Our Day in Bariloche (Fri 2/5)

Stats:
- 25 miles
- 2000 feet of climbing

As we strolled into breakfast at our hosteria, I recognized another couple in the dining room. They were in the same restaurant as us for dinner last night. And, they were wearing the same clothes they had on at dinner -- just like us. So, it is good to confirm that many other people are wearing the same things over and over and over again.

The weather improved today. It was not stellar, but it was markedly better. The sun came out and this makes everything feel much warmer. After breakfast, we headed out to enjoy a ride free from all the gear on the bikes. We rode up to the Cerro Cathedral ski area. The road to the base of the ski lift is a beautiful mountain road with sweeping wide turns, long open vistas, stunning mountains, and roadsides covered with wildflowers. The mountains are very different than where we have been. Things are much drier, rockier, and even more jagged. Once at the top of our climb, we descended a few miles on a dirt road and rejoined pavement. The trickier part of today´s ride was getting to and from the road up to the ski hill. It was another, "if you think paddling class 4 is more dangerous than this..." kind of road.

It was a good food day. Lunch was homemade gnochis stuffed with basil and cheese and pesto sauce for Arn and a tomato sauce for me. However, dinner was the highlight and will be remembered as one of our best meals in 2010. We enjoyed a 7 course tasting menu at a place called, "Butterfly". It has 1/2 the price of Herbfarm (in WA) and at least 5 times better. It was truly stunning. Arn has declared, "we must savory this because in a few days, our food situation is going to change dramatically and not for the better". So, we both crashed for the night with very happy stomachs!