Way behind on the blogging here (both beer blog and travel blog). Here's the start of the catching up:
New Hoplog blog post: Better Bariloche Brewpubs http://hoplogblog.blogspot.ca/2012/11/better-bariloche-brewpubs.html
Enjoy!
Showing posts with label Bariloche. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bariloche. Show all posts
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Friday, November 2, 2012
A Taste of Switzerland... in Argentina
Argentina has a very multicultural population, including boatloads of European descendants. There are Germans, Italians, Portuguese, Welsh, and even Swiss. Near Bariloche is a little Swiss style village called Colonia Suissa. Not only is it reputed to be a nice little day trip, it has a brewery! With me on the mend from my food poisoning, we decided I was up for joining Chad for a bus ride to check this place out.
The beach at the lake nearby is virtually deserted at this time of year.
But first, our morning wake up view:
Followed by another visit to the bus stop:
On this trip, it was abundantly clear that spring has sprung in Patagonia. It is a bit of a weird (yet awesome) feeling to go from a pleasant Vancouver fall (it started raining the day we left - lucky us!) to a pleasant South American spring. We are particularly digging that the days are getting longer here all the time.
Followed by another visit to the bus stop:
On this trip, it was abundantly clear that spring has sprung in Patagonia. It is a bit of a weird (yet awesome) feeling to go from a pleasant Vancouver fall (it started raining the day we left - lucky us!) to a pleasant South American spring. We are particularly digging that the days are getting longer here all the time.
Our first stop, Berlina brewery, is a bit reminiscent of Crannog Brewing in Sorrento, BC. A nice little house tucked away in the woods with farm animals in the yard, asado on the grill, and a friendly brewmaster eager to show us around. We were actually lucky because the night before Chad had met someone at another brewery who called ahead and told them we would be coming; without this phone call we would have been shut out with the rest of the general public, since they are closed Saturdays.
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| Bruno the brewmaster who trained in Berlin. |
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| A? Or B? |
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| I am holding this beer like I am going to drink it. The reality is that I took one sip and my body immediately rebelled. Not quite over the food poisoning yet... |
Berlina visit complete, we headed into Colonia Suissa. It is a loose collection of buildings along a dirt road that probably sees a lot of tourists in the summer based on the size of its mostly empty artisan market. Our walk into town was a feast of springtime views.
The beach at the lake nearby is virtually deserted at this time of year.
In the village itself...
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| Hobbit house? Nope, just another artisan market. |
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| A Swiss-style Salon de Te where we stopped for Chad to have lunch and for me to have herbal tea and a cracker. |
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| Trucha, the local specialty. The verdict? Delicious! |
Colonia Suissa is not particularly exciting, but the brewery and the scenery make it worth the hour long bus ride there and back. We returned to Bariloche for the afternoon, where I captured an obligatory Saint-Bernard-outside-civic-centre shot.
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| If you want to get any closer to the dog - or have your picture taken with it - you're obliged to pay for it. So this is as close as we get! |
That evening we hopped on the bus again to visit two more brewpubs - the first called Blest, and the second Berlina's pub. This was a touch torturous for me as I drank Sprite and water while Chad tried out the beer (the peanuts on the table didn't help, either). That said, it's always fun to check out new places and see what the locals get up to on a Saturday night, and both pubs were cool places to spend an evening.
First up, Blest:
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| Just another brew pub in the Andes. |
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| We should have brought some BC beer paraphernalia for them to hang on the wall! |
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| No, I'd really rather be drinking this Sprite. Really. |
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| Beer samples plus a cider. |
Next up, and even better, Berlina:
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| Salud! |
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| It is fair to say that their portions are generous. |
That concludes our week in Bariloche. Craft beer, mountains, friendly people, and a super comfortable town make for a winning combination. Despite me getting sick, we had a fantastic time and highly recommend a visit to anyone heading for this part of the world!
Refugio Frey
I'd been lazing about Bariloche for several days and not taking advantage of the great outdoorsy stuff in the area. Once it was clear Sarah's health was on the upswing, I decided to do a hike to Refugio Frey - an alpine hut not that far from the local ski hill (Catedral). The guide books all describe it as an overnight hike, so I was looking to rent a sleeping bag and buy food - until someone at our hostel said it actually wasn't that long and they handily did it as a day hike. (And apparently the hut was jam packed with rowdy teens, with only floor space to sleep on...) So I set out on a day hike, though snow was predicted for above 1600m (the top/hut is at about 1750m).
All the signs say that the hike is 4 hours long, as do our travel guide books. But the start of the trail was flat, wide and nicely maintained. I expected I'd get up slightly faster.
After a lot of mostly-level hiking, you turn a corner and start heading up a gentle ravine into the mountains. The clouds parted and I zoomed in with the camera for a brief glimpse of the spikey peaks to come. Sweet.
After lunch, I took a little walk around the refugio area. It would have been nice to head up and over the next hill for another view, but it was snowy, the lake was half frozen and there was no way to tell where one should go. So I took a brief walk above the hut instead. It started snowing harder, and the wind picked up - regular gusts of 70-80 km/h, and one that I'm pretty sure hit 100 km/h as it almost made me stumble. At this point I was LOVING my newly warranty-replaced Arc'Teryx gore-tex jacket - despite the icy wind, all I had on underneath was a T-shirt and a light sweater, and I was totally comfy. Unlike the late-teens Israeli group in the hut, who were full of bravado until they stepped outside and started screeching like toddlers in the cold wind. OK, I admit it, sometimes I'm a snob about my Canadian cold tolerance. :-)
I set off down the trail, and the winds died down to reasonable speeds within several hundred metres of the pass. I rode the leading edge of a weather front all the way down - a bit of rain and such, enough to cool things off nicely.
At the bottom, I marched across the ski hill parking lot in a cold rain, wearing only a T-shirt while the bus tourists dashed between kiosks wearing 17 layers of insulation. Yes, my cold weather snobbery was still in effect, though I felt it was at least a little deserved. A nice hike, and not counting lunch at the top it only took around 4:15. I'd call it a must-do when in Bariloche - very accessible, not too challenging, and nice views.
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| Waiting for the bus up the hill |
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| Ski hill and its parking lot. Lots of tourists come up in buses to... well I'm not sure. If you aren't hiking, then there's nothing to do but buy a snack at a kiosk and then head back down the hill now that ski season is over |
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| Trailhead is on the right. Trail winds gently around the base of the mountain to the left |
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| Apparently this is a popular trail - well signed. Even a cool sunglasses-wearing wooden hiker to see you off |
All the signs say that the hike is 4 hours long, as do our travel guide books. But the start of the trail was flat, wide and nicely maintained. I expected I'd get up slightly faster.
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| Nice and easy at the start |
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| Bluffs and burned trees |
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| Apparently there was a fire on the mountain about 18 years ago, yet these tree skeletons are still standing |
After a lot of mostly-level hiking, you turn a corner and start heading up a gentle ravine into the mountains. The clouds parted and I zoomed in with the camera for a brief glimpse of the spikey peaks to come. Sweet.
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| Far-off needle-like peaks |
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| After hiking for 1:05 with sore-ish knees, I hit the 2:00 hour point of the hike. Apparently "4 hours" is quite conservative. |
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| A rough little hut built into the side of a massive boulder - but pretty spartan inside |
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| Refugio Frey sits just out of sight on the other side of this pass. It started getting quite breezy and a lot cooler at this point from the wind whistling over the pass |
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| View across the valley, to the right of the pass |
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| And further down the valley I hiked up |
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| Here we are! A quick dash across some snow to the refugio |
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| They perched this place right on the lip of the pass, in the path of the strongest winds. Nice view, but terrible weather exposure |
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| That's some strong wind - sustained speeds of 50+ km/h I'd say |
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| The kitchen of the refugio. It was nice to get out of the wind and have my lunch |
After lunch, I took a little walk around the refugio area. It would have been nice to head up and over the next hill for another view, but it was snowy, the lake was half frozen and there was no way to tell where one should go. So I took a brief walk above the hut instead. It started snowing harder, and the wind picked up - regular gusts of 70-80 km/h, and one that I'm pretty sure hit 100 km/h as it almost made me stumble. At this point I was LOVING my newly warranty-replaced Arc'Teryx gore-tex jacket - despite the icy wind, all I had on underneath was a T-shirt and a light sweater, and I was totally comfy. Unlike the late-teens Israeli group in the hut, who were full of bravado until they stepped outside and started screeching like toddlers in the cold wind. OK, I admit it, sometimes I'm a snob about my Canadian cold tolerance. :-)
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| The payoff view. It was still quite wintry, and the weather was closing in, so I decided against finding a path over the next pass |
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| The Great White South! |
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| A wind break for tents, but you'd be crazy to camp outside in this kind of wind regardless. The sound of the tent flapping would be deafening |
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| Looking back down at the refugio. Wind was blasting fine snow towards the left |
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| Whew, that was a strong gust! |
I set off down the trail, and the winds died down to reasonable speeds within several hundred metres of the pass. I rode the leading edge of a weather front all the way down - a bit of rain and such, enough to cool things off nicely.
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| Looking towards Bariloche |
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| Catedral ski area village |
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| Another quick hello with my wooden hiker friend |
At the bottom, I marched across the ski hill parking lot in a cold rain, wearing only a T-shirt while the bus tourists dashed between kiosks wearing 17 layers of insulation. Yes, my cold weather snobbery was still in effect, though I felt it was at least a little deserved. A nice hike, and not counting lunch at the top it only took around 4:15. I'd call it a must-do when in Bariloche - very accessible, not too challenging, and nice views.
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