5 March 2023 – 65Km
Not far from Bariloche there is a Swiss village, Colonia Suiza, the village has some chalets built by Swiss pioneers from the past. The village has a lot of souvenir shops and lamb being cooked over an open wood fire. You see this kind of cooking all over Patagonia, lambs laid out flat and placed in a pyramid around an open fire. They are wonderfully tasty to eat.
At the village we saw a Mexican motorcyclist on a BMW R1200GSA with 2 dogs. He has been riding with his 2 companions for 4 years. Today he is selling stickers for a few Pesos.
I leave the village and ride around Lake Perito Moreno, the views are spectacular.
Argentina has two currency exchange rates, the official rate and the blue rate. The blue rate is nearly double the official rate so you get nearly twice the amount of Pesos when you exchange dollars, Euros and Pounds. From what I can see this is a black market that is accepted by the Government, bizarre! Even more bizarre you get the greater blue rate on Visa and Mastercard payments. Not complaining, I get double the spending power. I guess this is the result of a 94.8% inflation rate in 2022.
Tonight I have dinner at Alberto’s steak restaurant, Lomo steak, chimichurri, chips and Malbec. This is a fantastic restaurant with great steaks cooked over a barbecue. The restaurant opens at 8.00pm and you can’t book a table, I start queuing just after 7.00pm, by 8.00pm the queue is so long that a lot of people will be disappointed. A great meal.
