Bariloche, Argentina.
Bariloche is in the heart of the Argentine Lake District. The environment is stunning and full of snow-capped peaks and lakes. The area (which is very reliant on tourism) is suffering at the moment because of the erruption (ongoing to an extent) of Vulcan (Volcano) Puyehue the other side of the Andes in Chile. This has seen the airport in Bariloche closed for 4 months (hence I had to fly Buenos Aires to Esquel followed by a 4 hour coach journey). Pretty much everywhere is covered in volcanic ash (the first of the pictures below shows pumice floating on a lake).
In addition to a few extra Spanish lessons and some mini excursions, I hooked up with a local mountain guide (Luciano). We did two fantastic mountain treks, one to Frey and the other to a peak in the Lopez massive. The later was done in snow shoes (my first experience of these) as the upper two thirds of the mountain are covered in snow. We also wore tracer beacons in case of avalance - suffice to say I loved it and that Lopez accent is now in my top five mountain walks I have done over the years.
For a full complement of photos, follow this link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212524@N04/sets/
and click on the set called "2011, September 25th - October 3rd: Bariloche, Argentina"
Bahia Lopez (Lopez Bay) in Lago (Lake) Nahuel Huapi):
Note the grey pumice floating on the water.
Luciano on a Ridge Above Frey:
Tim on a Ridge Above Frey:
Tim on One of the Summits of the Lopez Massive (abount 2,200 metres):
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