Today was our last day in Bariloche. We have both really enjoyed our
stay here and would happily come back again, rent a villa, do the
two day trip to Chile, more walks, fishing, etc.
Being the last day, well morning really, we were keen to make the
most of it. We were up very early, 6am, both feeling knackered from
the fishing and walking. I feel pretty rough. Holiday “Delhi belly”
has set in and I’m suffering with really painful stomach cramps.
Stef as usual is fine and went for breakfast while I finished the
packing.
This morning I’m amazed at what we’re doing. For a long while I’ve
wanted to do a parachute jump but Stef was so anti it I didn’t want
it enough to fight my corner. But today we went paragliding.
There were meant to be four other people as well but they backed
out. We met up with our paragliding team (Martín, Maximo, Pablo,
etc.) at 8am in central Bariloche. They were a bit mad and you could
sense that they lived by the thrill of extreme sports.
We drove out of town to where we would land and transferred into a
4x4. I felt so bad by this stage that I nearly backed out but it’s
something I wanted to do so I kept on. The 4x4 took us up the
mountain along a dirt track barely wide enough for the car. The
views were stunning. You could look across all of Bariloche, Lago
Gutierrez and see Cerro Catedral and Tronador.
When we got near to the top we had a short ten minute walk to the
jump zone. The guys we were with were carrying twenty kilograms of
equipment each and set off almost at a run. It was high altitude and
for me the walk was a killer (combination of altitude, lack of
fitness and severe cramps). By the time I got to the jump site I was
wheezing and coughing and generally feeling rough.
It was very windy and we had to walk down the hillside a bit for our
jump zone. Then out came the kit. You effectively sit in a type of
harness that is attached to a qualified pilot who has a parachute
backup. For take-off you have to run until the canopy fills and
takes off. In walking boots and on rocky ground this is almost
impossible. Stef got off ok but I fell – not due to me this time,
the canopy didn’t open fully.
Once up the sensation was fantastic. You’re flying through the air
with only a sheet of material preventing you from plummeting. The
sensation is incredible and you feel the thermal currents lifting
you and steering you around. The flight itself was short and
probably lasted about ten minutes. They were the most incredible
and, in some ways, scary, minutes of the holiday so far. I
continually felt as if I was going to fall.
Before we landed Maximo hit a thermal and span us round 360°,
fantastic feeling of no control and loving every second. The views
on the way were stunning and I wanted to keep going but our landing
site was fast approaching. I could see the cars and the paraglider
Stef and Martín had flown in. Then it dawned on me that to land I
was going to have to hit the ground running. Running from a standing
start was bad enough and I guessed that it would be pretty tricky to
hit the ground at a run. Two steps and I was sliding along the floor
on my front coming ever closer to a clump of plants – we stopped
just in time.
Stef landed in similar spectacular style although he went backwards,
not forwards. He also hit the ground at 40km/h and is now nursing a
slightly twisted left ankle and a very badly bruised right big toe.
Just like Dad with Mum, when I’m feeling yuk Stef does something to
ensure he gets the sympathy (by the way my bad gut is just
psychological!)
We were met at the landing site by a very friendly dog that was like
a tame Rottweiler. He kept playing, jumping up and rolling over, and
generally enjoyed the fuss and attention.
We’ve exchanged addresses etc. with the jump team and offers to get
in touch if we’re ever visiting respective areas again. Then headed
off to Cerro Catedral, Argentina’s largest ski resort. This was
fairly small by European standards and it was odd to see a ski
resort off season and with no snow. We took the cable car almost all
the way up the mountain and the ski lift for the last bit. We had
our photo taken by the official photographer who has promised to
send it on to Buenos Aires – we’ll see if it ever actually arrives.
[It never did] More incredible views from the top, time for a quick
coffee and then we had to head off to the airport for our flight to
BA.
We’re both absolutely exhausted. I feel physically sick I’m so tired
and we’re getting snappy with each other. The car rental has charged
us $90 for scratches to the paintwork. Fair we suppose but they’ve
been so offhand it makes you want to argue the toss. Neither of us
were very comfy on the flight. My seat was slightly on the small
side with permanently fixed arm rests. A couple of extra inches
would have been good but I managed to get some sleep and felt a bit
better by the time we got to BA.
A very friendly lady at tourist info gave us maps and guides to BA
and Argentina pin badges. She told Stef he had to give his to his
fiancée when he married. When I joined him I got one too and it was
only later that we understood what she was saying: an Argentinian is
marrying the crown prince of Holland and will become the next queen
of the Netherlands.
Our hotel is living luxury. The reception is very ornate with lots
of marble, mirrors and statuesque reliefs. Our room is spacious with
a chaise longue and we gratefully crashed for a while. A knock on
the door yielded complimentary champagne and canapés and we toasted
Michael and Sarah who got married today in Sri Lanka.
Showered and changed we hobbled round the corner to a café for a few
drinks and a meal. Stef is in quite a lot of pain. We’re both
bruised and aching from the paragliding. We had planned to have an
early night but our food took one hour to arrive and it was 12.30
before we made it to bed. This was after entertaining the night
reception staff by pushing and pulling the door to try and get it
open only to find it was locked. We could hear them creased up in
fits of laughter inside.
