January 18, Wednesday – San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina

After a half hour drive along the shores of Lake Nahuel Huapi we boarded a catamaran, the Cau Cau (Cau means sea gulls…Cau Cau means lots of sea gulls) for a cruise on the lake. It was a sunny day and the lake is beautiful, surrounded by mountains.

On the way out we were followed by lots of sea gulls.  The boat photographer was busy on the top deck taking pictures of people holding out food for the gulls…so we also had the opportunity to take photos of the gulls.

First stop was Arrayanes Forest where we took a 45 minute hike…along with loads of other people from the boat.  Fortunately one of the guides stayed with us most of the time to translate the Spanish narration.  All the other tourists seemed to speak Spanish.

Then it was a short ride to Victoria Island where we took a 5 kilometer hike around a small part of the island…again with a translator.  It made the tour much more interesting.  

We saw more of the interesting, red-barked trees.,,

and paintings/petroglyphs left by the indigenous people.

The hike ended at a beach.  Instead of true sand the beach was made of volcanic ash from a nearby volcano in Chile.  Sort of weird.

Then it was back on the boat for the ride to the pier and the bus for the ride back along the lake to Bariloche. 

At the hotel we asked for suggestions for restaurants for dinner.  Turned out there was a vegetarian restaurant, Ren, about 2 blocks from the hotel.  The food was buffet style and priced by the kilo.  And the food was amazing.