Evan and I both fell in love with Bariloche at first sight. It was so unbelievably stunning. Evan described it as an area where all the most beautiful parts of Colorado were squished into one place. It is the only place in Patagonia that we have ever been, but it has inspired us to one day return and backpack through the region.

We had arranged for an Airbnb and had been speaking with the owner through the app. She was a French ex-pat, fluent in both French and Spanish but only functional in her understanding of English. She told us to take the bus to what seemed to be the middle of nowhere, promising she would meet us there. After some confusion at the bus station and basically nobody who spoke English, we eventually figured out how to get a bus card and put enough money on it to get to our stop. When we arrived, our host, as promised was waiting for us with her son and his car so that he could drive our bags up to the house.

The house we stayed in was as near to a tiny house as we’ve ever experienced. It was off the beaten track and personally designed and built by our host with the help of her family and friends. It truly was a work of art. The large circular window and the style of construction gave the impression it was ripped straight from the writings of Tolkien.  We grew to really enjoy our strange little hobbit house.

We had our own room, the entire upstairs, and our own balcony/roof area from which we could watch the stars. It was our beautiful little bohemian sanctuary. The only odd part was that the host, an older woman, slept below us and there was no door. It worked out fine though–adventure time!

That first night, we were pretty exhausted. We went for a walk around our area and then our host made us a delicious, homegrown dinner. Small talk without a common language, we learned, can be challenging. Nonetheless, we tried our best and soon retreated to our room to star gaze.

Our first full day in Bariloche was magical. We walked a little ways down the road and came across the cutest and most random toy store I have ever seen. We walked past it many times during out stay and it always seemed to be open– whether it was 11 am or 11 pm. All of the toys were handmade. I bought Jen and I each a little purple elephant.

We continued further down the road to an uphill hike our host had recommended. We could have paid to ride the gondola up, but instead opted for the free hike, which proved to be rather challenging.

The reward at the top was worth every challenging step. It was one of the most, perhaps the most, beautiful views I have ever seen.

We enjoyed some wine at the cafe at the top while gazing at the magnificent view.

After soaking in the view, we headed down the mountain and went to a nearby cafe for lunch. It became a favorite spot for us. It was situated on a lake, had wonderful food and a friendly staff.

Adding to our long list of mishaps during our Argentina trip, we somehow lost our bus ticket on our first night. We asked the waitstaff at this lunch spot where we could buy a new one and found out that the only place to get a new one was at the main bus station, roughly 17 miles down the road. Our waiter and the manager were super nice though and the manager gave us a spare of his. He told us we still needed to get into town to put money on it though, and the buses do not accept any payment but for credits on these passes.  He advised us to ask fellow passengers to pay for us, an idea which seemed rather terrifying to us on account of both the awkwardness of the cultural disconnect and our language issues. After repeated attempts to ask, in our stilted Spanish, for help we did eventually get two really sweet guys to agree to it and they didn’t even let us pay them back.

We spent the rest of the day walking around the town of San Carlos de Bariloche. It looks like a little Swiss town nestled in the mountains in South America. It’s a very unique place with artisanal chocolates, Saint Bernard dogs and cafes lining the streets. We went to an open air market, where I bought a couple hair clips and then ended the night with a fondue dinner at a german-style restaurant.

We also discovered the mascot for our trip motto, adventure time, in a store front, in the hands of a small child on the bus and plenty of other places.

The next day we asked our host about laundry service, which she had advertised on Airbnb. She did have a washing machine, to our amazement, but it was outside in the back of the house. We were only allowed to do one small load, because she ran everything on well water and the season, so far, had been very dry. We chose our most important items and then hung them on the close lines to dry while we went on a lovely hike.

The hike was a longer one than the previous day, but not as steep. The water was an absolutely gorgeous shade of turquoise and we were surprised by how tall the trees were. Evan’s video really shows off the height of the trees.

Exhausted from our hike, we went back to our Airbnb and changed and then opted to go to a nicer dinner. On our way to the hike, we had passed a fancy hotel with beautiful views and decided to go back there for dinner.

For our final day in Bariloche, we took it a bit easier and rode a gondola up to another beautiful view.

We continued hiking a trail near there and saw some beautiful trees and flowers.

We enjoyed a snack and some wine in the revolving restaurant at the top after our hike, and then rode the gondola back down.

For our last night in Bariloche, our host invited us to a traditional Argentinian barbecue at her son’s house in honor of her son’s fianceé’s birthday. It was so awesome to be able to really get a feel for what it is like to be a local there. The food, cooked over the open fire, was delicious and the people were very friendly. They embraced us as if we were longtime friends.

Here we are with the birthday girl (left picture) and with our host, one of her sons and his girlfriend (right picture).

We absolutely fell in love with Bariloche and are eager to see more of Patagonia. We will someday return to this beautiful, magical place.