Beauty and the Beef

If Bariloche is just the tip of Patagonia, then I really can't imagine how much more beautiful it gets by going further south. However, we decided that we didn't have enough time to see everything that we would want to see in the amount of time that we have for Argentina. So it looks like there will have to be another trip to Argentina in the future.

The rest of our stay in Bariloche was great. We woke up the next morning after eating a delicious meal of tandorri trout, a regional speciality, to a gray and cloudy sky. Thinking the day was shot, we wandering into town going from chocolate shop to chocolate shop hoping to collect as many free samples as possible. As we were stuffing our faces, the clouds broke and we decided to work off some of those calories. We heard about a walk to a waterfall and decided to try our luck there and actually find a waterfall. We did. It was a nice waterfall, but the walk was shorter than we thought it was going to be so we set off on one to a viewpoint. Wow, that was the walk we were looking for. Very steep climb, but the view was fantastic overlooking the lakes and mountains surrounding us. Definitely worth climbing over rocks to get there.

The next day we woke up to similar weather. Luck didn't hold out that day and the clouds never really cleared. However, we did find a luge. Very, very excited about that. And the weather was a perfect excuse to enjoy some cheese fondue. Yum!!!!!!! I really don't think its ever possible to eat too much cheese.

Saturday morning we got up really early to take the bus to a little hippie community about 2 hours south of Bariloche called El Bolson. They have a really awesome craft market on the weekend that I'm so glad we decided to go to. I bought all sorts of goodies for myself. El Bolson was absolutely gorgeous. The mountains are much higher and snow capped. Its not right on a lake like Bariloche, but doesn't lack any of its beauty. The town is only around 22,000 which was fantastic to be able to cross the street without worring about getting run down.


Sunday was probably my favorite day of the entire trip so far. We had booked a horseback riding trip in the Andes for that morning. Again it was cloudy when we woke up and I thought it was going to be a bust. AH HA! Just as we started to ride up into the mountains the clouds started to lift and we could see all the beautiful valleys and farms and mountains. At one point while riding we were even above some of the clouds. Riding was amazing, the area grows a lot of blackberries and we could pull them off the bushes while we were riding. I loved everything about this day, it was one of those days that I really can't believe that this is what I'm doing.

However, since that was my best day, it had to be followed by the worst day. Not really the worst and I feel bad complaining, but it was pretty terrible. We had booked a bus to take us up to Cordoba which was going to take 25 hours. And the bus only had semi-camma, which really isn't so bad, but it was since we were sitting next a little boy who was throwing up. And then him mom would feed him more cakes and let him play in aisle with his trucks and just be plain annoying. For 25 hours. I could not have been more happier to arrive in Cordoba.

Cordoba is the second largest city in Argentina and has a really large student population. We were exhausted when we arrived at the hostel and coudln't wait to shower. But we had to wait a little longer since the water was out when we got here. Finally we did get cleaned up and set out to explore. We went to a museum and walked around the city. The higlight of the day though was back at the hostel. They had arranged for an acoustic band to come and play on the rooftop. They were amazing, played some bassanova, jazz, samba and sang in English and Spanish. It was a really relaxing way to enjoy the evening.


We booked a day trip for the next day to take us to Alta Gracia and the surrounding Calamuchita Valley. Alta Gracia has an old Jesuit site that was really cool to explore and interesting to learn about. The real reason everyone goes to this town though is the Che Guevara Museum that is there. It is actually in the house that his family moved to in the area when they had to leave the city to treat his asthma. Putting my feelings for Che aside, the museum was really great. A lot of pictures from his life and it was set up really tastefully and not exploiting him like the rest of the world. We talked about this later, but about how Che would hate how he has been commercialized and people wear shirts with his face and don't even understand what it means.

The rest of the excursion was really nice and super nice to not have to think about what bus to get on and where to have to be and how to get there. We had an english speaking guide as well, so we actually knew what we were looking at too. The last spot for the day was the community of Villa Generla Belgrano. Its a German community was establishe after the second world war and its so weird to be in. It kind of looks like New Glarus but with everything in Spanish. Its set up kind of for tourists, but its so strange to see all these beer steins and bavarian type building in the middle of Argentina.

Yesterday was a really great day in Cordoba. We met up with Lucas, a local that we had met in Sao Paulo and had exchanged info with. He was lucky enough to show us around the city and be our guide/translator for the day. Its always great being with a local too since we found out much more about the city than we would have on our own. We walked past many of the places that we had the other day, but now we actually knew what we were looking at and the history of it. Super fun! We went to an art museum and walked around a pond in a park and capped off the great day with a few brews. And no matter what Lucas would say, his English was really great and sooooooo much better than the Spanglish that I speak.

We had a BBQ on the roof of the hostel last night. Beef, Beef, and more BEEF! We haven't had a BBQ in a while so it was nice to get back on track with enjoying some of the best in the world. And it was cooked just the way I like it. Pink!

Today we woke up to rain. Probably just going to relax and maybe go see Alice in Wonderland. Getting on the night bus to Salta this evening. In executive class. We ride in style now after the last experience. I really just think there should be a special family area where kids should be kept so they don't bother everyone else. Like at church.

I'm continuing to love Argentina more and more each day. The one issue that I do have is that they don't recycle. A little part of me dies every time I put my plastic bottle in the garbage. The litter too is a little bit of an issue, but its the recycling that I really stress about. Brazil was really great about it and had set up bins for plastic and glass everywhere. But if thats is my only complaint, well then, I really am enjoying myself.

Hope everyone has a fantastic Easter and finds all the eggs the Easter Bunny hid!