Sent on Apr. 13, 2003 from Bariloche, Patagonia.

US$ = 2.82 Pesos, also shown as $; US $ shown as U$S.
Airport Exit Tax = US$18 at the airport.  Take the bus
operated by Manuel Tienda Leon from airport or bus or ferry
terminals to city-hotel for $15; Taxi = $35 from airport.
Post cards are about 60 cents each; mail to the USA is 5.50
Pesos, so nearly $2, the most expensive rates I know.

Note: even though the price you paid for your ticket
supposedly may include airport taxes, you will pay more in
Buenos Aires (7 Pesos = $2.25 to Ushuaia), Ushuaia (13 Pesos
to Calafate), and Calafate (12 Pesos to Bariloche).

Hello from Bariloche, Argentina (Northwest Patagonia),
Land of Glacier Lakes

There are more European visitors here than American.  I saw
only one American and 2 Aussie couples in Tierra del Fuego;
I met a bunch of girls from Boston in Bariloche today, and
a guy from Delrey Beach near Miami.

1. Bariloche--full name San Carlos de Bariloche. 
Unlike the tiny Calafate where there is not much to do in
town, Bariloche is like a vibrant Swiss or French town in
the Alps, with a population of about 100,000.  Rarely have
I seen so many school-age young people all at once.  Just
walking around town is a joy. This is a very scenic area,
surrounded by glacier lakes, and the Andes frame the scene
to the West.  On the tour of the Moreno Lake here, we
climbed a cable-chair to a hill top to appreciate the
story-book scenery.  Imagine a miniature setting where you
have rocky hills and mountains, lakes, peninsulas, natural
bridges, forests and meadows in your view, all within a
distance of about 3 km, and all framed by the snow-capped
Andes further West.  We have something similar to this in
the Glacier Lakes near the Glacier Nat. Park in Montana and
the Banff Nat. Park in Canada.  Really quaint, scenic,
beautiful.  

Bariloche also marks the Northwest boundary of Patagonia. 
Again, going north from Tierra del Fuego in the south, you
cross the following 4 provinces: Rio Gallegos, Santa
Cruz--where Torres de Paines Nat. Park, Calafate, Lakes
Argentino and Viedma, the glaciers, and Mt. Fitz Roy are
located--then Chubut, and Rio Negro--where Bariloche is
located.  Next come Neuquen and Mendoza provinces, which I
will cover by bus.

2. End of Packaged Tour. This also marks the end of my
packaged tour.  Starting tomorrow noon, I will make my own
way.  Some options that I thought existed are canceled. 
For example the Historic Train from Bariloche east to the
City of Viedma on the Atlantic coast--Atlantic
Patagonia--no longer operates.  So I will probably take the
20-hour bus directly north to the town of Mendoza (in
Mendoza Province), across the Andes from Santiago, Chile. 
And, I will no longer travel in the company of couples on
neat packaged tours in nice hotels, but with independent
backpackers, habitating the same (generally) abused but
much livelier hostels.  The latter are also a much more
informed source for Off-the-Beaten-Track travel.  I do not
yet know which way I will go exactly.  As with the train
travel, some of this will be decided by what exists, where
border crossings are easier versus prohibitive, etc.  (I'll
explain this more later.)