January 11 - San Carlos De Bariloche

We woke up to a bright, sunny and windless day.  A nice change.  We headed north to Esquel, Argentina (a gateway city to Southern chile) and had lunch. The lady in the restaurant spoke no English (what do we expect) but seems thrilled to have who she must have thought was 3 idiots in her establishment. All 3 of us had giant hamburgers, and the coffee came in a bag like tea does.  I though about trying to buy some coffee like this for home, but it was absolutely terrible coffee.  

The burgers took about an hour, as i guess perhaps they had to catch the cow first.  

   After lunch we continued north, leaving the high desert looking plains and heading back up the eastern slopes of the Andes.  More beatiful scenery and a great paved road with lots of twisties.  After about 400 kms, we arrived in Bariloche.  Found a fantastic hotel, with a checkin guy who is quite the comedian.  I asked for a room in spanish, asked how much etc etc.  then, just to cover my ass i said habla espanol un poko (I speak little spanish).  He tells me in spanish that i speak it well.  After another couple of minutes we end up running in to a brick wall and I dont understand him.  He then breaks in to perfect English.  when I say to him "why didnt you let me know you speak english", he replies " I thought you needed the practice".  The guy has been very helpful, maybe he pities us from seeing our tiny bikes.

  Bariloche is one of the top destinations in South america.   A ski resort town in winter, and a lake side beach resort in summer.  they are also famous for their chocolate, with chocolaterias cramming the down town area.

Our hotel is nice but when I went to look out the window someone built this stupid building in the way

  Will update more later, but now.... Need food!