BARILOCHE, THE SOUTH AMERICAN SWITZERLAND

To see the photos included in this article, please go to:
http://groups.msn.com/Adictosaviajar/general.msnw?

and click on "Places Worthwhile visiting in Argentina"


PHOTO OF PUERTO BLEST

I have been in Switzerland (specifically in Zermatt), but I prefer Bariloche.   Why?  Because in Bariloche there are places where you can see nature in a nearly primitive state.  For example, you cannot drive a car to Puerto Blest: there is no road.   You can only get there navigating the Nahuel Huapi lake, which is beautiful.  And once you get there, you will only find a small hotel in the middle of the woods, a camping, the national park ranger´s house and the coast guard offices.   Nothing else.

PHOTO: PUERTO BLEST HOTEL: A FANTASTIC SCENERY, AND A COST OF SOME 25 DOLLARS PER NIGHT, INCLUDING DINNER AND BREAKFAST.

To walk along the Nahuel Huapí lake, you only have trails in the middle of the woods.  Sometimes you will have to go over or under a fallen tree.  Nature in its primitive condition.

PHOTO: NAHUEL HUAPÍ LAKE AT PUERTO BLEST

Bariloche has many beautiful places.  Surprisingly, the most beautiful ones are not included in the standard tours, and are offered as optional packages: Puerto Blest, Tronador, San Martín de los Andes and El Bolson are four of these.   A tour to Cerro Catedral will cost you 5 Dollars, and you will have to pay another 10 dollars for the ski lift:

PHOTO: CERRO CATEDRAL IN SEPTEMBER.

You can generally buy a package of 3 full-day tours for 85 pesos (less than 30 Dollars, including Tronador, El Bolson and San Martín de los Andes).

PHOTO: CERRO TRONADOR (THE THUNDERING MOUNTAIN).  It makes that noise when pieces of ice fall off the glaciers.

PHOTO: El Bolsón, a nice place to fish ranbow trout in a beautiful scenery

I would definitely recommend a stay at Puerto Blest.   The hotel is small, the view is beautiful, there is good trout fishing (although trolling is expensive, about 25 Dollars the hour).  A stay at the hotel there costs 24 Dollars per night, including dinner and breakfast.   And if you want to stay downtown, a room at the hotel Quillen, near the Crown Plaza Panamericano, costs 13 Dollars per night, including continental breakfast.  These prices increase slightly in January and February, and go up to nearly double the price during the ski season (July-August).

Here are some really nice views of Bariloche on the internet. (previous photos are all mine and may be copied and used for any purpose)  Just click on the photos to enlarge them:  

http://www.interpatagonia.com/bariloche/fotos_i.html

This link has beautiful photos.  But you must click on "photos"

http://www.argentinaturistica.com/2scbiresenia.htm

http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/South_America/Argentina/South/Rio_Negro/Bariloc...

http://www.interhabit.com/interhabit/indexnotes.asp?id=61

http://www.bariloche.com/english/fotos.asp

http://www.hvra.com.ar/eninfoct.htm

An all-inclusive tour to Bariloche by bus (8 days) including the bus fare from Buenos Aires (one thousand miles each way), 5 nights of hotel, dinner and breakfast costs some 180 Dollars.   Buses are very comfortable.   Vía Bariloche, Crucero del Norte and Andesmar are the best, and resemble the first class service of international flights, including hot meals on board.  Check their sites, where you can also book your reservations and buy your tickets with credit card:

http://www.viabariloche.com.ar
http://www.crucerodelnorte.com.ar
http://www.andesmar.com.ar

A bus ticket from Buenos Aires to Bariloche will cost you 110 pesos on Andesmar (semi-sleeping) or some 160 to 180 pesos on the luxury services of Vía Bariloche or Crucero del Norte.  The exchange rate to the Dollar is 2,90 pesos per US Dollar.
The other alternative is an all-inclusive tour by plane, which in any case costs some 300 US Dollars.  Check www.alojargentina.com.ar or www.ativiajes.com.ar

Enjoy it.

Robert Ingledew

THE ACONCAGUA, THE HIGHEST PEAK OF THE AMERICAN CONTINENT

To see the photos that illustrate this note, please go to:
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and then click on "Places worthwhile visiting in Argentina".    

PHOTO: Mount Aconcagua (Mendoza).  Photo taken from the path to the Horcones Lagoon

With nearly 23,000 feet, the Aconcagua is the highest mountain in the American Continent and in the Western Hemisphere. It is some 4 hours away by bus from the city of Mendoza, although the buses only leave you at the nearest town (Las Cuevas) and continue to Chile.

By the way, Mendoza is a beautiful city with about one million inhabitants, where you can choose amongst many options: a symphonic concert, or a quiet walk in the San Martín park. It is the main wine producing area in all Argentina, and its Vintage Cellebration in Easter each year is well known throughout the whole country. It is an irrigation area, and all the streets have their irrigation ditches and trees. About 70 miles away from the city you can fish two-pound rainbow trout at the "Manzano Histórico de Tunuyán". If you want larger ones, you will have to go to the Atuel River at El Sosneado (6 hours away by bus towards Malargue).

On a one day tour from the city of Mendoza to the Cristo Redentor (limit with Chile at an altitude of 14,000 feet, you will have a glimpse of the mountain, but to really enjoy it you would have to go on an expedition with mountain climbers. Here it is:

http://www.fieldtouring.com/images/aconcagua/gallery.html
http://www.aconcaguaspirit.com.ar/ingles/fotos.htm
http://willerup.com/aconcagua/photos.html
http://people.ucsc.edu/~otte/a.3.61.html
http://www.alessio.com.ar/alessio/index.asp?DocumentID=473

The Andes in Mendoza do not have vegetation, which you will only find in the valleys. In other words, it is quite similar to the area of Denver in the USA and to some areas in Switzerland. The mountains become far more beautiful further south in the San Martín de los Andes - Bariloche - El Bolsón - Esquel area.

However, here in Mendoza you have the highest mountains of the continent. So if you are a mountain climber, this may be your next challenge...

You may also see the Andes very clearly travelling by plane from Santiago de Chile to Mendoza, Córdoba or Buenos Aires.

Have a nice day.

Robert Ingledew

THE IBERA MARSHES IN ARGENTINA, THE SECOND WILDLIFE RESERVE IN SOUTH AMERICA

I became aware of the importance of these wetlands many years ago, but became more acquainted with them when I translated into English tne Environmental Impact Evaluation of a power transmission line that was to cross the area.

It is practically an untouched area, with yacarés (the South American crocodile), dorados (a member of the salmon family, also called the tiger of the rivers) , birds of all sorts, and much more.  I would call it the Pantanal of Argentina.  It is located some 200 miles away from the cities of Corrientes and Posadas.   Here it is:

http://www.naturephotography.net/ibera.html

http://www.lastfrontiers.com/argentina/sangara.htm

http://www.birdquest.co.uk/frameset.cfm?tripReports=0

Being a protected area, it might be difficult to get a place where to stay in the area, but taxis are very cheap in Argentina (I recently paid less than 20 Dollars for a 100 mile round trip; of course, that was during the low season), so you might want to go and see it for yourself...  In any case, there are hotels, hostels and ranches in Carlos Pelligrini, near the marshes.   A friend of mine who went recently found lodging at very reasonable prices.   Some of the prices published in the Internet are rather scaring...

Enjoy it.

Robert Ingledew

TREVELIN, AND THE WELSH HERITAGE IN ARGENTINA.  

To see the beautiful photos that illustrate this note, please go to:

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and then click on Places Wortwhile visiting in Argentina

PHOTO: ARRIVING AT TREVELIN.  ON THE RIGHT-HAND SIDE, A BEAUTIFUL VIEW OF THE ANDES

I visited Trevelin seven summers in a row from 1951 to 1957.  Of course, at that time I was not so interested in history as now, I was a teenager at that time, but I was aware that everybody in the town spoke in Welsh.  Today Trevelin has a Welsh museum, where you can enjoy many aspects of the Welsh history in the Valley 16 de Octubre.   Although the first disembarked in Puerto Madryn, and then moved first to Rawson and then to Gaiman, many came over the patagonian desert up to the Andes and settled down here.   In 1951, Trevelin had some 3,000 inhabitants, practically all Welsh.  Trevelin is some 250 miles south of Bariloche.

Trevelin means the "town of the mill", it has always been a wheat producing area, even though it is so far south and next to the Andes, specially to the Los Alerces National Park.   Welsh colonization started in Patagonia in 1865, and probably some years later in Trevelin.

PHOTO OF THE COUNTRYSIDE

I wanted to film tulip plantations, Trevelin is famous for its tulips, but I was told that I will have to go back in September if I want to enjoy this scenery.

ANOTHER PHOTO OF THE COUNTRYSIDE

A visit to the Welsh museum of Trevelin is something you should not miss.   I have only pasted a few photos here, but you will be aware that it is extremely interesting.    You can see organs two centuries old, an ancient typewriter,  a phone switchboard you will only find in museums... and many other things.

THREE PHOTOS OF THE WELSH MUSEUM

The museum occupies the three floors of the old flour mill, which has moved to another location.   You will find practically anything from old kitchens to tractors... , sulkys... whatever you could imagine.

ANOTHER TWO PHOTOS OF THE WELSH MUSEUM

It is a virtual trip to the past...

And, of course, you can even have a trip on the Old Patagonian Express, which leaves from the Esquel Station, 15 miles away...

Tea houses are also famous due to the welsh cakes they prepare.  And some 13 miles away is the beautiful provincial reserve of the Nanty Fall waterfalls, but I will cover that in another note.  Here is one photo of this beautiful spot:

PHOTO OF THE NANTY FALLS (ONE OF THE 3 FALLS)

Most streets have not yet been paved, and occasionally you find some ancient corner that brings us rememberances of last century.

PHOTO: AN ANCIENT STREET CORNER IN TREVELIN

I visited this beautiful town for the first time in 1951...

The Los Alerces National Park is only 22 miles away, and has some of the most beautiful sceneries of Argentina.  

Regards from Mar del Plata, Argentina.

Robert Ingledew

BELIEVE IT OR NOT: A CRUISE IN THE SEA FOR TWO DOLLARS

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PHOTO: Travelling on the Fortuna II Yatcht: this is the tour I am talking about.

Last summer I took a cruise on the Fortuna II yacht from the Port of Mar del Plata, navigating one hour in front of the city, which gives one an excellent opportunity of taking very nice photos and of filming the coastline.

To my surprise, the cost was only six pesos, which would be about two US Dollars-

Although hotels in Mar del Plata are cheap even in the high season (a single room in a budget hotel can cost now 15 Dollars and about half that price in winter, and you can have a good lunch or dinner for four or five Dollars, including wine), this low price for the cruise even surprised me, a resident of this beautiful city.

Please keep in mind that you will find low prices in Mar del Plata, Cordoba, Villa Carlos Paz, Bariloche, Iguazu and Salta, but not in the Austral part of Argentina, where prices are generally three times higher (Puerto Madryn, El Calafate and Ushuaia), but still quite affordable for foreigners.

Regards from Mar del Plata.

Robert Ingledew

VISITING ARGENTINA HAS NEVER BEEN SUCH A BARGAIN.

You can buy a studio by the seaside for 15,000 Dollars, or even less, a 2 bedroom apartment for double that price, travel 900 miles in a luxury bus for 50 Dollars (hot dinner on board included, with wine, whisky and champagne), stay at an hotel near the seaside for 9 Dollars per person... If you want to know more, read on...

True, while an hotel in Bariloche (the South American Switzerland) can cost as little as 15 Dollars per night, if you go to the glaciers area, you may have to pay 30 Dollars for a single room in an hostel, but if you cross over to Chile, a luxury hotel in the glaciers area can cost you as much as 500 Dollars per night (these are the rates of the Salto Chico Hotel in Torres del Paine). And here comes the information you need to know.

For a couple of months or so, I have been writing in the Spanish Forum on the beauties of Argentina, and of the incredible opportunity of staying at good hotels for 15 to 25 Dollars per night (even less than that at Mar del Plata).  However, not all of you understand Spanish, so I have decided to share with you in this Forum valuable information on the travel bargain that Argentina is today for foreign tourists.

Argentina has everything you could ever wish to see. From the train to the clouds in the Northwest, to the Iguazú waterfalls in the Northeast, a European style metropolis like Buenos Aires, which in some aspects resembles Paris, Bariloche (the South American Switzerland), Península Valdez in the Southeast with its whales, penguins and sea lions, Ushuaia, the southernmost city of the world, the Iberá Marshes, the second wildlife protected area of South America and, of course, the magnificent glaciers at El Calafate (the South American Alaska). Without ignoring some beautiful beaches like Cariló, Pinamar, Villa Gesell and even Mar del Plata. All this for a fraction of what you would have to spend in other parts of the world.

In this forum you have already seen the Iguazú Falls, one of the wonders of the world, the Perito Moreno Glacier (the South American Alaska), Bariloche (the South American Switzerland).   the Train to the Clouds in Salta, Ushuaia (the Southernmost city of the world) and more.

If you are concerned about safety, Argentina and Uruguay are still the safest countries in South America.   True, some problems do exist, but if you take the minimum safety steps you should not experience them during your stay.

Be careful in the largest cities (Buenos Aires, Rosario, Córdoba), avoid the suburban areas, do now show off your valuables, and only take our your camera or camcorder when you are going to use them.  Do not change money on the street (they could even give you false currency, or maybe steal you), and avoid the railway stations and bus stations except if you have to travel.  Keep an eye on your baggage...and do not carry large sums of money with you. That should be enough.  I have lived in this country for sixty three years, and have only been stolen twice, so that should give you the right picture.

Never forget to check the weather forecast.   Two days ago we had a reel-feel temperature of 2 Celsius degrees in Mar del Plata and the same day the temperature at Iguazú (reel-feel) was 35 degrees Celsius (36 to 90 Farenheit the same day in different parts of the country).  Argentina has 3000 miles from North to South and a large variety of climates...  So if you are going to travel from North to South, bring Summer clothes and also sweaters...

Please feel free to ask any questions you may wish that may help you to plan your trip.  

Welcome to Argentina.

Robert Ingledew

SALTA: THE TRAIN TO THE CLOUDS, CACHI, CAFAYATE AND MUCH MORE

To see the photos included in this article, please go to this link:

http://groups.msn.com/Adictosaviajar/general.msnw?action=get_message&ID_Message=...

2 PHOTOS: Bridge of the train to the clouds, constructed a century ago by the British railways.  Its construction took fourteen years.

Salta is in Northwestern Argentina, and it boasts of having one of the highest railways in the world (it climbs up to some 14,000 feet in the Andes).  It was built for the British railways under the direction of an American Engineer, has many incredible bridges, tunnels and ducts.   Here you have a nice view of the most impressive bridge: http://geo.ya.com/ramalc14/

For a more complete description in English, have a look at this site: http://www.argentrip.com/e/nubes/eabajonubes.htm

http://www.lavelozturismo.com.ar/la%20veloz%20ingles/Menu_la_Veloz.htm

This last site has a description of different tours that can be taken from the city of Salta.   Personally I recommend

1) Tren a las nubes (top priority).  On the road you will see llamas, vicuñas, guanacos, and even condors flying.

PHOTO

2) Cachi.  A beautiful tour through tropical forests, then climbing in 6 miles some 5500 feet into a desert area with cactus and the Andes with snow in the background.

PHOTO: Another view of the road to Cachi.  The road climbs up to 11,000 feet.

PHOTO

PHOTO: Cachi, Salta, a colonial church constructed in 1684 by the Spaniards.

3) Humahuaca: All the tradition of Northwestern Argentina.

PHOTO: On the road to Humahuaca: Purmamarca, the seven colour mount.  Sorry, the day was cloudy.  Colours are far more intense.

4) Cafayate: one of the best wine producing areas of the country.

PHOTO: The Castles (Los Castillos), Cafayate.   The bus driver kindly stopped so that I could take some photos...  Can you imagine a regular bus driver stopping for this in any other part of the world?

And don´t be afraid of asking the driver to stop for a photo.   Salta has the most beautiful people of Argentina.  The first time I went to Salta  some 30 years ago, when I asked for a stop on the tour to Cachi, the driver said: "No problem sir, we have calculated ninety minutes for the stops that the passengers may request".  I could hardly believe it...

PHOTO: Pre-Columbian ruins (year 1400) on the way to San Antonio de los Cobres, Salta

Enjoy it.


Robert Ingledew

CARILO, THE MOST ELEGANT SEASIDE RESORT IN  ARGENTINA    


To see the beautiful photos that illustrate this note, please go to:

http://groups.msn.com/Adictosaviajar/general.msnw?action=get_message&mview=1&ID_...


I would dare to call it the Beverly Hills of Argentina.   Of course, it is only a small village with 2,000 inhabitants.  

PHOTO OF A BEAUTIFUL RESIDENCE

But the rich vacation here; it even has its own golf course, and it is within a beautiful forest by the seaside.  

PHOTO OF THE GOLF COURSE

It even has a five-acre shopping center...

PHOTO OF THE SHOPPING CENTER AND THE FOREST THAT SURROUNDS IT

It would seem as if there is no crisis here:  commercial centers full of people, as well as the restaurants and pubs, and the beautiful forest full of 4 x 4 vehicles...  It really impressed me.  I knew the place, but it has progressed a lot.  Although it is still a small village with a permanent population of two thousand inhabitants.

PHOTO OF THE WOODS

Don´t look for two or three-star hotels here, only luxury resorts exist...

PHOTO OF SOME OF THE LUXURY HOTELS IN THE AREA

But it is a paradise.  Just have a look at these photos.

FOUR PHOTOS OF THE BEACH AND THE FOREST

Here you will find other very nice photos of Carilò.

http://www.parquecarilo.com/

Click on "galería de fotos" and explore each link.


Here are some more photos of this beautiful place (some pages have an English version; sorry, I have a lot of work today and cannot go into the details, just click on English version, when available):


http://www.argentinaturistica.com/informa/carifotos.htm

http://www.welcomeargentina.com/carilo/fotografias.html

http://www.carilo.com/links/galeria_fotos/galeria.asp

http://www.ruta0.com/img.asp?i=255

As I said, only four and five star hotels exist here.   Here you have an example.

http://www.torrecillascarilo.com.ar/Serv_360.html
Enjoy it.

Robert Ingledew