More on Mate & Glorious Bariloche

We set off this morning from Iguazu to fly to Bariloche via Buenos Aires. On the coach to the airport, Maria picked up the story on Yera Mate, and after yesterday´s practical, today we had the history and theory! The Yerba Mate plant was originally grown wild by the native Guanani people. When the Jesuits arrived in the 1600´s, at first they banned the plant as they believed it was a drug, bt when they discovered it was in fact harmless and a lot better than the alternative - alcohol, they adopted it and encouraged it´s use, and cultivated the plant themselves.

Yerba Mate is the 3rd industry in the Iguazu region. First is the Pine tree business for paper, followed by tourism and then by the cultivation of Yebra Mate leaves. The process is complex and takes about a year from picking the leaves to being ready for consumption. The leaves are picked by hand, left to settle, shaken periodically and are ready for sale in about a year. definitely a fine art !

Our flights were uneventful. Thankfully both on time and we arrived as planned in Bariloche about 7.30pm. The terrain on the approach to Bariloche airport was very different to anything we had seen to date in Argentina. In fact it resembled a huge Links Golf Course with dunes and fairways. We reckon it would take a while to get around it with a 7 iron !

We drove from the airport to the hotel through some magnificent scenery and we could see why the area is often referred to as Little Switzerland. It has a very Alpine feel and the lakes and surrounding mountains are truely wonderful. We arrived at our Country Club, the Arelauquen, to find a vast estate of private villas and lodges. We´re staying in the main Guest Lodge, a beautiful building that looks like an overgrown Log Cabin, with a fantastic view over the golf course and the mountains in the background. Here's the view from the lounge in the Lodge .. fantastic. We´re very much looking forward to playing the course tomorrow.