Imagine if Lake Tahoe was in the Alps, now put it somewhere in the southern hemisphere and you'd get the town of San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina.  Bariloche sits on Lake Nahuel Huapi in the northern portion of Patagonia in the Argentinian Andes.  This place is truly an outdoor enthusiast's playground.  During the winter there are a few ski resorts within a few minutes drive.  The rest of the year there is plenty of trekking, climbing, kayaking and boating to be had. Good thing there are so many activities nearby, you'll need them to burn all the calories consumed.  This is where the "Alps" part described above comes in.  Bariloche's architecture and shops come straight out of the Alps.  About half of the retail is chocolatiers.

At a chocolate place called Mamuschka, I had a coffee that rivaled the one I talked about in Ecuador.  A nice cafe negro accompanied with a homemade whiskey filled chocolate… maybe not for everyone, but it's definitely for me.  Meggan had a very luscious looking hot chocolate with a caramel filled chocolate.  Amazing.

For three days we breathed the crisp clean air of northern Patagonia, took in the views, hiked around, had many chocolate breaks, ate some fine Argentinian beef and sampled some micro brews from Antares brewery, what's not to like about that?  Now were heading south to trek on a glacier, stay tuned!