Saturday, November 24, 2007

Bariloche - Lake Gutierrez and 3 stray dogs

We arrived yesterday at Bariloche, part of the lake district in Western Argentina. It’s similar to Tahoe in that there are beautiful mountains, and rather than just 1 big lake, Bariloche is surrounded by several lakes. The hostel 1004, where we are staying, is located on the 10th floor of the tallest building in Bariloche, giving beautiful views over Nahuel Huapi Lake.

This afternoon we did a small hike to a waterfall and then further up to a mirador (viewpoint) near Lake Gutierrez with Monika and Sabrina. They were classmates of mine in Buenos Aires from Switzerland and are now taking classes at the Bariloche school. Shortly after a bus dropped us off near the trailhead, 2 stray dogs started following us around. One dog in particular, a german Shepard, kept pretty close to me. Must be the ham and cheese sandwich in my pack. This place is full or stray dogs. As our walk continued, I started to warm up to the dog, and the dog started warming up to us. By the end of the trip, we were playing fetch with them and had a total of 3 dogs with us. Their tails wagged more prominently as they were more comfortable w/ us. And towards the end, we started enjoying their company. Someday I’ll get a dog. In the meantime, I’ll just hang out in Bariloche.


Doing the Irish Jig in the Andes Mountains, Bariloche


One of the many beautiful views from our afternoon hike.


Lyle, Sabrina and Monika – Hiking to the waterfall


Me, Lyle, Sabrina and Monika at the top of our hike, view of Lake Gutierrez, Bariloche.


Back at the lake, note one of our “adopted for a day” dogs in left of photo.

2 comments:

everyday said...

Did you start to wag your butts to show the dogs that you liked their company too???

And do tell, how many times did you practice the Irish Jig to get the photo just right? Those types of photos are great and definitely your signature!!!

Stephanie said...

It's beautiful there Nicola! The dogs remind me of when Kathryn and I went snowshoeing near Grenoble with Kat's friend Diane. We had a dog join us for the hike too. He was lots of fun, until we started sledding downhill and he'd bite our ankles!

Yes, one day you'll have a dog. For sure!