Bariloche

 After breakfast on Wednesday, March 8th, we took the bus to the downtown airport, where we flew out on the 10:40 flight to San Carlos de Bariloche.  This is a resort town in the foothills of the Andes and one of Argentina's prime winter skiing locations.  The temperature was in the 60s Fahrenheit, quite a bit cooler than in Buenos Aires.  We got into our hotel, the Huinid Bustillo, a little after 2 p.m. (we had bought sandwiches to eat on the plane).  It overlooks Lake Nahuel Huapi, about a mile-and-a-half from downtown.  

We had a talk with Nora Schultz, a local woman, about German Nazi war criminals in Argentina. Bariloche is proud of its Germanic heritage.  Most of its early settlers were from German-speaking countries.   

Later, we got on the bus for a downtown orientaion walk, starting at the self-consciously Swissy main square, the Centro Cívico.  In the center of the square is an equestrian statue of 19th-century Argentinian general and president Julio Argentino Roca, who was largely responsible for making that Germanic settlement possible by clearing out the indigenous Mapuche.  His statue is badly defaced by grafitti.  Then we went through a gateway into the town's shopping area, where there are restaurants and chocolate shops, among other spending opportunities.

 

Mary Joy and I went down by the lake, then visited the Cathedral of Our Lady of Nahuel Huapi.

Dinner was in the hotel, with the group.