Getting to explore Bariloche in more detail (and feeling better) than yesterday. The major objective was to get to the top of the ridge behind the town to see the next range properly, and this objective was achieved, through what was a pretty solid climb for the first 4k. Didn't feel stunning, but certainly better than the last couple of days. Crispest running conditions I've been in for a while - brilliantly sunny but chilly in a Canberra September sense (it was -0.5 overnight, though got close to 20 today).
One slightly annoying feature of the run was the large number of loose dogs (I've seen this before a bit in South America, but not to this extent) - only a couple gave any sort of trouble but still a bit disconcerting. I'm told there are many more in Chile (though Chile is also rabies-free which takes one issue out of the equation). Somewhat to my surprise, most of the residential streets outside the immediate town centre are gravel (even though the housing quality suggests that many served reasonably well-off areas; maybe this comes from the East Ivanhoe Boulevard school of traffic calming).
As I expected, the more ambitious walks from here were off the agenda because of too much snow cover (the snowline is at about 1600m) and/or because they're served by summer-only buses which aren't running yet, but I still managed to get a nice one in along the top of the ridge next to town, about 600m above (accessed via chairlift) - lots of stunning views. (That said, if I understand the course directions correctly, a lot of the under-snow ones feature in
this race to be run on Sunday, especially in the 80k and 50k).
Other items on today's agenda included making acquisitions from one of Bariloche's famous array of chocolate shops, and being only partially successful in the latest stage of my bid to cast a vote in the Victorian election. (I've received my ballot papers, but the declaration envelope needs to be witnessed by either an Australian citizen or a local government official/police officer; I haven't found any of the former yet, and the latter will only do it through a specific office for certifications which doesn't open again until Tuesday - it's a long weekend here - by which time I'll be long gone. I think I've got a decent chance of finding a fellow citizen in El Chalten, but whether the vote will then make it back from such a remote place in time to be counted - 11 days after polling day is the magic number, I think - is anyone's guess).