Autumn in Bariloche

Autumn in Bariloche is off season for tourists, but we came anyway, and it's incredible.

The poplars are bright yellow. The lengas and ñirres are still mostly green, but you can see the deepening red blush spreading down the mountainside as the leaves turn. The leaves go so bright that I had to check they weren't berries. (The trees that I think are rowans do have berries, and there are a lot of rosehips.)

We've gone for a walk and a drive around the Circuito Chico and headed out along the Route of the Seven Lakes, between Villa La Angostura and San Martin de los Andes, in Neuquén.

The stream in the video splits in two against some rocks. One part ends up flowing through Argentina to the Atlantic, while the other flows through Chile to the Pacific. Coming on it as I prepare to leave South America, i can't help but think of it as the stream of unsubtle life metaphors. (Alas the internet told me I would be able to rotate it and I cannot, but it's worth turning your phone, honest)

There is also an enormous shrine to Gauchito Gil along ruta 40, right where it skirts Bariloche. We went today and there were candles still alight.