Bariloche:the home of moving quotes disguised as graffiti

Who would have thought that Bariloche would be the home of moving quotes disguised as graffiti?

Certainly not me.

I thought Bariloche was just about chocolate, swiss-like houses, a big lake that looks like the sea and the “ings” trekking, cycling, riding..

It is about all these things.

The main street is full to bursting with shops offering the most incredible looking chocolate treats with free samples for a budget traveller like me.

It also does look very Swiss.

Swiss-like buildings in Bariloche - not the tower block in the background

It is set in a stunning location and is the perfect place to do the “ings”.

Here is the lake – Lago Nahuel Huapi.

It is huge and when it’s windy the waves on it make it look like the sea. It is ringed by spectacular mountains.

Lake Nahuel Huapi

As always for me exercise comes before culture…

So I decided to do some hikING at Cerro Catedral which was beautiful though it is rather difficult to find especially when you are hiking alone (like I was) and without a map!  Still in true Angie style managed to find someone to help me with the route and also share lunch with.

I felt really Scottish that day as all I had for lunch was cadbury’s chocolate and crisps but met Marco who very kindly shared his organic vegetable slice and organic cake in exchange for some really unhealthy chocolate and crisps!

Cerro Catedral - look at the spires on those peaks!

On the way to Cerro Catedral

There is also some great cyclING in the Chico route though managed to get a puncture outside a police station on the back tyre of a mountain bike.  Now anyone that knows me will know that I don’t do puncture repairs especially when watched by the local police officer.  With no other option and no one to help me, I took my time, got the wheel off with and the gears and then changed the inner tube only to be thwarted by a defective pump – how annoying.  Still, help came from the Dutch couple I met in Torres del Paine who had a working pump and let’s face it these Dutch folk sleep on their bikes so puncture repair was a breeze to them!!

Happy bike before puncture, Chico Circuit

Bike in the course of repair

After doing all the”ings” I could, it was time to get into the moving quotes of Bariloche.

First off, the bus stop where I waited at the end of the Cerro Catedral hike.

this makes you think before you step on the bus

This was truly beautiful. It translates (roughly!) as “Stop and enjoy life, not only are you losing the scenery by going so fast, you are also losing the feeling of where you are going and why”.

Poetry, Bariloche

The phrase in the top right of this graffiti “podran cortar todas las flores pero no defendran la primavera” means “you can cut all the flowers but you cannot stop spring from coming”. It’s a quote by Pablo Neruda, the Chilean poet but has also been linked to Che Guevara and the Chilean musician Victor Jara (who was tortured by the Chilean military in 1973 and has become a symbol of the struggle for human rights and justice across South America). Again very moving.

On the same wall was this….

another moving quote

This one in Spanish is “vola libre sin que nadie interrumpa tu vuelo” and translates as “fly free so that no one interrupts your flight”.

So while you can do all the “ings” in Bariloche and eat chocolate after doing them there is more to make you think in Bariloche than first meet the eye.  Just look at its graffiti..

Now off on the next adventure….

he phrase in the top right of this graffiti “podran cortar todas las flores pero no defendran la primavera” means “you can cut all the flowers but you cannot stop spring from coming”.  It’s a quote by Pablo Neruda, the Chilean poet but has also been linked to Che Guevara and the Chilean musician Victor Jara (who was tortured by the Chilean military in 1973 and has become a symbol of the struggle for human rights and justice across South America).  Again very moving.