Pumpkin mash
Incredible
Chocolate Cup
Bariloche is a city in the province of Río Negro, Argentina, situated in the foothills of the Andes. It is famous for its adventure sports and was the next stop on our massive list.
While there some of our group went paragliding, mountain biking, horse riding and boating. I chose to go white water rafting down Río Manso with 7 others from our group, opting to do the "Manso to the Limit" grade 3/4 rapids.
Rafting in Africa consisted of shorts, t-shirt and sandals. Here in Argentina we were given wetsuits, booties and a waterproof jacket - hmm I wonder if that implies the water be bloody freezing? In Africa we were made get into the river from the raft in order to see how to get back in if you fell out. Here we were simply instructed on what to do should you fall out. Yup, I'm gonna take that to mean water is more than chilly - note to self: do not effing fall in!!!
After donning the very fetching attire we walked to the water's edge and clambered aboard the raft. Francois and Tony took the helm, Geoff and Vanessa were second in command, next up were Steve and Karen, and finally me and Sue took the back of the raft. I choose the left side as I felt it would be my stronger side. Foolishly I forgot that this meant my poorly toe would have to be wedged under the seat to prevent me falling out. Ouch!
Pedro was our guide and made everyone feel at ease joking away effortlessly, pointing out specific sights and giving us local info. Ten rapids stood between us and the finish, consisting of names like: Welcome, Flintstones (where we yabba-dabba-doo-ed on completion), Ecstasy, Vaseline, Devil's Intestines.
We pulled together nicely as a team, with gentle ribbing from each side, both claiming to be better; even a new nickname, "short stroke", was invented for one of the group. Thankfully our raft did not flip, and on seeing the rapids it is incredible that we managed to stay afloat. We did have a few 'woah!' moments. The most memorable was when a righty almost lost their paddle and nearly took out two others in trying to save themselves and the paddle. Funny stuff!
Pedro was in general very happy with how we managed to progress "Forward!" as a team. All of us welcomed the "Easy Forward!", which meant a leisurely relaxed paddle. Oddly enough no one needed to be told twice when the "Stop!" command was issued.
On successfully traversing down the river we alighted from the raft and made an uphill trek back to the meeting point. Luckily it wasn't too long, but why does the end of rafting always entail emerging up out of a gorge? Carrying your paddle, all geared up to the nines, in blazing sunshine and heat is extremely energy-zapping. Still a nice dinner awaited us at the top, and I tucked in with relish to a stuffed chicken meal - rafting does build up one's appetite!
Making our way back to Bariloche town centre was hampered by an over heated engine in the minivan, so we stopped dead on the side of the road, in the middle of the mountains. We anxiously waited for it to cool down as a big night out in the town with a slap up meal was planned and we were getting tight on time. None of our group knew what restaurant the crew had booked, nor did we have any contact number to let them know our predicament. Cue nervous checking of watches as the minutes elapsed. After about 20 mins the minivan managed to start and we set off. Luckily the driver was happy to bring us to our campsite rather than the drop off point. We arrived back at camp a little after 7:30, which just gave us enough time to get ready as Pete had booked taxis for 8pm.
We ate at the wonderful La Parilla de Tony. I again succumbed to my favourite Bife de Lomo, which consisted of two massive chunks of steak. I also went for a side of potato and pumpkin mash - unreal tasty goodness! Despite eating the chicken dinner a few hours earlier I easily managed to polish off my plate, there was even room for dessert - shockingly, only my first proper restaurant dessert! I opted for a delicious chocolate cup that was filled with dolce de leche (caramel flavoured) ice-cream.
Finally I must give a massive shout out to the wonderful Angela who is looking out for the truck sweet-tooths. She made an AWESOME banoffi pie at camp, which we all dug into, happily stuffing our faces to bursting point. This dessert will definitely have to be repeated while we can purchase cartons of dulce de leche.
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