Back to School in Bariloche

San Carlos de Bariloche is a hopping mountain town. It reminds us of Lake Placid, but quite a bit bigger. The backdrop for the the city is snow-capped peaks and a huge lake. So far our primary mission here is to work on our Spanish speaking skills. Our classes have been very helpful so far. We each have a 4 hour morning lesson, and a 2 hour afternoon lesson. My morning class has only 1 other person in who is from Canada, and Beth´s morning lesson has 2 other women from the States. Our afternoon lessons are private where we can decide what we want to work on. We are currently staying at an apartment that goes along with our class. It is basically our own house with kitchen and wireless. What more can we ask for?

We moved to a hostel on Friday, and stayed for a few more days to enjoy the surrounding mountains. We hiked to Cerro Campenario which National Geographic said was one of the most spectacular views in the world. It was amazing. It was also amazing how easy the hike was to get up there.

We will continue to head south to Tierra del Fuego through the towns of El Bolsen, Chalten, and El Calafate. Patagonia is a tourist hotspot, and we are in the middle of their busiest season. We are ready for it to be a little less crazy and expensive. We´re not sure that will happen while we are in Argentina.

Rio Malargue

Our time in Malargue, Argentina was spent relaxing more than anything. We rented some bikes and rode around. We rode our bicycles to Rio Malargue where I was able to get my feet wet and go fishing, while Beth found a nice tree to sit under and read. Rio Malargue is more or less a glorified drainage ditch with trout in it. Many of the rivers in this area are heavily used for irrigation to the surrounding farms.

Even in the blazing 95 degree heat, this river ran fast and cool flowing out of the nearby mountains. I had a good day of fishing. I caught four rainbow trout. The fish definately weren´t sluggish like you would think in that kind of heat. These frisky fish were good fighters. The trout ranged from 10-15 inches.

Not exactly a vegetarian paradise...

The Argentinians are crazy about grilling meat. We´ve dined on some of the best steaks we have ever had for the best prices we ever paid. Most of the Argentines have what are called parillas outside their homes to grill on. Seba, Agustina´s husband, is a grill master. The grilling is taken pretty seriously here. Each barbeque we have had was a feast. We´ve also had Chorizo (sausage) and blood sausage. The chorizo was amazing!

A few nights ago, we had dinner at a hostel in Malargue, Argentina. They had what they called a chivo party. Chivo is goat, and boy was it tasty. The chivo was not the only meat they were grilling, though. We also tried cow and goat kidneys and cow and goat intestines. I must say that I am not sure I will be ordering any of those in the next restauant we hit.

Mendoza, Argentina

Sorry for the lull in posting. This last week found us visiting with our friend Agustina in her hometown of Mendoza. It is a large city of a few million with tree lined streets and many walking malls where you can sit, drink coffee, and watch the world go by. It was hot, hot, hot there. Most days were in the mid-nineties.
Navigating a foreign city isn´t as easy as we hoped for a couple of country mice like us, so we are happier to be in quieter territory now. The highlight of the week in Mendoza was traveling into the Andes to the climber´s basecamp of Aconcagua. The first night we "slept" on the floor in a tent belonging to an expedition from Germany or something. Agustina is more or less the queen of Aconcagua. She knows all the rangers, the climbing guides, and it seems like everyone else up at basecamp. She is currently writing the land management plan for the entire park, so she gets around.
Besides the amazing view of Aconcagua we hiked to, my favorite part was the ruins of an Inca ceremonial site. It was closed to the public, but Agustina took us up there. The small circular ruins were situated perfectly in line with the peaks of two sacred mountains that were 30 kilometers apart. Our compass verified the amazing accuracy the Incas had 1000 years ago.
We´re currently in the small town of Malargue staying at a hostel. This town has a lack of USB ports in it´s computers, so sorry about the lack of picture. These computers are worse than the ones up at Spruce. It is hard to imagine, I know. I´ll make up for it next time. Really.

Buenos Aires

Hola!

Everything down here in the Southern Hemisphere is great! We are currently in Mendoza, Argentina after a 14 bus ride. Don´t cry for us though, we rode ejecutivo and it was as plush as it gets. We arrived in Mendoza two days and are visiting with our friend Augustina and her husband Sebastion. They have been great hosts. Mendoza is in the heart of Argentinian wine country, so we have been drinking great wine and enjoying good company.

Beunos Aires is a beautiful city with much European influence. We visited many tree-lined plazas where we drank coffee, watched couples dance the tango, explored old churches, and mastered the Metro. Our minimal language skills are getting us by, but we are now thinking about taking a class to firm up our skills so we can get more out of the experiences we are having.



We will continue to explore Mendoza for the weekend until we will catch a bus into the Andes. We have been able to see the foothills of the mountains from the city and are very excited to get into the longest mountain chain in the world. Both Agustina and Sebastion work in Acongacua National Park, so we will have wonderful guides trekking around Acongacua, South America´s highest mountain.