B is for Bariloche, the most incredible place ever

Greetings Loyal Readers,

I apologize for the delay in posting. It

has been a pretty amazing week. I think my last post may have left some of you with the impression that I was not having a spectacular time. Allow me now to correct this grave misconception: this trip is the greatest thing I have ever done. There, that should take care of any doubt.

Now to catch you up. When last I posted Doug, Cyndi and I had narrowly escaped the clutches of the Piramedes midnight motorcycle monster and returned safely to Puerto Madryn. Very good. Having decided that our week was completely

shot, the three of us decided it was time to get the heck outta Dodge so we began to check on our plans to take a bus to Viedma where we would catch a train to Bariloche. Now, Cyndi and I were really, and I mean really, excited about the train. It was going to be our mental salvation. Our bus to Viedma was scheduled to leave around one. Luckily for us, that morning we decided to call the train company to check on the status of the reservations we had made. Turns out not only were there no reservations, there was no train. It was only running a few days this month and rather than let us know that our reservations could not be made due to lack of trains (or that there were no reservations in the first place) they chose to remain silent on the matter. As if the situation required any more stress, my wisdom tooth decided this would be a good time to begin its descent. Yes, that's right, I'm teething.

Naturally, this (being the train, not my wisdom tooth) caused a brief but fierce panic as we now had no reason to go to Viedma and no way out once we got there. Cyndi and I headed down to the bus stations to try and get our tickets refunded. Unfortunately refunds are not a common thing down here. We did however manage to change our tickets (with a small service fee) from Viedma to Bariloche. The only problem was there was only one spot on the bus that night, two of us would have to remain in it's Puerto Madryn and take the bus the next evening. Okay, a day is fine we figured and asked the agent to set us up for the tickets the following day. As she was making our reservations she noticed that we would be unable to make the necessary bus change in Nuequen and therefore would have to stay the night there to wait for the bus to Bariloche or remain in Puerto Madryn an additional two nights. We figured what's another two days at the beach?

It was decided, two of us would remain in Puerto Madryn and the other would go on a scouting mission to Bariloche. After much discussion over lunch it was decided that Doug would go on ahead and Cyndi and I would remain. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening swimming and enjoying the beach. Doug make his bus and Cyndi and I walked back to our hostel under one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen (sorry, no pictures). Our next two days were spent resting up, enjoying daily trips to the beach and equally frequent trips to the heladeria (ice cream shop) near our hostel. N

ow, I should take this opportunity to say that our hostel was awesome, quiet, clean, and affordable. It is called Hostel Punta Ballena and I would recommend it to anyone. Also they had two amazing dogs that kept Cyndi and I company during our time there. Their names are Fanny and Julian (I think that was his name, I just called him Tank). I have tried to include a photo but it doesn't due the Tank justice. He was quite hefty.

Unfortunately, our time at the beach came to an end and it was time for us to begin to make our way south. On Saturday evening Cyndi and I made our way to the bus station and loaded up for our overnight bus to Nuequen. I didn't sleep much but was relieved not to miss our

transfer. The morning passed swiftly, watching bad movies and knitting (Cyndi is teaching me). The morning was spent driving through desert that was actually quite reminiscent of the Pawnee. By 10:30 we were seeing some hills and were able to identify a few rock shelters. Around noon we began to see water. Massive bright blue lacks, incredibly turquoise rivers clear to the bottom, and fly fishermen galore (Dad, you need to live here, we should just move here)!! Our arrival in Bariloche was breathtaking. Doug met us at the bus station and we walked to our hostel.

Bariloche is a lot like Breckenridge or even Vail but with the most beautiful lakes and way more impressive mountains. It was founded by the Swiss and is still known for chocolate and st. bernards, of which I still have seen none (St. Bernards that is. I have seen chocolates . . . lots and lots of chocolates, mmmm).

Our hostel here is incredible. Definitely the best one yet. It's a small family run hostel that takes its quiet hours seriously. The common areas and kitchen are locked around midnight and there is a separate entrance for travelers coming and going after hours. The family are wonderfully sweet and always around. Our heater in our room broke and within five minutes of letting them know, it was being repaired. The hostel is on the outskirts of the main town so you do have to walk 5-10 minutes to get into the main part of town, which is a ski/mountain tourists dream. For us that is of course perfect. It also happens to be one of the cheapest hostels in town. Oh and did I mention the view from the kitchen/eating area? It's pretty spectacular. Today we have begun to prepare for a three day trek. We leave tomorrow and will return on Friday. Expect more posts and pictures on Saturday. Also, I have posted a shutterfly album with many of my recent photos. Enjoy.

Love to all.