In January I flew south from Buenos Aires to Bariloche, a picturesque town in northern Patagonia. Bariloche is place of lakes, mountains, chocolate, ice cream, berries and inappropriate signs (for anyone fluent in English).

Inappropriate sign # 1: Salon Cultural de Usos Multiples (SCUM) approximately translates to Multi-Purpose Cultural Centre. I’m sure most people who use it are not scum

Bariloche is located next to the navigable freshwater Nahuel Huapi Lake. In fact, the region is full of freshwater lakes

No, the sign has nothing to do with rear-ends but states bathing in the stream is prohibited

A couple taking a ‘selfie’ next to Nahuel Huapi Lake

Nahuel Huapi Lake and moon at sunset

One day I travelled by bus then foot with two other backpackers to another lake for my first ever stand-up paddle. Coming from a dry continent (Australia), I found the amount of fresh water around Bariloche hard to comprehend

Another inappropriate sign for those fluent in English. A shop called “Mr. Cock” specialising in clothes for young children?

Bariloche is famous for chocolates and produces fantastic raspberries. Combining the two results in an absolute winner!

One day I hired bikes with Matt and Verena and we cycled the “Circuito Chico”, around stunning lakes and up and down hills. It was on this day that I completed one of greatest achievements: finishing a bottle of horrible El Bolson “Cerveza con Chocolate” beer. I thought the beer might be chocolate flavoured and instead got something resembling a cross between beer and liquid chocolate

Water, water everywhere

With Matt and Verena at a restaurant drinking much better beer than the aforementioned “Cerveza con Chocolate”

Nearby Bariloche is the Cathedral Ski Resort. In summer the main chair lift is usually open for people to go to the top of the mountain. Unfortunately, on this day it wasn’t, due to the wind. To add to the day’s delight, Citibank signs were all over the resort, even though the nearest ATM was hundreds of kilometres away (and only Citibank gave me free withdrawals in Argentina)

Clockwise from the top: blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and whipped cream. The raspberries melted in my mouth and were the best I have ever tasted