Last week, I enjoyed a nice break from traveling alone in Bariloche with a group of old and new friends.

My friend Lisa, a sorority sister from college, “accidentally” won a silent auction for a week at a vacation home in Bariloche. She placed the opening bid never expecting to win, but there were no higher offers! Since I was on the same continent, I decided to join Lisa and five of her friends in the mountains of Argentina. Even though Colombia and Argentina are both in South America, it was quite a journey to get to Bariloche, three flights over two days, but well worth the effort.

Bariloche is a huge spot for all kinds of outdoor activities- in the winter it’s all about skiing, but we were there at the end of summer, where people enjoy the beautiful lakes and mountains. There are picture-perfect views in every direction, and we never tired of the amazing scenery!

We managed to pack a ton into our week there, and what I loved about it is that we did some great outdoorsy stuff followed by luxurious activities (often both in the same day!) I was a terrible part of the group because the other girls literally planned everything, and I just showed up and enjoyed it all (and also they took most of these photos). Thanks guys!

First, let’s talk about the house. It was AMAZING- I will probably never stay somewhere that nice again. Definitely a change of pace from hostel life :) It’s in a private resort area called Arelaquen, and had a huge, beautiful living area with stunning mountain views. I think there were six bedrooms in total- I ended up in what I dubbed the “kids club” - a room with six twin beds, all for me!

Day 1

Most of the girls arrived a few hours before me; they’d reserved a rental car only to discover that none of them could drive it because it was a stick shift! I know how to drive stick, but by the time I got there, they’d already arranged some taxis. After setting in, we headed into the downtown (about 20 minutes from our place) to visit some of the famous chocolate shops of Bariloche. I’m not sure exactly why there are so many, but I wasn’t complaining! We sampled some cakes at Mamushka and popped in to a few others.

We walked down to the lake but it was super cold and windy, so headed indoors to a bar call Manush, for some drinks and fries. Afterwards we hit up a traditional Parilla, El Boliche de Alberto where we ate TONS OF MEAT. Except for the vegetarian in the group who ate grilled cheese. Not a sandwich just literally cheese, cooked on a grill.

Day 2

Our second day there, the weather was not cooperating for enjoying the outdoors. It rained pretty much the entire day. Even though it wasn’t how you picture ideal vacation weather, it gave us a chance to relax and enjoy our palatial home. We cooked a big brunch, and then just hung around reading and chatting (and I managed to get in an indoor workout for the first time in a while!) When it finally stopped raining, there was an amaaaaazing rainbow! We headed back into town to have a casual dinner back at Manush (great burgers!)

Managed to shower and get out of the house to eat burgers

Day 3

On our third day, we headed out for some adventures on the lake. We booked an all day boat excursion through Turisur. Unfortunately, the weather was still not great in the early part of the day. We went to Puerto Blest, which is supposed to be beautiful, but was pretty clouded over. We still managed a fun rainy day photo shoot!

After lunch though, things started clearing up, and we were able to do a ~45 minute hike to a stunning waterfall and lake before heading back home on the boat.

Very happy that it stopped raining for a bit and we could climb to a cool lake

That evening, we got dressed up to visit Butterfly, the nicest restaurants in town. We had a seven course tasting menu, everything delicious, with the steak and dessert being my favorites.

At this point, I should give a major shout out to one of our trip highlights, our driver JULIO, who helped us get to and from all of these activities. Since we abandoned the idea of the rental car, we got connected to Julio, a driver with a van large enough for seven ladies. He was always on time, and had a great sense of humor and knows everything there is to know about Bariloche. He helped us find places to rent camping gear, made some reservations for us, and even found a masseuse to come to our house (after I left, sadly).

Days 4 & 5

On Tuesday, it was time to abandon the luxury lifestyle for a big hike and overnight stay in a cabin a called Refugio Frey. For the trip, we rented some sleeping bags and one more big pack (in addition to mine) at Del Cruce Outdoor Shop.

Since I had been so out of it with the planning, I had no preconceived notions of what the hike or accommodations would be. The hike was described by multiple sources as “easy” which we all disagreed with. I’m not a major mountaineer, but I’ve been doing 3-4 hour hikes about every week, and this one was HARD. It took us about 5 hours to get up, and the last hour was especially taxing as it was mostly uphill on rocky terrain. It was beautiful though, and I thought well worth the effort (even if, as Lisa says, the light was draining from my eyes for the last stretch).

Enjoying the views despite being SO TIRED.

Refugio Frey is a small accommodation at the end of the hike- set next to a beautiful mountain lake, with bunks and a “restaurant” (not really a proper restaurant, they had pretty good pizza as the dinner option when we were there) and sleeping arrangements that surprised us all. We had booked a reservation for the seven of us (DEFINITELY needed) and walked upstairs to a room with basically one huge bunk bed against the wall. It looked big enough to accommodate about 20-25 people, everyone sleeping next to everyone else. We were able to grab the last spots on the top bunk, but they don’t turn away people without a reservation, so by the end of the night there were probably 40 people there, including covering the entire floor. I wasn’t as horrified as I think some of the girls were- having slept in hostels for the last few weeks has toughened me up a bit, but it was definitely not comfortable, and I probably ended up sleeping only about 4 or 5 hours.

We got up early as we were eager to get back to our comfortable accommodations and hiked back down, which took a good 4 hours, during which I was super tired and not having a great time. Once we got to the base (which is a little ski village), we were disheartened to find that taxis were not readily available, but Lisa was able to manage to get a van to come pick us up. So note to anyone doing this hike- try to have transportation back arranged ahead of time.

Despite the uncomfortable night’s sleep, I had a great time at the Refugio and was really glad that my friend Lisa planned that activity for us.

That night, we definitely rewarded our hard work on the trail. The girls had arranged for a private chef, Lucas Mallmann (nephew of the famous chef Francis Mallmann) come to the house and cook for us. The weather was so perfect that we were able to eat out on the deck, and all of the food was delicious. After a long hike it was so amazing to just sit back and relax at home with someone else doing all the work of cooking and clean up. I could definitely get used to that lifestyle!

Day 6

On Thursday, we went on a horseback riding adventure organized by Briel, one of the gals who grew up riding horses. She found a great trip with Ariane, who lives in a magical cabin with horses and five super sweet and friendly dogs. We spent about an hour and a half basically riding through a postcard- the scenery was (as usual) breathtaking, before enjoying delicious homemade picnic lunch beside a river. We loved seeing the different personalities of the horses, the one female horse was a bit of a rebel who wanted to take her own way; mine was named Wayne, and we kept making fun of him because he refused to walk at the same pace as the others, and Briel was on Simon who, we learned, LOVES to eat bread!

After showering off the trail dirt, it was time to get dressed up again for high tea at Llao Llao, the fanciest resort in Bariloche. It’s a beautiful place that reminded me of the resort at Squaw Creek in Tahoe, but with better views. They had a buffet of cakes, and obviously we tried every single one of them. A healthy choice for dinner, to be sure.

YUM (this is like 1/3 of the total desserts we ate)

We explored the grounds a bit after dinner and took some photos. I also bought a hat that I am SUPER excited about, because I hate the white hat that I brought on this trip. It was time for an upgrade!

We thought we’d hit up a bar after Llao Llao, but we unanimously decided we’d rather just chill at home and a few of us were excited to watch The Bachelor, which I’d downloaded on my computer :)

Sadly on Day 7, it was time to pack up and head out for the next leg of my adventure! One of my best friends in the whole world is meeting me in Buenos Aires, where we’ll spend the weekend, and then head to the north of Argentina to explore Salta!

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