After a rough go in El Chalten and Puerto Madryn, we weren’t in a mood to be overly aggressive with our plans. So the fact that Bariloche was scenic and easy to navigate, and that Altuen was a beautiful, comfortable hotel with friendly hosts was a welcome change from the beautiful—but unpredictable, desolate and remote—stops in Patagonia.
Once we finished La Ruta del Sieto Lagos, there weren’t a ton of “must-see” tourist destinations in Bariloche--other than hanging out and checking the views. But Dan and I tend to be fairly aggressive travelers, so we turned our attention to the remaining spots we'd heard about outside of town--Cerro Tronador, and the Circuit Chico.
Cerro Tronador vs the Circuit Chico
Cerro Tronador is an extinct "stratovolcano" (thanks Wikipedia) that takes a full day to visit. There are over 8 black glaciers on this stratovolcano, and apparently you can hear them crack as they shift and melt. In addition to the coolness of a black glacier, there are waterfalls, mountains and rivers. Not surprisingly, this drive and visit was listed as the #1 activity for Bariloche on Trip Advisor, although, at the time of posting, it was listed as #2.
Circuit Chico is much less "wow," and much more "ahhhh." It's essentially a 70km loop that takes you past Llao Llao, the beautiful, famous hotel in Bariloche, and by some mellow rivers and lakes, a small town, and a petrified forest.
Overall, Circuit Chico seemed a little more predictable, and "on-the-beaten-path," so it was not initially my first choice, I worried as well, that since we had just driven Sieta Lagos--the end all, be all drive of Bariloche--Circuit Chico would seem like the poor man's alternative.
Why I'm glad we decided to drive Circuit Chico
I think, if we had been in Bariloche for a different portion of the trip, I would have been committed to Cerro Tronador. However, the third week in, we had learned that when something sounds easy/amazing in Argentina, there's always a catch. And it's usually not anything you learn from reading a guidebook.
It pays to have up-to-the-minute information about things happening in Argentina, because, at any moment, the weather, availability, topographical conditions, can all change. Case in point, the latest Foder's Guide had mentioned an archeological dig you could join, but when I looked into it, the project had been defunded and the archeologists were gone.
In this case, I dug into the recent social posts about Cerro Tronador, and learned that in the last few days, it hadn't been such a great place to be. For one thing, the horseflies were a big problem. (Someone posted 2 days earlier, “If it’s a cold day, you’re in luck, because the bugs are almost unbearable in the heat.”)
Secondly, I discovered that while the location is billed as black glaciers in a volcano--which sounds REALLY cool--it's literally just that, glaciers INSIDE the volcano. From the viewpoint across the lake, it's an icy black mountain next to a river. It's beautiful, but not sure if it would be worth the expense of an all day drive. Especially when you combine horseflies, the fact that the road in is 100% gravel, and that you can only get access certain times of the day.
Pretty, but not sure I want to drive all day for this.
So, after a really close, skeptical evaluation, it seemed pretty clear that Argentina was trying to trick us again. I am sure it is an absolutely amazing place to visit, but probably not in the dead of summer, and not for our trip.
It's not so bad "missing out" in Bariloche
I think, my take-away here, is that Bariloche is different than visiting Buenos Aires, or even some of the other Patagonia towns we passed through. It's made for relaxing.
Which is good, because when you come to Argentina you'll spend a lot of time en-route, trying to see things, waiting for busses, etc. etc. In Bariloche, if you spend too much time driving to get somewhere, you'll miss the point. So, although we felt like we were taking the lame tourist route, and reducing our adventure creds by a factor of 10, I'm not sorry we missed out on Cerro Tronador. It's always a reason to go back.
Highlights from lazing our way around Circuit Chico
