Zaida read the instructions for us and we found we needed fresh yeast so back out to the shops where we were lucky enough to find a packet exactly the size we needed. Excellent way to end the day, Pizza, Chocolate and red wine.