Bye bye Bariloche...

So I´ve been in Bariloche, Argentina the past 3 nights, and it is quite the beautiful place. It is nestled right in the Patagonia (though not too far south), and is on a lake in between loads of mountains. Pretty touristy place, full of lots of Brazileños and porteños (people from Buenos Aires), plus all of us backpackers from around the world. There are chocolate shops EVERYWHERE and omg they are so good. My fave is Mumushka :) This place is also well known for having the largest ski resort in the southern hemisphere, Cerro Catedral, though sadly i can´t say i visited it! There hasn´t been new snow since last week, and therefore I am not repeating my oh-so-fabulous experience of Los Penitentes again with bad snow and equipment that didn´t fit!

So what have I done? Well, the first night my 4 other friends from Pucón and I walked around the streets taking it all in, and had a nice dinner at a local spot. My steak was so so, yet another not great ARgentinian steak experience. When is it going to happen - that perfect bite?! Hoping in BA...anyway, it´s odd, they don´t sell alcohol in stores after 11pm here, which i guess is good, but then it forces you to go to a bar and pay almost as much for a pint of beer as i did for dinner! Which by the way was 17 pesos (the pint), or about $5.75. Pretty expensive for beer, but cheap for dinner and wine!

The 2nd day a girl I met from the UK, Madeline (who reminds me of Marissa! Happy birthday Mariss!!), and I went to Cerro Otto, and hiked to the top rather than taking the cable cars. Well, that was basically straight up for over an hour, so it was rough, and i was trekking thru snow in a t-shirt b-c i was so hot! Gorgeous views on top though, and worth it. Lucky for us, as we started our descent, we were picked up by 3 cute porteños who gave us a lift back to the centro. Nice! I walked around town a bit more, and bought a bottle of wine for the upcoming wine fiesta at my fantastic Hostel 1004 (which is so named for the apartment number on the 10th floor). That was a blast, and enjoyed a bit too much wine with some of my new and old friends. That then led to a night at South Bar with 3 Irish girls, 2 Scots, and loads of cute ARgentinians...

Yesterday i had a rude awakening at 8am for my all day visit to El Tronador, a huge mountain and glacier about 2 hours away. I sat in the bus almost all day with Alli and Elle, two British girls who were very sweet. We got out and walked around and had lunch, etc etc, and took in the sights. Last night I was ready for bed by 8pm, but made myself stay awake to figure out my situation with Buenos Aires. I am now taking a bus versus my Airpass flight since I didn´t book anything in time! It´s winter break and everyone apparently is traveling b-t here and there...so 19 hours from the time I leave i will be in the capital city! Oh boy! Overnight bus, sweet...but I have a "cama" seat so it´s not that bad :)

Alright, gotta go get the bus, Ill catch up more from BA! Enjoy the beautiful photos...having issues with flickr so the latest aren´t on there yet!