Chocolate Factory

Bariloche is famous for it's chocolate, and with very good reason. There are tens of chocolate shops along the main street. I almost wonder how they all manage to stay in business, but then I taste their chocolate, and it all makes sense. There is one shop which is so big, it is pretty much a supermarket that sells nothing but chocolate and ice cream (another local specialty, which is also delicious). This same company has a factory in town which is open to the public. Frankly, when I heard this, I was imagining something along the lines of a guided tour where they tell you all about the chocolate making process, and ending with some free samples. What we got was somewhat disappointing. It was free entrance, which is always nice, but we soon understood why. All you do is walk into a room with some glass walls behind which you watch people working. We were hoping that this would take up an afternoon after the Spanish lesson, but it only lasted a couple of minutes. Following our disappointment, we decided to go in search of another chocolate factory that someone told us about. This place is a little out of town, but we walked there anyway only to find that it is still under construction.

It seemed that luck was not on our side that day, until we noticed that right next door to this factory in the making was a gigantic slide. This might sound childish (probably because it is), but we both really wanted to go. There is a chairlift that takes you up the hill where a really nice viewpoint of Bariloche and its lake can be found. From there they equipped us with a sled and sent us down the hill at a really fast pace. It didn't last very long, but it was definitely worth it.