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A 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 history nerd travelling The New World. ¿What could possibly go wrong? Join me on my way to The fabled lands of Ar Wladfa 🇦🇷

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A 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 history nerd travelling The New World. ¿What could possibly go wrong? Join me on my way to The fabled lands of Ar Wladfa 🇦🇷 in 🇨🇴

  • The German History of Bariloche

    Hola todos! The last blog for Bariloche is a bit of a history lesson. You see while in between doing those trips I had a day where I needed to do laundry and move accommodation and on this day I managed to get myself booked last minute onto a history tour, specifically a walking tour looking at the German migration history of Bariloche and the German buildings here. It was quite pricey for a 1.5 hour walking tour but it was good and you wouldn’t have found this without knowing where to look. Because of this I do recommend you do this tour if you ever visit Bariloche. I Will go over what it was and the overall history but won’t spoil the whole thing here. So without further ado read on.

    The German migration came mainly in 3 waves to Bariloche between 1895 and the early 1950s. Bariloche first started before the city was founded by a Chilean-German entrepreneur called Carlos Wiederhold – this guy got given a charter by the Chilean government to start an import/export company in the mountains past the lakes which now define Chile’s modern day border – at the time Patagonia was largely unclaimed land and they hadn’t defined the border at the andes yet. Wiederhold sets up a little trading post in what would develop into Bariloche city.

    From there the first migration comes as the trading company needs workers for exporting wood, wool and leather. They had a route which took the export back to Chile via different lakes in the mountains by taking it all on horseback then putting it on a boat then horseback to the next lake until they took it back to Puerto Montt where it would get shipped off to Europe and the US. In fact there is an organised tour that you can go on to travel from Puerto Varas to Bariloche or the other way hopping between those lakes but it was a bit spenny (around £300 pp online didn’t check if it was any cheaper at an agent) so didn’t do it but you can travel that same route if you got some money to burn on your visit here! 

    From this came the first wave of Migration mainly from Germany/Austria and some Swiss as well. It was easy for them as they already had an established community in and around Puerto Montt/Varas. This migration went on until 1914 when Germany found itself cut off from the outside world by blockade when WW1 started.

    The second wave of Migration came from 1919 to about 1933/4 after the Nazis take power back in Germany. The second wave was the biggest one and probably the most beneficial to Bariloche since unlike the labourers which most of the first lot were this were educated and fairly well off middle class people fleeing the aftermath of the war which helped develop Bariloche from a trading post township into a proper city and the land around it being worked by new arrivals.

    While the second wave stops sometime in the early 30’s after the Nazis take over Germany Bariloche was able to benefit from early tourism as in the mid 30’s national parks began being founded with Nahuel Huapi being the 3rd in the world to be given that designation. 

    As WW2 Starts initially things aren’t bad for those in Bariloche as while tourism stops they have plenty of work as Argentina was low key aligned with the axis continuing to trade with Germany all the way through the war until they are eventually strong armed by the US into declaring war on Nazi Germany 3 months before they surrendered. This created an economic boom in Argentina but only a small elite benefitted from this and it’s part of why it became a mess later into the 50’s – 80’s.

    The final wave of immigration came in the later 1940s and ending by 1953, where for a brief time you had Germans who still had the means to get out left Germany when it was a smouldering ruin after the war some of which but not all of them were Nazi fugitives on the run though some high profile Nazi criminals passed through or even lived here at some point in time after the war. The third Migration stopped in the 50’s as in Germany or at least West Germany after the Marshall plan reconstruction life was becoming a lot better there as the economy recovered while Argentina on the other hand became unstable which put many off who would have otherwise made the journey had life in Germany not improved as quickly as it had.

    When it comes to the Nazis who fled here the historic goodwill Argentina had to Germany before the regime and it’s low key alignment to the axis those in charge still saw the Germans as bringers of money and expertise the nation needed and so offered a so called ‘agreement of silence’ – in exchange for paying a large sum of money you can be given a new identity and protection if you were a known fleeing Nazi but you absolutely could not have any role in any government institution and definitely not the military and get in any trouble with the law you can will be outed in an instance. In short anyone who took this deal had to keep their head down and be on their best behaviour at all times. Not a bad deal when your alternative is the death penalty or worse a slow death somewhere east of the Iron Curtain.

    One thing to note on this Argentina was not the only country who took in Nazi fugitives like this, pretty much every country they went to in South America such as Bolivia, Peru, Chile, Brazil etc had some variation of this and how strict the no politics part was varied as well as in some cases like in Bolivia the dictatorships hired them as military or government advisors.

    This is the summary. I will leave it here to not completely spoil the whole story but you can look this up yourself if you want to dive deeper into this topic.

  • The 7 Lakes Trip and San Martín de Los Andes

    Hola todos! For my last trip in Bariloche I did a tour called Los Siete Lagos or the Seven lakes and San Martín de los Andes. This was a similar trip to the first one up the glaciers being a relaxed minibus tour with various stops dotted about.

    Once again it was a cold one this morning being out for an 0800 pickup. I’m soon picked up and we are off out. We take a brief drive through the steppes outside of Bariloche before starting on the lake tour properly.

    First it’s a brief stop in Villa la Angostura for a brew and it’s freezing again. In fact most of the stops it’s frosty where there is no direct sunlight and a clear nip in the air.

    Now I can’t remember the names of all these different lakes but as you will see from the pictures it once again highlights how unspoiled this part of the world is.

    To skip to the end of the lake tour we stopped in a little lakeside town called San Martín de los Andes and had some nice lunch by the fireplace in this cute little restaurant. It killed most of the 3 hour stop here, apart from the waterfront there wasn’t that much else to see in town and it was a bit cold and spaced out to go walking for miles so just mostly chilled in that restaurant.

    There were 2 more stops at different lakes on the way back to town and another coffee stop in Villa la Angostura también. We get back at about 16:00. Now at this point I decided to book one more night here in Bariloche as wanted to have a rest day and do some souvenir shopping at a slow pace before hitting the road for Trevelin and Yr Wladfa.

  • Blaza Tristeza and Cascada Frey

    Hola todos! The 2nd trip I went on in Bariloche took me to a place called Blaza Tristeza and a great waterfall called Cascada Frey, named after the guy who mapped the region and made the line separating Argentina from Chile.

    This time it was an early start being out the door for around 0730 to get onto a collectivo to Puerto Pañuelo. It was about a 40 minute ride over there and it was a cold one this morning with lots of frost about. Apparently it went down to -4 Celsius the last night.

    I soon arrive at port and head into the terminal where you have to pay the Park entrance fee again but did get £5 off as I visited the other day. I soon meet the guide and the others who are getting on this boat. As it would happen no other gringos on this trip so it’s all done in Spanish but that’s fine by me.

    Soon were boarded and off and in spite of the cold we get above deck to have a look at the brilliant views of this place. The lake water is so clear and in the mountains can be seen snow and the glacier I visited the other day. It is epic and shows how Patagonia is one of the few unspoiled places left on Earth.

    After about 1.5 hours on the water the sun fully comes out and things warm up right as we now dock up to go for a hike in the forest. This place has its own ecosystem here and the guide explained the trees here are the same ones that grow in southern Africa and Australia and that also Bamboo grows here and hardens as the cold weather comes in. Pretty interesting stuff.

    After a while we reach the waterfall and this is a great place to rest up and take in the views below. The water is once again clear and unspoiled here.

    After a while we hike back then its the boat ride back to Puerto Pañuelo though in the sun now there’s still a nip in the air but my god what a lovely scene all of this was!

    Soon enough were back to port and I’m then back on the colectivo to Bariloche. I end up getting back to town about 16:30 and just chill the rest of the day.

    There is one more trip to cover and another deep dive on the history of Bariloche before we move to Welsh Patagonia.

  • Cerro Tronador – A volcanic glacier in the Patagonian mountains

    Hola todos! As I mentioned on my first blog of Bariloche I had booked a few trips with @grupovision after exploring round town. This is the first of 3 trips, the excursion to Cerro Tronador!

    Cerro Tronador is a unique natural wonder being a black ice glacier that sits at the end of a valley deep within Parque Nacional Huapi. 

    This trip was a pretty relaxed minibus tour with a 9am pickup from my gaff, after it goes around a few other hotels we start on our way proper, driving out of town we stop at several of the smaller lakes to take pictures etc. There are loads of smaller lakes in and around Nahuel Huapi. 

    After this we arrive at the entrance to the National Park itself where everyone has to pay a 20000 peso entrance fee (£10). Driving up to this valley we stop at different places including more lakes, river bridges and viewpoints etc. It is very picturesque and unspoiled and the air here is so fresh. 

    After a brief stop for lunch we reach the glacier itself. This is quite an impressive site being near a volcano the ice is covered in ash giving it it’s black hue, as it melts and breaks off it goes into the water and begins to look more like a proper iceberg. This entire valley was formed from melting ice caps and back in the ice age days this whole place would have just been a giant block of ice. All in all it was a very interesting trip out and for about £35 you couldn’t go wrong. 

    Note if you come to Argentina pay in cash as many places will give you a discount if se pagas con efectivo. In this case it was a near 40% discount.

    After getting back nothing noteworthy happened in the evening. Not much else to say about this one. Next blog will cover the boat trip I did to Blaza Tristeza.

  • A Proper Introduction to Patagonia (ft the Patagonia museum of Bariloche)

    Hola todos! This is a short blog post to give the Patagonia Museum of Bariloche a bit of a spotlight as it’s a good place to give a good all round intro/overview of Patagonia.

    Firstly as you can probably understand from the sheer distances between towns and cities here Patagonia is a vast region which pretty much makes up the entire southern halves of Argentina and Chile, while it is a beautiful landscape near the Andes much of it is a harsh steppe land which does not get much annual rainfall on the Argentine side where much of the Chilean side is green and fertile getting water from clouds coming off the Pacific Ocean. These clouds then pass eastwards towards the Andes turning into snow then they speed up as they drop over to the Argentinian side and dissipate over the vast plains meaning further east of the Andes the more dry it gets until you reach the Atlantic coast.

    Patagonia has a lot of unique species of wildlife that I was not aware of, among some notables is pumas, different species of birds, armadillos and of course Penguins the further south you get among many other things, all adapting to harsh conditions of the Patagonian Steppe region.

    Inside the museum there is also a section on the history of Patagonia, to sum it up briefly while a lot of the history is from the mid 19th century where most modern large scale human settlement took place there have been native tribes living here long before the arrival of the Spanish collectively known as the Mapuche that had been eking out an existence here for thousands of years. In the museum there are lots of collections of primitive tools.

    In modern times it focuses on the different waves of European settlers that came here and to Argentina as a whole. There is too much here to cover in this short post but it gives an idea of what to expect to see out here and is pretty interesting. A must do of Bariloche.

  • Exploring Bariloche

    Hola todos! First day in Bariloche so you know what that means time to get the proper lay of the land of the place so obviously I went and found a walking tour starting 10 am. This walking tour started from the office of a company called Grupo Visión which are a travel agent and they said they offer discounts on booking trips for doing their walking tour which is good to know as I later went back there and booked some excursions with them.

    Now into Bariloche itself, it was a crisp autumn morning starting this tour properly down by the waterfront and Malvinas Museum I visited the other day where the guide who’s name I forgot explained the history of this place. Bariloche is a very new city having only been properly founded in 1902 though there were people living there before it’s expansion. Turns out that similarly to Puerto Montt and Puerto Varas the early settlers of Bariloche were also primarily Germans though the history of the Germans in Bariloche is its own story and will get its own post to cover.

    After heading along the waterfront we are brought to the Cathedral, this epic building is fairly new only being built in 1946 but it has a very unique European neo gothic style which was decided by its architect Alejandro Bustillo.

    After the cathedral we are shown around the city centre passing various artisan shops and eventually arriving back at the Civic center and by the Patagonia museum. I decided to go and visit the Patagonia Museum and this was an interesting lesson on the geography and entomology of the region and a must visit. I will do a separate post on this one too.

    After that tour wrapped up I found and got on another bus tour that drove round the City for an hour and took us up to a mirador which gave a good view of the city, the lake and some other interesting landmarks. All in all was a good first day.

    I go back to that agent and get myself booked on a few trips for the next day before going back to the gaff, chilling for a bit and checking out the bars in the evening. It was good if uneventful.

  • Back to Argentina!

    Hola todos! After we left off with waiting for the bus out of Puerto Varas it soon pulled up and we were on our way back to Argentina, I am going to skip over that Journey as it was pretty uneventful save the border crossing which again nothing to note came up there. You have some nice mountain views crossing over from Chile then some nice views of the lakes when back into Argentina.

    Around late afternoon we pull into Bariloche and it’s the usual thing of sort an Uber find the gaff and check in and now thats sorted time to get the lay of the land. I take a walk down to the waterfront last the Civic centre which looks rather Nordic.

    I get down to the lakeside and have little look around you have the typical city letters here and a little bit of a beach. The water here is so clear and unspoiled but too cold for swimming this time of the year. 

    Having a little look round something else catches my eye, there’s a Mirage Jet fighter and some military vehicles and guns here, turns out I’ve stumbled upon a museum about the war over las Islas Malvinas, so naturally I took a look inside, it’s actually free to get in as well.

    Inside this museum there are various items from the war and articles about the geopolitics of the time. To skip over the details of the Falklands War in short the Military Junta that ruled Argentina at the time invaded the UK overseas Territories of the Falkland Islands (Las Islas Malvinas) and South Georgia in 1982 gambling that the UK did not care enough to send a force to take them back, that gamble did not pay off and the UK sent a task force to retake the Islands which they Successfully did, the aftermath of this lead to the collapse of the Junta and democracy returning to Argentina.

    To this day Argentina still has a claim to the islands and a such you’ll often see “Las Malvinas Son Argentinas” in various places such as on city buses, in public gathering places and in graffiti or street art etc. though relations between the UK and Argentina have improved since then it’s still a big point of contention to this day.

    It is interesting to visit this place to get a perspective of this war from the Argentinan side of things. Basically to Argentina it is seen as a national trauma event not just to patriots but more or less everyone and you have to remember a lot of the people who died were conscripts who didn’t want to even be there. Obviously the families and those themselves who were there that are still alive  today still have strong feelings about it to say the least 

    Today the issue of Las Malvinas is something that while people don’t hate you for it if your from the UK it’s definitely something you don’t want to be casually bringing up here. Every now and then the pot does get stirred by Presidents here as it can rally everyone up to distract from another problem they have for a short while it would seem. 

    The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful. The next day I would do the usual thing of getting on a walking tour and explore the city properly…..

  • The Vibes of Puerto Varas *SPOILER ALERT*

    Hola todos! Last one for Chile 🇨🇱 This is all about my brief stay in Puerto Varas. So vamos a empezar!

    Firstly the bus ride down was pretty uneventful but it was getting noticeably colder here as we head south into Patagonia proper with the landscape very much changing to resemble northern Europe or Canada than the tropics we’ve spent most of this trip in.

    A good point to start would be on arrival, my esim had run out of data on the way down and I didn’t save the location of the hostel on the map so getting here I went into the terminal and asked them on the counter if they had wifi they kept telling me no when there clearly was one you could tap into. They just couldn’t be f*d to help you. I end up asking a random stranger if he could look the place up for me and lucky for me he does and it’s also walkable so I thank him and get on my way. Checking into the hostel is luckily pretty hassle free so once that’s done out we go to have a look round. I booked an initial 2 nights here and would then decide what my next move was after getting the lay of the land.

    What to say of Puerto Varas itself, well it is quite a pretty little town that looks very northern European and that is exactly right as it was built by mostly German immigrants during the mid to late 1800s so the town is built in a European Germanic style and from it’s German descendants the gastronomy here is pretty much entirely Chilean/German infusion and there are lots of restaurants with German food with Chilean twists to them. Right off the bat you would think this place is okay and I would imagine in the high season it probably is though for me the experience wasn’t so great.

    So with the lay of the land sorted I go back and chill for a bit then go out to dinner, now we’re not exactly spoiled for choice here with half the places being shut but I decide to go to this place called Club Alemania to give some German scran a try and end up having some bratwurst and sour kraut with a few chips and give some of their craft beer a go. I have my food and one drink, I then have a second I’m done eating. I like this place and just want to have a gentle few here then turn in to my hostel so I ask for a third, I’m told no. “We wont serve you a third if you don’t buy more food” okay then check please. I end up going for a wander and go to second place, have 2 drinks then they won’t serve you anymore if you don’t buy food with it. Bruh I’ve eaten a big slap up meal I don’t want more to eat! From what I could see they weren’t pulling this on anybody else just me which pissed me off needless to say. At the end of that night I decided I was getting out of Puerto Varas one way or another after my 2 nights here are done.

    How would I be getting out of Puerto Varas? Well we had 3 options:

    1. Go over to Puerto Montt as was originally planned (I came to Varas instead as literally everyone was telling me how great it was on the way down through Chile and Argentina)

    2. Do a side quest and go and visit Chiloe Island (5 hours south by bus or longer by ferry)

    3. Chin this leg off and cross back to Argentina making for Bariloche.

    I decide to explore options 1 and 2 initially by doing a day trip reccie over to Puerto Montt. Puerto Montt looked like a dump if I’m being honest, just an ugly working modern port city without much going on. That was option 1 off the menu, option 2 then? 

    The bus route would have been 5 hours and would have also meant coming back to Puerto Montt or varas for a night before bussing it to Bariloche. What about the sea route then? Well walked to the port couldn’t get any info there so did some googling there was no direct ferry connection to the island, I would have had to have done an overnight ferry to this town further south to catch another ferry to Castro, the main port on the island. 

    Now I may have done this little adventure had it been earlier in my trip and there was a direct path to Argentina from that connection town but from what I could see there was not and so once again we would be backtracking to PM or PV. I also looked at what exactly there is to do on the island and guessing it’s a similar setup to Pucón where you probably need a motor if you want to do it at an easy pace. Did consider seeing about hiring a car or a moped but decided the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze on this one given the logistics involved either way you did it and the simple reality of time starting to get a bit tight now that we’re close to the end. 

    So that left the only logical choice, pushing on to Bariloche early. That is exactly what I did, I scooted on back to Puerto Varas and I was in luck as the Andesmar office was open so I asked if there was a bus mañana, indeed there was one a las 8. Lovely stuff I’m getting out of there. It is worth noting that not only was it cheaper to book in person but the pick up point for this bus was a bit confusing online so better to clarify this with someone there.

    Next installment will cover our crossing back to Argentina and first full day in Bariloche!

  • Hiking Trails and Planning Fails

    Hola todos! Last one for Pucón, so after doing the hot springs I decided to extend for a few days here as there are meant to be some cool hikes and with the weather set to be clearing up on the weekend it seemed like a solid plan and from what everyone told me they were easy enough to get to with a colectivo that comes round every hour so seemed like a good shout. I had also worked this out when I was exploring round town on my first day.

    Thursday I did the hot springs, Friday the weather was still crap so I ended up sleeping in then not doing much of anything at all. Saturday comes round and I decide today is the best day do to hike up El Cañi, which is this mountain sanctuary which has a cool lake and viewpoint at the top. Anyways s fast forward I forgot to set an alarm so didn’t get up and running properly until nearly 11 and I missed the 11:30 bus. Next one was 12:55, so I get on that bus and arrive at what I thought was the trailhead at 13:30. 

    Well it takes nearly an hour to walk up this road almost all uphill to get to the trailhead then once your there it’s pretty much all uphill to get to the lake. It’s about 1100 meters up, I’m already having doubts about this but climb I do. It is knackering and after nearly an hour of straight uphill hiking I look at the map, I’m not even halfway up bearly even a third, it is now 15:00 and it gets dark around 18:30 here. Conclusion I don’t have enough daylight to complete this trek and I am not kitted out for night time hiking so I decide to bail and go back to the bus stop, which takes nearly 2 hours then I end up getting back to town at 17:30. Definitely was not getting there and would have been stuck if I completed it at the end. You need to be up early for this one.

    Then Sunday rolls round have a similar start and end up on that 12:55 bus again, think let’s try an easier hike to this waterfall but looking it up online half of the reviews say it’s been closed off and blocked by private land but it’s also nearest and the only option that doesn’t involve chancing being stuck out there in the dark at this time. I get on the bus to a place called El Turbio where this trail supposedly starts about 10 mins out of town.

    On the drive there the driver says “El Turbio” putting his hand up and I mistakenly get off there behind these other 2 people at this cemetery but here’s where the day takes a twist, as I’m getting off the bus drive shuts the door and my leg gets caught in it, I scream “HEEEY!!!!” as he’s about to drive off, luckily he stops opens it and lets me out.

    I’m unhurt apart from a bit of a graze where my leg got trapped but I’m shook up from this and decide not to bother with this walk and get a taxi back to town. Go back to the terminal and tell them about what happened, they give me the Whatsapp number for the company and to tell the owner what happened. 

    If you Google this it says you should tell the company, keep the ticket and get a medical and police report if you was to do it by the book. Firstly there was no ticket as it was a hop hop off pay in cash jobbie. Back home this would 100% be lawsuit territory but I don’t want to get wrapped up in that if it can be avoided and I am pretty sure nothing would reasitically get done out here, but thought better have some sort of evidence just in case I needed to see a doctor at a later date and In case of needing to make an insurance claim.

    So what I do after? I decided I would wait at the terminal until that bus came back to get his plates as I was too busy getting up off the floor when it happened then maybe have a chat with him and see where it goes from there. So I wait for him to come back 

    After about an hour he comes back, get the numberplate of the bus photo it and have a chat with that driver, I keep it cool, calm and collected tell him what happened let him explain it from his side while picking my wording very carefully to not admit anything was my fault, basically I misheard him thinking this place was my stop and I was being chucked off, I was unsure and then sort of tailgated those other 2 people getting off and as I didn’t say anything he didn’t notice me getting off and then shut the door. In short both sides are at fault to some degree here though it 100% is neglect from their part not looking over your shoulder to double check.

    Anyways cutting to the end of that he tells me he told the company, I said I am going to report it to the company as well, basically said not wanting to push any charges but need evidence in the event I need to see a doctor later about it as having been several hours after the incident by now if there was anything bad going on down there you would know by now. We end up coming to this understanding and apologizes, shakes my hand, I then go back to my gaff, do a write up on what happened and send it to the company Whatsapp number after about an hour they reply. Apologize and acknowledge this happened, the next day they ask am I okay and say yes. At the time of writing this blog which is about a week after the incident my leg is fine so declaring no harm done on this one.

    The rest of Sunday evening went by uneventfully I went out and said my goodbyes to my pals at that bar then it was an early Start on Monday to get down to Puerto Varas, whilch i Will cover on the next one.

  • The Termas of Pucón

    Hola todos! After my rather boring first day of taking care of admin and exploring in and around town I decided the first excursion to do today would be to a hot spring, so getting on the internet I had a look at the ones around here and decided to go to one that was quite nearby called Parque Termal Botánico.

    So off I went on the colectivo and headed out to the stop at Quetroleufu, from there it was about an hour to hike to this place up a dirt road, I could have just gotten a taxi here but felt like it would be cheating simply coming here, have to earn that swim! Walking up it wasn’t bad had some decent views of the autumnal woodlands and was mostly flat so not too bad at all.

    I arrive at the hot springs, now this place has been turned into a full spa kind of deal so it was a bit expensive to get in (£40 for a 5 hour slot or £70 for a full day) but it would be stupid to come up here then not go in so I paid up and was quickly given the run down and sent on my way to get changed and get in the water.

    They have 10 pools here that are fed by natural hot waters from the nearby volcano. The temperatures of the pools range between 31 and 40 degs C. It was quite a nice experience hanging out for the afternoon here. When I was there I got talking to a few people but nothing much came of those conversations. 

    After this I ended up leaving there about 17:30 and ended up having to hike back to that bus stop and it was slowly getting dark, however once there I was able to get on a bus back to town without issue and then went back home cooked some dinner then went to hang out at El Camino bar. 

    As I was sitting there having a few pints of Calafate the rain came down and it made me think, you know this exactly like being down West back home in October is like.

    Anyway that wraps this one up. Next installment I try to hit a few of the hiking trails but run into some issues.