Barioche: High Andes Texture; Man on the Street

 I left Uruguay and the land of no tours and more expensive food (relatively speaking) and returned by ferry to Buenos Aires and then flew south to beautiful town of Bariloche in Northern Patagonia  Some observations of Uruguay-

~lots of rolling farmland and ranches;  like much of SA, the farms are pretty but the housing stock typically does not add (Switzerland or England it isn't)

~Uruguayans seem uniformly polite and nice; they are much more polite and attentive drivers than the Agrentines who candidly are among the worst I have encountered in my travels (often rude and impatient)

~  While a limited sample size, I felt quite safe biking in Urg;  much different in Argentina where I will only bike in bike lanes or well established bike routes (feels too dangerous as one Uber driver confirmed-  "People get killed on this road biking" he said

~While I love Argentina, it does not always feel safe.  Uruguay feels different and safer (mainly talking risk of theft)

I arrived in Bariloche and decided to hike this ski mountain called Cerro Catedral about 30 minutes from town-

In addition to the beautiful views of the huge lake Huapi, it has great views of volcanoes (some of which are in Chile)-

The hike offered much of the usual arid rocky peaks typical of much of Patagonia.  If you like texture in mountains-

During my hike to an area rarely visited, I encountered an obviously professionally outfitted and experienced climbing group lead by an intrepid guide in pink crossing a glacier-

Everywhere I go in Argentina I act as "Man on the street" (or man in the Uber, or man on the mountain, or man in the hotel....) and ask about Argentina's new Libertarian El Presidente, Javiar Melei.  Using my well honed reporter skills, I ask "How do you like Melei?" or approaching the matter from an entirely different angle "What do think of Melei?"  He represents a dramatic change for Argentina, proposing to reverse the socialist tilt of the Peronistas who have mostly ruled Argentina for the past 80 years or so.  

The answers to my skillful questions have been fascinating and have varied from "I am hopeful but am a bid afraid" to "I don't like him" to "We needed to change from the past 80 years" to "I don't trust any politicians" to "I love him".  But with just one exception, everyone seemed to either like him or were at least willing to give him a chance and see how he might do.  I get the feeling overall that he is popular, at least at the moment.  Interestingly, I found the young people I asked tended to be the most supportive.  Here is a couple who said they loved him-

Tough to beat the beauty of Bariloche with its combination of huge lakes, stark peaks and snow capped volcanos-