Bariloche, Argentina

Have you ever been sleeping at night and then suddenly woke up with a sudden memory of something you have forgotten or something you need to do rather urgently? That is what happened to David one night, about a week before our cruise. As Canadians, we are allowed to stay 90 consecutive days in Chile. Somehow, in the middle of the night, David came to the conclusion that we might run out of our 90 days while on our cruise. Since we were unsure if the days on the cruise would count, we decided to quickly cross the border of Argentina to reset our days allowed in Chile. The closest Argentinian town to us was Bariloche, so that is where we headed.

While on the bus, we read up on the town in our Lonely Planet book, only to find the words “make reservations from late December to February”. Being early January, we were going to Bariloche at high season, and little did we know how busy it was during high season! Up until now, we didn’t plan more than a couple days in advance, and since we just needed to make a quick stop here, we didn’t make any plans. When we arrived at the bus station, we had a very serious “uh oh” moment. The bus station was completely packed with backpackers everywhere! Most looked like they had been sitting there a long time. We didn’t know if this meant that they came and couldn’t find accommodation so they had to come back to the bus station to keep moving on, or maybe, hopefully, there was some bus trouble and there were lots of people waiting for their buses. When we got to the city centre, our concerns became quite realistic. We couldn’t find accommodation (at least on our budget) anywhere! Eventually we found some free wifi and went onto Booking.com and found a hotel that wasn’t too far out of our budget, and since breakfast was included, we took it! It was only for a couple of nights.

The beautiful mountains and lakes of Bariloche.

It was easy to understand why Bariloche was so busy. It is amongst beautiful rugged mountains on a beautiful crystal clear blue lake. Walking in the city centre, there was a definite Swiss influence with the wooden and stone architecture and chocolate shops everywhere!! The city was hopping! With a large pedestrian street (or mostly pedestrian street. - some cars were allowed through), it was busy with people and performers; bands, 4 string quartets and street games put on my McDonalds, it was busy and it was fun!

There were lots of interesting trees in Bariloche!

For the one full day that we were in Bariloche, we took full advantage of the beautiful mountains and went on a wonderful hike along the “Circuto Chico” just outside of town. It was an easy walk with amazing views! Pictures and words cannot describe the amazing nature we were lucky to explore. We finished our hike early in the day, so we ventured further to a beach close to the end of our trail. It was a rocky beach, but it was filled with driftwood, and being at the base of a few tall beautiful mountains, we ended up spending the rest of our day there. The children got lost in their imaginations and the parents basked in the beauty of the beach.

There is so much fun to be had in nature!

We were a little bit disappointed that we didn’t think about coming to Bariloche earlier. It was so beautiful. Exactly where we wanted to be. But we had to hurry back to Chile to catch our cruise! So we decided that we had to come back.

Four weeks later, after disembarking from our two week cruise, spending a few more days with our parents in Buenos Aires and spending a few more days on the beach for Charlie and David to go surfing again, and there we were, back in Bariloche. This time we booked our accommodation early and made a list of what we wanted to do while we were there.

This time, we stayed for a week and made plans to do more hiking and adventuring in and around the water. Unfortunately the first day we were there, the buses were on strike, so it was hard to get around. But we did find an interesting alpine slide that the kids enjoyed. It was a bit expensive for a rather short ride, but at least it got us moving for the day.

The next day we went on a very short, but very steep hike to an amazing lookout of the wilderness around Bariloche. Surprisingly, it was very sandy, so we all got very dusty and dirty!

A beautiful view of the area surrounding Bariloche.

After the two week cruise, the kids were really starting to feel homesick and many of our conversations revolved around them wanting to go home, so we wanted to make sure we were doing things that were exciting and rewarding for them. Both of the kids are great athletes, but unfortunately Adeline does not really enjoy hiking so much, and after the hike the previous day, she was not so happy with us, so we decided to have a fun day exploring the local aerial course. EUCA Bariloche, is a super fun aerial course build amongst beautiful pine trees. 

Can you spot all three Havixbeck’s?

There were 5 levels of the course. Depending on your height, you could explore different levels of the course. Adeline was tall enough for the first level, Charlie was tall enough for the first 3 levels. **Enter dark angry music here**. The first level was a blast. 

Cargo nets on level 1. 

We got to walk through cargo nets, walk across swinging balance beams, climb through tunnels and glide across zip lines, all about 5 metres off the ground. It was daring and it was fun. 

Swinging balance beams on level 1.

But level 2 and level 3 were much more challenging and was probably 10 to 15 metres off the ground, and Adeline was not allowed to do it while Charlie was. I think Adeline was trying to make it explicitly clear that the company was very wrong not allowing her to progress to the higher levels and she would sprint through the course and try her hardest to pass any other participants in front of her, and when she couldn’t because we were all strapped in for the whole course, she made it painfully obvious that she wanted to pass with her sighs and groans and rolling eyes that were fit for a grumpy 15 year old, let alone an 8 year old.

David, high up in the trees! 

Charlie, on the other hand, had the time of his life! David explored the upper levels while Amanda took pictures from below and stuck with Adeline the best she could.

Charlie on level 2.

It was very hard to keep up as Adeline sprinted through. Actually, the only time I was able to catch up was when Adeline got stuck behind another participant. When our two hours that we were allowed turned into 2 hours and 30 minutes and maybe even 3 hours, we decided to call it quits, especially since, every time Adeline would complete another lap, she would get more and more worked up that by the end she was full of tears and shooting darts out of her eyes at the workers that wouldn’t allow her to progress. At least our attempt to have a super fun day for the kids worked for one….

EUCA Bariloche was located at the top of a ski hill just outside of town. We took a very unwilling taxi up a windy gravel road to get to the aerial course, but there certainly weren’t any taxis to hail on our way down, so we walked. It was great to walk down actually. 

Blowing thistle seeds! 

We explored and played with thistles that were bursting with seeds and Adeline found a climbing rock. 

Adeline’s climbing rock! Success! 

She recognized that it would be a challenge to climb and maybe not the safest choice, but was thrilled when we told her to go for it. So she spent some time finding the best way to go up and pushing herself the best she could, and was satisfied climbing most of the way up, and once she got down she was proud and happy and declared it the best part of her day! Hooray!

The other most exciting thing that we did in Bariloche was our kayaking adventure. We spent a day hanging out at a beach trying to find a way to go kayaking on the beautiful lake, but could only find previously booked tours or rental kayaks that weren’t allowed to leave the small bay to explore the lake. So we booked a tour for the next day. 

We had a beautiful day for kayaking!

Our family were the only ones on the tour, so the owners brought their kids (ages 8 and 10) along. It was a beautiful clear day. No clouds and no waves! The family took us to a secluded sandy beach where we played all afternoon. The water was so clear and it was also very very cold! 

The water was so clear! 

But how could we not swim when we were surrounded by such beautiful water! The water was so clear that Charlie could watch as Amanda lost yet another pair of sunglasses as they slowly sunk lower and lower to the bottom of the lake. Too deep and too cold to save.

We were so lucky to get back to Bariloche! But we were excited to continue our adventures even further south! Back to Patagonia!

Our South American Cruise

Travelling for 8 months is a long time for a family, but that time can be even longer for the grandparents we left at home!

Mid-January, our Oma, Grandma and Grandpa came to visit us in South America and we went on an amazing 2-week cruise from San Antonio, Chile to Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was so great to see our grandparents after missing them for 4 months!

This was our first cruise and so getting onto such a large ship was a little bit surreal. We travelled on the Norwegian Sun and it was pretty spectacular. The facilities were beautiful, the food was fantastic, the programming was fun and the staff made it a very memorable experience!

This is the biggest boat we have ever been on!

There were over 2000 guests on the ship, and it was impressive how the company organized getting all the guests and their luggage onto the ship. After checking in, we went through security and onto the boat! We were amazed at the facilities of the ship from the moment we stepped inside. It was a lot fancier than I expected! The first room we entered was the atrium which had a glass roof and 4 glass elevators. 

Our first impression of the ship was pretty great! 

Riding in the glass elevators!

We immediately headed to the pool deck where we found 2 pools at 4 hot tubs. After a quick bite to eat, we changed into our bathing suits and hopped into the pools!

The best days to lounge on the pool deck were the first and last days. All the others were pretty cold!

After a few hours, we were allowed to go into our staterooms. Our room had a large double bed and a bunk bed. We were impressed with how much room there was for storing our clothes, however, backpacking for 8 months limited the amount of clothes we brought along in the first place!

Everyday there was a pamphlet listing and explaining the daily activities; from trivia to fitness classes to evening entertainment. The kids were intrigued by the children’s club called Splash Academy. Adeline was pretty adamant that she was not going to participate in any of the kids activities, but once she met some of the counsellors and learned about the activities, it was hard to keep her away. In fact, for the first few port days, we left the kids on the ship because they loved Splash Academy so much. The first question they asked when they woke up in the morning was “what time is it?”, and, “how much time until Splash Academy starts?” I’m not sure if they were more excited to be participating in all the fun activities or finally having a break from their parents! Probably a bit of both! But this suited us well. David and I got a chance to have some quality time with our parents and participate in the activities that interested us.

There were lots of really great shows every night!

Joanne wanted to bring the cruise director home with her! 

In fact, this was probably the most active we have been our whole trip. While we counted at least 12 elevators on the ship, we took the stairs almost every time we needed to change floors (which was pretty frequent) and we went to the gym almost everyday and attended the morning stretch and “Fab Abs” session. This proved to be extremely important because, while we were being very active, we were also eating so much!

Food was another thing we didn’t know what to expect! Amanda, (the constant planner) was concerned that we would need to make sure we brought some snacks on board, just in case we got hungry between meals. Looking back now, her concerns were pretty humorous as there was a ridiculous amount of delicious food available 24 hours a day.

One of the best parts of the buffet was big plates full of fruit!!

We usually ate first and second breakfast at the buffet, along with multiple mid morning snacks, lunch and afternoon snacks. Adeline consistently went to the restaurant next to the buffet to get pizza which she claims was the best pizza in South America because the crust was the perfect thickness and it had the perfect amount of cheese! We ate dinner at a sit down restaurant every night. The menu had many choices of appetizers, main dishes and desserts, and they changed every day. Everything was delicious!

The chef even made a special bowl of maple syrup bean just for Adeline! 

There were so many choices to cater to everyone’s wants and needs. There were complimentary restaurants, and then there were French Bistros and Sushi and Sports Bars where you paid off a menu. However, you never had to carry money and pay on the spot. Everyone had a key card for their room that was registered specially to them. Our names and pictures were linked to our cards. If you ever “bought” something, you would scan your card and it would be billed to your room. 

Every time we got off the ship and back on the boat, we had to scan our cards and our picture and name would appear on a screen so someone could verify our identity. A funny part was when we scanned our cards to get back on the ship, it made a cha-ching sound that was like saying “here comes the money!”

The evening entertainment was pretty fantastic. From comedians, magicians, dance and musical performances in the theatre to the fun game shows in a neighbouring lounge. They had games like ‘Sing it to Win it’, ‘The Not-So-Newlywed Game’, ‘What’s My Line’, etc. There was constant fun and entertainment. In fact, if you participated in the activities, you were given an activity card and every time you participated in an activity a box was initialled. If you participated in 20 activities, you got a prize at the end of the cruise. We won a deck of cards! Woo hoo!

While the cruise ship and its programming was fantastic, the scenery we passed and the port stops were absolutely fascinating. We passed through fjords, through the Straits of Magellan, through the Beagle Channel, past Cape Horn, past glaciers and more. 

The glaciers were so beautiful!

Experiencing the power of the Pacific Ocean will be something to remember. One night it was so stormy, the captain had to change our course to protect us and the ship. 

It was pretty stormy for part of our trip

It was incredible watching the 21 foot waves out the window of the restaurant as we ate dinner. Everyone was walking around the ship as though they had too much to drink. The poor standup comedian at night kept losing his water bottle on stage. And that night, Charlie and Adeline decided to forgo their bunk beds and slept with David while Amanda slept on the bottom bunk, just in case. There were a couple of places on the boat that didn’t smell so great the next day. However, they did a great job of placing barfbags in very strategic places all over the boat.

We made several stops along the southern parts of South America including; Puerto Montt, Punta Arenas, Ushuaia, Falkland Islands, Puerto Madryn and Punta del Este. 

Out and about in Puerto Montt.

One of the most memorable stops was Ushuaia (known as the “end of the world” since it is the most southern city in South America). David did a little bit of research and found a beautiful hike that took us to the gorgeous Lago Esmeralda. 

The beauty of Tierra del Fuego! 

It was a spectacular hike that took us through tall trees, over crystal clear streams, balancing on logs over swampy bits and David’s mom was a trooper the whole way through. We have seen many natural beauties in the wilderness in South America, but Lago Esmeralda was one of our favourites. The bright blue waters sitting amongst the tall mountains was spectacular. 

Lago Esmeralda 

In fact it was so amazing, Amanda just had to take her shoes off and go wading, which drew a few claps from some onlookers because it was very cold. Sometimes it just isn’t enough to look at a beautiful lake, sometimes you just have to get in!

Another memorable stop was at the Falkland Islands, a British Colony whose sovereignty is not something everyone agrees upon. 

Argentina refers to the same islands as the Malvinas. Britain has occupied the islands for a very long time, but Argentina believes that the land really belongs to them. Most recently, Argentina tried to reclaim the land but they were unsuccessful, so now when you visit the islands, people drive on the left side of the road, you can find red telephone booths and everybody speaks English. However in Argentina, you will find signs and maps and even hotels and schools using the name Malvinas to remind the Argentinian’s of what they believe to be there’s.

Our main interest on the Falkland Islands was to see penguins! We took a tour in a 4x4 Landrover to Volunteer Point where 3 species of penguins live. The King Penguin, the Magellanic Penguin and the Gentoo Penguin. The ride to the colonies was an experience in itself. It felt like being on a slow roller coaster! Lots of bumps and hills. It was a lot of fun! As we approached the coast, some penguins were finally in site. First we saw the Magellanic Penguins. 

Magallanic Penguins!

We learned that Magellanic Penguins are burrowing animals, so they had their small homes dug out all over the place. We also learned to stay away from those burrows because they were also host to fleas!

We were given a couple of hours to walk amongst the penguin colonies. There were some strict guidelines for the visitors to help respect the penguins. Since the Gentoo and King Penguins stand in groups, there were large circles marked by white rocks for penguins only! Many of the penguins ventured outside of the rocks, but people were not to approach closer than 6 metres to the penguins. If they came your way, that was fine, as long as you didn’t bother the birds.

Many penguins ventured out away from their colonies.

The King Penguins were pretty fun to watch. They have musical voices and they were singing to one another. Some were holding eggs on their feet and keeping them hidden under their bellies to keep them warm. Others had babies under their bellies keeping them warm. We saw the younger penguins with fluffy brown feathers but about the same size as the grown up penguins. 

A young King Penguin

We saw penguins having a fight which looked kind of like a slap dance. One of the most exciting parts was watching the penguins waddle down to the shore to go swimming (maybe fishing), sometimes by themselves, but usually in groups of two or three, marching one after the other.

Some King Penguins marching to the ocean. 

We had a couple more stops on our way to Buenos Aires (Puerto Madryn, Argentina and Punta del Este, Uruguay), but we spent the rest of the time enjoying the ship and its many amenities. Before we knew it, our two weeks on board the Norwegian Sun were over. It was a lot of fun, and it was a great way to spend time with our parents! Thanks Grandma!