Bariloche and the lake district - The trasfiguration of Lilya

The new testament tells the story of the transfiguration of Jesus (Matthew 17:1-9). The story tells that Jesus and some of his followers climbed on a high mountain (the tradition claims this mountain was Mt. Tavor), where Jesus met Moses and Elijah, when a bright cloud appeared and a voice from the cloud said that Jesus is the son of god. Jesus face started glowing and he has changed in front of the men on the mountain. Lilya had a very similar experience here in Bariloche. As she went down the street she met the three grate ones: Don Alberto (steaks), RapaNui (Chocolate) and Jauja (Ice cream). In front of my eyes she has changed from the strict Spartan calorie keeper she was to a hedonist Roman emperor that enjoys all the goodness of life.
Oren on the other hand, became a bit concerned. After 7 years of having a small voice (Lilya) telling him when he had enough to eat, suddenly there is no such voice any longer, and had to decide for himself. He was really frightened by this amount of freedom given to him. He tried to put Lilya through some very difficult tests, for example offered to go get some chocolate/ice cream after a very very large dinner, but to his surprise, she failed them all.
The Steaks here are only the padding for the premium chocolate which is flushed by a quality (but quite cheep) wine. The afternoon is the icecream time, maybe after a good pasta or pizza. This is the Bariloche way of life.
After we were back from the Carretera, Oren had a nasty pain in his back so we decided to stay in Bariloche for a while. But we didn't spent all the time in the chocolate stores. While here, Lilya did a nice bicycle trip with Ohad, Gabi and Achia around few of the countless lakes around Bariloche (The "Circuito Chico"). On the next day we went together to the "17th km" - a nice lookout above the Nahuel Huapi (read as na-well wa-pee) lake.
After Oren got better, we rented a car (just the two of us this time) for 3 days and drove north on a road called "the 7 lakes road". The road crosses the Argentinian lake district and passes through 5-10 lakes (depending

on your definition to how small can a lake should be and still be named a lake). We had a wonderful weather on the first day and the drive was fantastic. A full day is enough to see all the lakes even if someone (the name is not important right now) constantly asks for picture stops. We came to the conclusion that the beauty of a lake depends on the location of the sun in the sky and the absence of wind. That's why lake number 5 is our favorite. The sun was low and the light was warm, so the landscape was painted with wonderful colors. There was no wind at all, so the lake became a mirror and reflected the mountains behind it. On the way back, by the way, this lake wasn't that great with all the clouds blocking the sun.
On that day we slept in San Martin de los Andes. This is a small (and better) version of Bariloche. The chocolates are here and so are the good restaurants, but the town is smaller, cleaner and more stylish, and just like a Dolce and Gabbana purse, for style you have to pay more. That's why there are almost no cheep places for budget tourists like ourselves. We spent the night at (probably) the only hostel in town. We got a big room with TV, so we could watch "Old Christine" and "Friends" even before breakfast. But most of all, we will probably remember this day as the day we ate 5 different animals (none of which was a chicken): A pig, a boar, a cow, a deer and a lamb. Argentina can be so diverse!
The next day we drove to Junin de los Andes. Several km north of Junin there is the northern entrance to Lanin National Park. The road takes you to the northern viewpoint over Lanin volcano. The sky had no clouds and the view of the snowy conical peak of Lanin with the clear blue sky was classic. We climbed the steep road through the rain forest for an hour, and arrived to one of the nicest lookouts we've seen until now. If you are there don't miss it.
In Argentina, every second town is the capital of something. Junin, for example is the capital of traut fish. Even the signs of the street names have a fish on them. So, you must try a trout in Junin, and so we did. We got a recommendation in return for helping a local Indian, and had two delicious trouts for dinner. We slept in San Martin again, since we wanted to see the next episode of "Old Christine".
On the next day we drove back to Bariloche. The road back goes back through the marvelous lake Traful. Only after driving for some time we realized that we are almost out of fuel. The red light lit 50 km from the nearest town. We got to Villa Traful on the last fuel vapors, only to find out that the gas station is closed. We already prepared ourselves to hitchhike to the next town (60 km ahead) with an empty juice bottle, when we remembered the first rule of Argentina: Nothing is open on the Siesta! We acted like the locals and had a Siesta of our own in our car, in the gas station. Luckily, because of the delay we got a better weather for the rest of the road (for the pictures, of course). We celebrated our return to heaven (Bariloche) with a nice pair of steaks.
On the next morning we tried to climb Mt. Catedral, near Bariloche. The cable cars that should have taken us up the mountain didn't work (well, it was Sunday, and why would something so touristic will be open on Sundays?), so we had to climb it by ourselves. Pacha Mama was on vacation this day and her place was probably filled by her wicked brother Bob, so we were stopped on the way up by the snow that started to fall. Bob didn't think that we will like it very much but he was wrong. Being the Israelis that we are, we didn't experienced snow falling for a long long time and we were very excited and naturally, took a lot of pictures.
We left Bariloche the next day to Osorno (in Chile) to see the Chilean lake district.

Pictures

New pictures from Bariloche and the Argentinian lake district are on the web.

Carretera Austral (Part A - to Bariloche and back)

We need your help. If anyone knows Pacha Mama (the Chilean name for mother earth) please contact us immediately. We want to know what she likes to eat. Here in Bariloche we can probably find it and send it to wherever she is. We can build an altar and sacrifice it right here if needed. It is the begining of April an we had no rain all through the Carretera Austral. Let me say that again. NO RAIN. Actually, we did have 15 minutes of rain that came especially when we needed a rainbow for the pictures. As if the whole nature was recruited to help us compose the photographs. And not only in the Carretera. Until now we had the most amazing weather we could've expected, even though we are almost out of the season. But first thing first. This story begins with a bus.
"The busses in Argentina are the best ever" said the experts. As if...
We ordered two tickets to a bus from El Chalten to Bariloche from a guy that yelled "Balagan" everytime Oren was around. Lilya managed to avoid the treat, since no one belives she's an Israeli. This was the first bad omen. The second was the bus that looked small and not really up to the task. But the last omen came 5 minutes from the beggining of the ride. The bus driver (or his 10 years son) cound't use the manual gear properly. We jumped everytime he changed a gear until we stopped just outside the town and the other driver gave him a quick driving lesson. From there the memory of the ride becomes vage. A 33 hours ride through the unpaved rute 40 took more than 44 hours, when the bus broke down for several hours every now and then. One of these stops ended with an entire bus assembeling inside a small pub in a ghost town in the middle of nowhere at 2 AM.
We got to Bariloche one day before Pessah feeling as if it was us who got out of Egypt.
The Seder was held at the next evening in a large indoor basketball court that was arranged as a dining room for 700 people. The whole street was closed to protect all the Israeli backpackers that migrated to Bariloche from all over Patagonia and the lake district in Chile and Argentina. The noise was unbelivable and the Pessah songs sounded like a cheering in the basketball cup final in Yad Eliyahu. On one side, the fans of Hapoel Rabi Tarfon and on the other - Macabi Rabi Akiva. But the real mayhem started as soon as the food came. 700 hungry and tired youngsters grabbed as much as they could take. Any attempt of the 4 waiters to serve the food to the tables came upon a wave of people that entered the kitchen and took anything they could. At the end we did not leave hungry but mostly because of the enormous amount of beetroot we ate.
In the next two days we tried to find a car for rental. The Easter this year came a day after Pessah, and lots of Israelies and Easter bunnies (or Argentinians on vacation) rented cars, so by the time we got there, we could hardly rent a bike. At the end, we managed to rent the last Toyota Hilux in Bariloche, together with Gabi (a girl) and Achia (a boy), an Israeli couple that we met in the Torres del Paine. We drove south for two days via Ruta 40. This legendary rute (as the Lonely Planet defines it) is a boaring, mostly unpaved, road that took us deep into the Argentinian Patagonia - the land of the ships. In Perito Moreno (a small city, not to be confused with the name of the Glacier, the street, and everything else in Argentina called after this advanturer) we met Ohad. Ohad was one of the most annoying kids in the one of the groups in Hugei Siyur that Oren had guided 11 years ago. Ohad is still quite annoying, but now he is all grown up. And he is standing right behind us while writting these words and agrees with the description.
In the next morning we crossed the border into Chile and started driving north in the famous Caraterra Austral. In part B we'll tell you all about the wonderful days in the Carretera.

Tip 1: Try to avoid the busses that go from the south to Bariloche through Ruta 40.
Tip 2: If you decide to take part in a Seder in a Beit Habad, bring with you a lot of patience and holliday spirit (and eat something before that).