My wife and I recently visited Patagonia for 10 days as part of a longer Argentine vacation. Our experience was lovely in all respects except for one glaring, abysmally disappointing exception: the Hotel Las Piedras in Bariloche. We had booked the hotel based on its central, lakeside location, its pleasant appearance from the photos on the internet, and its advertising (with a photo) of a sumptuous breakfast. When we got to the hotel, the lobby was a good deal shabbier looking than the online photos promised. But it was when we got to our room that our hearts really sank. The paint was peeling everywhere, the threadbare carpet was full of cigarette burn holes, the walls and ceiling were splattered with brown and yellow stains, and the ancient, torn curtains hung loosely from bent rods and covered only 2/3 of the harsh streetlights outside the windows. Later, when we tried to make a call from the old rotary-dial phone, we got the front desk, who informed us that no calls outside the... more