| “Every year we have many thousands of
visitors in Bariloche. And all of them want to come to the hotel. Not
everyone knows it is a private resort with guests who deserve their
privacy. Still it is very hard to put a brake on. So what we do is
have guided tours twice a week. We walk them around and tell them the
history of the hotel. In this way, they don’t have the sense that they
are being excluded.”
We are
having drinks with Nora Espector, the front office manager with the
dazzling smile and effervescent style, on the broad, stone terrace
outside the Winter Garden of the Llao Llao (pronounced zhaou-zhaou)
Hotel and Resort. It is only our first afternoon here, but already we
understand.
Earlier
in the day, we had landed in Bariloche, the traditional entrance to
mystical Patagonia which stretches from the Andes to the Atlantic,
from the top of the southern half of Argentina to the bottom of the
South American continent. Our drive from the airport to the hotel
followed the coastline of sapphire-hued Lake Nahuel Huapi, seemingly
as huge as a sea and embraced by jagged mountains streaked with snow.
We arrived at the hotel nearly out of breath and not because of the
altitude. Still the sight of Llao Llao sitting atop a hill
overlooking Lake Nahuel Huapi with a second sapphire expanse, Lake
Moreno, wrapping around the property’s rear, took what little breath
we had left away. The temptation to drive up the road to the parking
area, take in the panorama and perhaps a few photos of the great stone
and cypress lodge, whose peaked red-tiled roofs suggest a Tibetan
temple, would be hard to
resist.
 |
 |
“The hotel is emblematic of Argentina,” Nora
explains. “It encapsulates so much of our nation’s history that some
people think it is a museum. When it first opened in 1938, the
railroad from Buenos Aires to Bariloche was only a few years old. It
was the railroad that made it possible to bring the materials here,
to open up the area and attract tourists. Until then, it was largely
undeveloped. Still, even with the railroad, it took three days to get
here from Buenos Aires.
“The architect was Alejandro Bustillo, the brother
of the man who created Argentina’s national parks. We are located
within Nahuel Huapi National Park -- the first one. They say when
Bustillo came to Bariloche, he walked up this hill, took in the
magnificent views, the little port and the area below -- so perfect
for a golf course, and he said ‘This is the spot.’”
She continues, “One year after the opening, a fire
completely destroyed the hotel. It was re-built and opened again in
1940, and for nearly forty years it drew a crowd of aristocrats,
government officials, and foreign dignitaries. I came to Bariloche for
the first time when I was nine years old, and I have a photograph in
my brain of the hotel at that time. It was August. There was snow. It
was so beautiful.
“Then in 1978 –during a tumultuous period in
Argentine history, the time of the military junta and the
‘disappeared’ – Llao Llao closed down. Not many tourists were coming
to Argentina then. For us, it was a sin to see this place closed,
neglected and abandoned. The lawns that had been so carefully
manicured were wild with weeds, the windows smashed, the interior
ransacked. But so it remained until 1993 when Citicorp came into the
picture and bought the property from the government.
| “By then, Argentina had been a
democracy for nine years,” Nora adds, “and the situation was much
happier. Citicorp made a major investment; they brought a
management company from the United States to get the hotel up and
running again. And in 1997 they sold it to the present owners: two
Argentine families.”
She pauses, and flashes that smile. “So we are
working for Argentines now, and it is a pleasure.” |
Nora Espector, front office manager with the
dazzling smile and
effervescent style |
For us, the pleasure was sitting with Nora on this
perfect summer afternoon in January(!), looking beyond the terrace to
the meticulously cared-for lawn that sloped down to the banks of Lake
Nahuel Huapi, a glassy pane that melded dark green reflections of
cypress and pine trees with the blue of a cloudless sky. Squat
triangular-shaped mountains, part of the Andes range, some still
trimmed with last winter’s snow, rose up in the distance. But off to
the left, among the mountains framing Lake Moreno, a single loftier
triangle of pure white emerged from the rest. This is the Tronador
(Thunder) Glacier. “It is so called because over the summer, chunks of
ice break off and fall into the lake with such ferocity, it sounds
like thunder,” Nora says. “To hear the roar of thunder on a day like
today is quite an experience.”
We did not get to hear the thunder, but we did get
to see the Llao Llao gardens ablaze with color at the height of their
bloom: beds filled with honeysuckle, holly, lupine, foxgloves, lilies,
rhododendrons and azaleas, massive rock gardens interspersed with
fragrant thyme, and an abundance of roses: scarlet and white
floribundas, miniatures in great stone urns, yellow and pink hybrid
teas surrounded by clumps of lavender (a Llao Llao theme that
re-appears in soaps and sachets in all guest rooms).
We also got to take in as much as we could of the
111-acre property and its offerings in a series of days where not a
single cloud marred the sky and the sun did not set until close to 10
at night. To fill the long daylight hours, a multitude of activities
beckoned: yoga, aerobics, salsa and tango classes, tennis, mountain
biking, swimming in the edgeless pool that faces the Tronador Glacier,
health and beauty treatments at the full-service spa, escorted or
private walks on a sylvan trail following Lake Moreno, eighteen holes
of golf on an 86-acre course with fairways that offer incomparable
scenic splendor and a clubhouse hidden in the trees, boat excursions
from Puerto Pañuelo, Bariloche’s most important lake harbor and
departure point for a range of Nahuel Huapi expeditions.
At times, in terms of international reputation,
quality offerings, exemplary service (there are 450 employees and 162
rooms), and attention to detail, Llao Llao reminded us of the much
larger Breakers Resort of Palm Beach, Florida. At other times, it
brought to mind the national parks of Montana and Wyoming. And then
again, the setting of lake and snow-tipped alps made us think of
Montreux, Switzerland.
Yet Llao Llao defies comparison, so locked is it
into a most unique locale where remnants of the Ice Age and a
sophisticated continental ambience comfortably co-exist.
The setting is Llao Llao’s most defining element,
from within as much as without. Windows are strategically placed
throughout framing a multitude of perspectives. The huge entrance hall
is high and wide with cypress beams strapping the ceiling. Floors are
gleaming wooden planks; walls are of hewn logs, smooth beams and
massive stone. Tall wooden pillars branch out like trees, and the
intoxicating aroma of roses can make one swoon.
A nearly 330-foot-long gallery that bisects the
width of the building provides access to all interior spaces:
ballroom/conference halls, library, lounges, restaurants, and
corridors to rooms and stairwells. The entrance hall is off the
gallery’s center. On the other side is the lobby bar, flanked by two
enormous fireplaces, where a “Happy Hour” draws guests for pre-dinner
cocktails and live entertainment provides after-dinner pleasures. Just
beyond, the glass-walled Winter Garden, which serves lunch and
afternoon tea, looks out to the stone terrace where we sat with Nora
soon after our arrival admiring the midsummer view that is transformed
during July and August into a snowy landscape, with ski trails
running down the mountainsides.
The Winter Garden seen through the Lobby Bar |
This window frames a view of Tronador Glacier (upper left) |
Paintings by Argentine artists line the gallery
walls. Shops offer Argentine handicrafts and products. At one end of
the gallery, a grand stairway descends to a ballroom (originally a
casino) which turns a corner into a window-lined expanse where
breakfast and the nightly barbeque are served. Just beyond is a duplex
of restaurants: the coffee shop on the main level, Los Césares below.
Llao Llao’s gastronomic dining room continues the
rustic yet elegant ambience that pervades the hotel in its
spaciousness, comfortable furnishings, antique fixtures, and
unexpected formalities like the presentation of entrees covered with
silver domes that are removed in unison. Chef Dario Gualtieri brings
to Los Césares a wealth of experience from the international kitchens
he’s worked in, places on the level of the Hotels Crillon and Bristol
in Paris. His classic menu is highlighted by Argentine products, in
particular the excellent pink trout and salmon from local waters and
the famed Argentine beef and lamb, simply grilled or prepared in
complex sauces. One memorable touch was the tableside assemblage of a
Caesar salad in the old fashioned way: the huge wooden bowl being
rubbed with a garlic clove before beautiful fresh beautiful greens,
mashed anchovies, grated cheese, and croutons were added one at a time
followed by the tossing with raw egg, olive oil and lemon juice. An
artistic presentation and a superb starter.
Making the salad |
And choosing the wine (with the help of sommelier Valeria
Weihmuller) |
The wine suggested by the Swiss-trained, young and
clearly intelligent sommelier Valeria Weihmuller was a Malbec
from Mendoza, aromatic, deep and fruity. The Malbec grape,
transplanted from Cahors in southwest France, has taken on an identity
and quality all its own in Argentine soil and has gone far in putting
Argentina on the map of quality wines. Llao Llao has its own Malbec
label because, as Nora told us, it is typical of Argentina and it
never disappoints.
Even though neighboring Chile had elected its first
female prime minister the week before, the sight of a female sommelier
at Llao Llao came as something of a surprise. “Argentina is still a
country that men rule,” Nora agreed. “But at this property, women have
important positions.” In her position as front office manager for the
past seven years, Nora clearly is the face of the hotel.
The vivacious native of Buenos Aires decided on a
career in tourism after reading Arthur Haley’s “Hotel” when she was
twelve years old. Plans to study in Switzerland were sidetracked after
she met a Swedish man on a fishing trip in Patagonia. They married,
lived in Sweden for a while, returned to Argentina, and later
divorced. Today she raises her three sons in Bariloche.
“When we moved here, I started in another property
nearby. It was a small boutique hotel, just 14 rooms,” she told us. “I
loved it because in a small hotel, you learn that service is what
matters. It is ‘the extra mile.’ I was there for nine years, and then
I was called by Llao Llao. It was the same neighborhood only a
different job. But I’ve brought that ‘extra mile’ along.
“I had always known about Llao Llao,” she added. “To
every Argentine, you mention Llao Llao, and it is wow!”
Gilda Fuentes, who handles Guest Relations with her
partner Veronica Peralta, echoes Nora’s enthusiasm. “Even in the whole
country of Argentina, it is difficult to find a hotel more beautiful
than Llao Llao, difficult to find a better setting.
“To me, the hotel is a metaphor of Argentina with
all its ups and downs. It came back to life after the country got rid
of the military and came back to life itself. Now after the economic
crisis of 2001, which was the worst time I remember in my short life,
the hotel has come back to life once again. Argentina is becoming more
and more a popular tourist destination. It is safe; the government is
stable. And we have 80% occupancy with 65% of the guests coming from
out of the country.”
Gilda Fuentas |
Veronica
Peralta |
It was from Gilda that we learned that “Llao Llao”
means “sweet, sweet” in the language of the indigenous Mapuche
Indians. It refers to a mushroom that looks like a clump of orange
beads and grows on branches of the coihue tree, an evergreen typical
of the area with a tall trunk, gracefully curved branches and fine
pine needles. Along the trails near the hotel, there seemed to be
forests of them, some as tall and broad as Sequoias.
| There was one moment that it
suddenly dawned on us why they looked so familiar. A coihue grows
outside our dining room window. We’d never paid too much attention
to it except to notice that it was different from the white pines
so prevalent in the region. But now, named and recognized, our
coihue tree has taken on a special meaning. It remains a constant
memory of and connection to the singular sensation that is the
Llao Llao Hotel and beautiful Bariloche. |
 |
Llao Llao Hotel and Resort
Av. Ezequiel Bustillo km. 25
R8401 ALN Bariloche, Rio Negro
Argentina
Phone: (54.2944)448530
Web:
www.llaollao.com
Member Leading Hotels of the World
Photographs by
Harvey Frommer |
