On Saturday I didn’t have school, which was a Good Thing, because at last I had a chance to get out and explore some of the beautiful outdoorseyness that is all around Bariloche. I met Thomas in town and we caught the bus back towards The Peninsula to Cerro Campanario.
Cerro Campanario doesn’t really deserve the designation ‘Cerro’ as it’s just a small hill, about 200 metres above lake level (although it proudly proclaims that it’s over 1000 metres above sea level). Nonetheless, it has a chair lift to the top. Truly, this is only worth taking if you are old, ill or very lazy, as the walk to the top, though steep, isn’t long or particularly strenuous. In fact, it only took us about 30 minutes, including my photographic stops (which, as anyone who has ever walked with me knows, always add an extra 50% onto the normal walking time).
Despite the pitiful amount of effort required, the rewards were great. The views of the lakes and surrounding (proper) peaks were breathtaking (as was the freezing wind), and I went into photographic frenzy (see results below). Once we’d thoroughly explored the ‘summit’ and laughed at the oldies being carefully positioned back to back to catch the chairlift down, we sat in the panoramic Confiteria and drank vino caliente (gluhwein in a glass – not the best way to serve this beverage, I had to observe).
Then, because Thomas and I are both Intrepid Explorers, we decided to take a different, unmarked way down, in an attempt to make the walk both slightly longer and more exciting by adding the possibility of getting lost. We had a picnic lunch in a field that could, with some imagination, be a meeting place for killer cows (Thomas told me some scary stories about the Swiss fighting cows of Valais), and then we walked in circles for at least 15 minutes before finding a path that returned us to the road, right next to a bus stop.
However, Walter has assured me that more exciting and demanding walks do exist in Bariloche and has promised to arrange for me to go on a few. So, with any luck I’ll get properly lost soon. Because, as one of my Amazing Readers most perspicaciously observed, this blog is simply about me losing things or getting lost.
Although, I do like to think that my repertoire of Stupid Mistakes is slightly more extensive.
Alison Westwood 
Oh wow! Beautiful!