Back from B & B

Well I'm back from Buenos Aires and Bariloche in Argentina where I attended the world wide launch of the VW Amarok pick up vehicle. The trip was awesome especially the amazing scenery. Funny how easy I forgot how beautiful it is in Bariloche ad we were there in 2006. They don't call it little Switzerland for nothing. It is summer there right now and apparently it is even more beautiful in winter.

Our flight Wednesday was a day flight and with Argentina being 5 hours behind South Africa it was a real tester getting to Buenos Aires at 4pm but the body was already at 9pm. I didn't have any sleep in the plane and was really tired at dinner the first night which ended at 11pm (4am SA time).

The next morning we flew out of BA early and left the Hotel at 9am. I only got 5 hours sleep as I woke up, with the help of my alarm at 5am and went for a run. Must say it was a bit scary running in a foreign city in the dark and not knowing where I am going and to add to that we stayed in down town BA. As I was running a lot of youngsters were leaving night clubs, luckily I don't understand Spanish as some of them were shouting at me.

There was also so many stray dogs "patrolling" the streets, maybe looking for something to eat.

This is the view from my hotel room in Bariloche, amazing that's all I can say. The lake's water is so clear it looks like tap water.

Another picture as the sun set over the lake.

We only arrived in Bariloche at 3pm and was only given 3 hours before we had to attend the official opening of the congress and the launch. I went to the hotel's gym and did a quick 1 hour bike session. Luckily they had two proper spinning bikes and I decided to do an interval session as I didn't have enough time for a longer ride.

After the bike session I swam some 30 minutes in the gyms pool. I stopped counting the laps at 100 as the pool I guess was probably 10 meters long. At least I got the swim muscles moving.

Carlos Sainz, two time Rally World Champion and 2010 Dakar Rally winner ( in a VW) was guest speaker and opened the congress. Below are some picture of the venue, amazing what they can do with a marques tent.

Another view of this amazing area from the venue's "front door"

The next day we had an early start again with us driving the Amarok's the whole day. I could squeeze in a 1h15 run alongside the lake but couldn't see anything as it was still dark. Sunrise is only just before 7am. I was amazed to see just as many dogs patrolling the streets in Bariloche as well. One even had a go at me but as I stopped to pick up a rock he ran away.

We drove the vehicles to this venue, a Polo Club, what a place even with it's own Helli pad and the horse stables looked like houses where humans can live. One can see that money is not an issue at this club.

They had all the different Amarok Models on display with some lovely Argentinian ladies next to each model.

Then it was off to take the Amarok on a off road adventure.

With me not being an avid 4x4 off road guy, I was a bit scared when they told us we are going up this hill. At the end it wasn't that bad and the down hill on the other side was amazing with the "auto hill assist" of the pick up taking over and controlling the brake/acceleration.

Back at the hotel at 4pm I had another two hours before another dinner and could do another 1 hour bike but when I wanted to swim the pool was occupied by five old ladies and after my first lap even not understanding the language I knew they were not happy. I decided to skip the swimming, don't want 5 angry Argentinian ladies drowning me. The next morning we had an early business meeting and I decided to skip the running as the less than 5 hours sleep was getting to me. After the meeting we left Bariloche and headed back to BA for a Tango show that night and flying back to SA Sunday afternoon. Not being nasty but if you've seen one Tango show you've seen them all. I nodded off halfway through the show and had to get up and walk around and drink plenty of water to stay awake. Sunday morning was the only time we had free time to ourselves and I could get a long run and swim in before we flew out of BA.

I took my camera along and took a lot of pictures while running as this was the only run I did in day light. Will post those pictures next time.

I am glad to be home and be back with the family. When I arrived home Kim was still at work and DJ at school so I decided to do my 3h30 bike ride that was on my training plan. I could manage 3 hours before the 9 hours flying and sleeping in a plane caught up with me.