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Surrounded by national parkland and seated on a massive glacier fed lake,
Bariloche is a dream come true for outdoor enthusiasts.

Above picture was taken before ... now what does it look like after the eruption?
Volcanic eruptions, continuing now for six months, have devastated this city of 130,000 and nearby Argentine
communities, which are economically dependent on skiers in winter and fishermen and trekkers in summer.
Regional airports have been paralyzed. Hotel bookings are way down and restaurants are largely empty.
Several thousand residents have pulled up stakes in search of better prospects elsewhere.

Its roof having collapsed under the weight of Puyehue's volcanic ash,
a shed sits crumpled in the grit in Villa Llanquín, Argentina, on June 17.

On that same day the Associated Press reported that ash from Puyehue had fully circled the globe.
After 13 days riding air currents, the ash had returned home.
Photograph by Francisco Ramos Mejia, AFP/Getty Images
National Geographic Daily News.

A cloud of ash from Chile's Puyehue volcano (map), which began erupting on June 4,
creates a golden-hued sunset near the mountain resort of San Martín de Los Andes in Argentina on June 12.
© Patricio Rodriguez, Reuters

The corrosive and obscuring volcanic ash has grounded airplanes all across South America and even in Australia,
but the tiny dust and glass particles are also responsible for an optical effect that has lead to spectacular sunsets
and sunrises filled with bright gold, fiery orange, and blood red hues around the globe
National Geographic Daily News.

Life for the inhabitants of this area are getting difficult. To make plans for the next week or month, or even
the next year, all depends on the direction of the wind and the amount of ash to come up from the Puyehue volcano.

Though the intensity of eruptions has diminished in recent months, specialists has been wondering why
the volcano continues to put out ash in such a long time after the first eruption.

Federal and regional officials declared an economic emergency in the region, helped procure Inter-American Development Bank funds for the cleanup and dispensed subsidies to businesses that did not fire workers.

No longer able to count on tourists flying in from Brazil, the U.S. or Europe, (the airport is still closed) the hotels
are now trying to enticeless-well heeled visitors making road trips from Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.
One hotel has had to offer discounts of between 35% and 50%.


Villa la Angostura, before the eruption.
Photo from: http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/badman-kirsty/1/1300676345/tpod.html

In a nearby Argentine town called Villa La Angostura, perhaps one-tenth of the population of about 12,000 has
migrated, due mainly to poor economic prospects. Long known as "the Garden of Patagonia," La Angostura got
plastered with around 12 inches of ash in June

.
That's not snow, it's ashes from the Puyehue volcano
Villa la Angostura, after the eruption.
http://www.mapplr.com/

Some info above are from The Wall Street Journal
"Ash From Chilean Volcano Craters Argentine Towns" , by Matt Moffett