San Carlos de Bariloche
Bariloche. View from the Nahuel Huapi
San Carlos de Bariloche is a city in the province of Río Negro, Argentina, situated on the foothills of the Andes, surrounded by lakes (Nahuel Huapi, Gutiérrez Lake, Moreno Lake and Mascardi Lake) and mountains (Tronador, Cerro Catedral, Cerro López). It is famous for skiing but also great for sight-seeing, water sports, trekking and climbing. Cerro Catedral is one of the most important ski centers in South America.
Tourism, both national and international, is the main economic activity of Bariloche, all year around. The main ski station is the one at Cerro Catedral. During the summer, beautiful beaches such as Playa Bonita and Villa Tacul welcome sun-bathers and some brave lake swimmers (the waters, from melting snow, are always very cold. Lake Nahuel Huapi averages 14 °C in the summertime). The fishing season is another great attraction. Bariloche is the biggest city of a huge Lakes District, and serves as a base for many excursions in the region. Trekking in the mountains, almost completely wild and uninhabited with the exception of a few high-mountain huts, is also a popular activity. The city is also famous for its chocolates.
It is also noteworthy that the city serves as the destination for Argentine secondary school students on their traditional senior year trips. The students are shepherded through week-long excursion packages including snowboarding, 4X4 excursions and passes to a series of boliches, or night clubs. The students, who travel during their winter break in July, fill the town with mobs wearing identical, travel-agency issued cold-weather gear.
Besides tourism and the many activities and services associated with it, Bariloche is home to first class scientific and technological activities. The Centro Atómico Bariloche is a research center of the National Atomic Energy Commission, where basic and applied research in many areas of the physical sciences is carried out. One of its departments is the Instituto Balseiro, a higher education institution with a small and carefully selected number of students, that awards degrees in Physics, and in Nuclear and Mechanical Engineering, and Masters and Doctorate degrees in Physics and in Engineering. The city also hosts INVAP, a high technology company that designs and builds nuclear reactors and space satellites, among other projects. In addition, there are also several departments and laboratories of the Comahue University.
The city has a modern airport equipped to receive any kind of aircraft. Several of the most important airlines of Argentina maintain regular flights to Bariloche, as well as some international lines from neighboring countries, especially during the ski season.
The city lies close to Chilean border and it is connected to Chile by the Cardenal Antonio Samoré Pass that crosses the Andes Mountains.