DAY 5
We woke up to a crystal clear morning with the wind on the lake already blowing 12 knots and building fast. Situated at the foothills of the Andes on the Nahuel Huapi Lake, Bariloche is a major centre for trekking, skiing and chocolate making. Yummy! With a population of over 100,000 it is a pretty bustling city with plenty of nightlife and tourist attractions. A couple of years ago the place was pretty much shut down by ash from the Chilean Volcano Puyehue, but fortunately there’s little or no evidence remaining of this disaster and things are pretty much back to normal in town. Tommy insisted we launch from the local windsurfing club, the perfect base to lay out the board bags and organise the 8.6s and the big boards. By midday the wind was gusting up to 20 knots and Marco, Gonzalo, Tommy and Rodrigo were all having a blast exploring the vast waters of this huge pristine lake. Our next plan was to rent a boat and go explore some other areas of the lake, but once again Tommy took control and came up trumps with a free two-hour cruise courtesy of the local marine Police boat, which happened to be on patrol between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. To polish off another perfect day in Argentina we ate in the Kandahar restaurant, allowing Tommy once again to take control with the orders. The ‘Lomo’ (best cuts of tenderloin) in pepper sauce with cheesy potatoes, washed down with Quilmes Patagonia lager has to go down as one of the finest meals I’ve ever eaten and is almost worth a trip to Argentina just to experience those flavours!