View from the top

Rising above the town is the mountain of Cerro Otto. This is one of the main ski resorts of Bariloche and the summit is reached by a shiny red cable car. Out of season it’s a pricy touristy trip to the top, but worth it as the views were amazing. We ascended in the morning when the lake and town were hidden beneath a veil of fog.

Lago Nahuel Huapi somewhere under the blanket of fog.

As the sun rose the burned away and the lake slowly revealed itself and we could see for miles. Islands and inlets, snow topped mountains, villages and boats were all in our view. It was simply stunning.

The lake view revealed.

As well as the teleferico Cerro Otto is famous for its revolving restaurant which we had to try, if only for the novelty value. The lunch was nothing special but the views as we slowly turned 360 degrees were fantastic and made for a memorable experience.

Inside the revolving restaurant. It did move very slowly, took about 20 mins to go full circle.

The views on our descent back to Bariloche.

After the storm – Santa Teresa and Parque das Ruínas

After the excitement of last night’s storm we decided to have a relaxed, less dramatic day. Once we had filled up with another tasty breakfast, minus the toast as Santa Teresa is still out of power due the storm we headed out.

Walking through the streets the aftermath of nature’s power can be seen. Shopkeepers are mopping up flooded floors, bin men are out in force clearing up debris but some is just too heavy to lift. The poor car below got crushed by a fallen tree.

The guys at our hotel told at breakfast how although summer rains are common in Rio this was declared one of the worse storms in 20 years. The combination of flooding and power going down tragically caused the electrocution of two people including a pregnant French foreign tourist.

High in the hills of Santa Teresa is a little gem. It’s a place called Parque Das Ruínas. A well connected heiress Laurinda Sabtis Lobo (1878-1946) lived here and held fabulous parties for the rich and famous. The building itself is now in ruins but sensitively designed metal walkways and glass walls give a sense of the scale of the house.

Also it has the most amazing views of the bay including Sugar Loaf mountain.

We plan to spend the rest of our last day soaking up the sun at Copacabana beach before dining in Santa Teresa tonight.

Sugar loaf – Part 2

The view from the top was simply amazing and I don’t think my photos do it justice at all. We could see Guanabara bay to our right, Corcovado mountain with Christ the Redeemer watching over the city straight ahead and the iconic sandy curves of Copacabana and Ipanema beaches to our left.

Birds spiralled on thermals overhead as planes glided past the mountain before landing at the local airport Santos Dumont in the bay. That has to rank within the top ten most spectacular flights.

As we soaked up the scene the sun’s final rays dipped below Sugarloaf and the city came alive with twinkling lights.

Far to our right another type of light appeared in the sky. A deep low rumbled heralded the for coming of a thunderous storm. We were then treated to some dramatic forked lightning. Everyone around us oohed and aahed with each crackling flash and were as excited as we were to witness the scene.

After the dramatic light show we headed back down in the cable car in search of dinner.

Not knowing which bus to take and seeing no cabs we walked for about half an hour following my trusty map. Crossing busy four lane roads in the dark was a bit hair raising but we made it safely to a little juice bar. There a friendly Chinese family served us freshly pressed juices and we ate tasty deserts at the pavement bar ( me a lovely coconut and chocolate creation and Jon ate créme caramel, yum!). After that we found a bus and taxi to take us home.