Day 165 - Friday 3rd March 2006

No rest for the wicked. It was up early to catch a bus to Bariloche, supposedly the tourism capital of Patagonia and one of the most visited towns in Argentina. As both a summer and a winter resort Bariloche lies between lake Nahuel Huapi to the north and mountains to the south. The mountains double as a ski resort and a hiking area.

I was in the market for some strenuous activity and as soon as I arrived in town I looked into what kind of stuff was available to do in the area. That was - of course - after steak, chips and a litre of the local brew for A$14 (A5=£1).

First impressions of the town were good, it seemed a nice little place in a pretty setting on the lake. It was obviously high season as there were about as many tourists and locals, but the town still retained some of the Patagonian touch. Or was that Swiss. Every building was made of wood and the majority resembled a European ski lodge. It is a ski town so I think that can be forgiven.

With a week to go before I had to be in Santiago for Oasis, I decided to spend the majority of that time in Bariloche, before making my way up north the following weekend. The afternoon went by pretty quickly, I needed to buy some things and wandered around the shops before making my final purchase of the afternoon, a bottle of wine for the evenings festivities.

I spent the evening sipping my wine and chatting before heading out into town at 1am to the Irish bar Wilkeeny which was supposed to be the place to go. It was pretty decent and we stayed there until 4am when everyone made their way to clubs. We ended up in a club called the Roxy which was poor but served booze so I ended up staying until closing at 6am.