Bariloche is large resort town- might be describd as the Aspen of Argentina, though much larger and not so upscale- in Northern Patagonia..  It is sprawled out on this huge lake in the middle of a national park and is a big ski resort in winter.  Needless to say, lots of tourists, both domestic and foreign (lots of backpackers) and lots of hotels and good restaurants.  And of course it was cloudy the day I arrived and the next day.  But...

 My 2nd full day in Bariloche dawned without a cloud in the sky (maybe the clouds following me got tired and left).  So I decided to hike to a local peak known as Cerro Lopez where supposedly you got this panoramic view at the top.  It was not an easy climb- over 4000 ft of vertical- and the last 1000+ft was mostly hand over hand climbing on rocks.  Not dangerous if you paid attention, but still a challenging day hike (maybe that was why there was virtually no one there- which is what my hotel lady predicted).  As there was no on the trail to follow, I naturally got lost a few times, but somehow still ended up at the right place.

As I neared the top, a Scot coming down told me I was quite close and that the view was just fantastic.  He asked me "Have you been to Southern Patagonia?"

What?!?  Did he think he was dealing with some Patagonian rookie?  "Of course", I said with a slightly disgusted look.

"Well, he said, Mt Fitz Roy and Torre del Paine are great and all that, but this beats them.  Just fantastic" he kept saying.   Clearly the guy did not know what he was talking about and had probably never actually been to Torre del Paine, etc.  Who had ever heard of Cerro Lopez, except maybe Mrs. Lopez?

When I did finally get to the top, the 360 view was, er, well, just fantastic.  Never seen a better one.  You have the huge lake, town and moutains on one side, different, very dry moutains as you turn,  different colored jagged mountains as you turn again and then this spectacular high mountain with glaciers on the other side with a lake beneath it and with 2 far off, but clear volcano cones.  Just an incredible variety of dramatic scenery.  A wow moment for sure.  You know, I thought, that Scot is not as full of BS as some people think.  I think he"s gotten something of bum rap in the trekking community.

 
And the day threw in a South American condor just 50 ft below me at one point-

But there was no one to take a picture of me at the top... but me, yellow hat and all