Hello. Hello Friends.
If I could compare Bariloche to any other city. It would be a mix of Denver and Switzerland. This, I did not like. It was an expensive town with expensive foods and expensive everything. We did end up partying a lot so that made it worth the while. Apparently Bariloche is the place to be for Passover. Every Israeli in South America comes here for Seder. Seder was a trip. I was the ONLY American in a room of 500 hebrew speaking Israelis. I did find two girls to chat with but they said they were going out for a cigarette and never came back :( Story of my life. Seder was nuts. Everyone yelling and dancing and fighting for food and wine. I barely got any food and they didn’t even have matzoh ball soup. We spent most of our days there walking around the city. It was expensive to check out the 7 lakes so instead we went hiking 20 minutes out of the city. The guide said this trek was “Easy to Moderate” “Good for families of all ages for a day trip” This trek was the fucking hardest thing I have ever experienced. Inclines where you are using both hands to hang onto the wall. No signage of where the trail is and we kept getting lost. We were with 2 Portland, Oregon-ers and they hike all the time and were flying up but Joey and I were struggling in the back. It was also the windiest wind I have ever experienced. We got knocked down a few times because of it. We got to the top and there is a house there where you can have lunch. We ate fruit, canned corn, canned tuna, and had beers. It also dropped like 30 degrees up there and it actually started SNOWING when we started our way back down. We were NOT prepared for that. It was still very awesome. We spent most of our time with two awesome Brazilians and two awesome Portuguese girls. Its been so great meeting other people.
We then bussed it over to Mendoza.
*Quick side story. In the summer of ´05, I was backpacking through Europe on a short 2 week trip. We ended our trip in Madrid. The night we get there, it happened to be the BIGGEST festival of the year, and every hostel-hotel was booked to the brim. No space. We ended up having to take a train 30 minutes out of the city to rent an apt at the scariest hotel in the world*
This happened in Mendoza. Easter Weekend is super famous in Mendoza. Everybody comes here. So we ended up walking around to every hostel and asking for room, but there wasnt any. We ended up sitting around and waiting until things opened so we can start calling places. We went to the Office of Tourism and they found us a place not too far from the center. It was pretty nice, except the owner kept giving us shit. Slamming the door, coming back late from partying, using a little olive oil for our rice. We have been cooking some awesome meals here, and one night, her niece came to visit her and she was really friendly with us and all of a sudden, the owners attitude changed and she was the nicest person every. Too bad we were leaving the next day because that place was so damn expensive.
We ended up going to another hostel completely in the opposite direction but it cost 22.50 pesos a night. That is 6.50 USD! And its awesome. The owners are cool as hell and they have an awesome dog. Joey and I did a great bike and wine tour (the same one i did 4 years ago when i stopped in mendoza) and it was just as awesome. You just get bikes and drink wine and ride along a highway and pray you dont get killed!
At the new hostel, we met these two Texans, Shawn and Jessica. Shawn has been traveling for the last 3.5 years! He has some crazy stories (including hitching a ride on a sailboat across the Pacific. Pretty much breaking his arm half way through the ride, and even after reaching land, not finding a doctor for 3 weeks!). They invited me to go to a hot springs at the base of the Andes with them the next morning. So the 3 of us went, and it was pretty cool. We are just chilling in these spring pools and looking at a river flowing through the canyon we are in. VERY relaxing. We got back and made some amazing empanadas on the grill and also some good Argentinean steak. It´s going to be a shame to get back to the states and have to buy overpriced foods. (A steak dinner with empanadas and wine cost me about 4 USD)
Also, my storage unit in NY called my house and told me there might be some water damage in my unit. My brother went to go check it out and almost everything was ruined. (My laptop was underwater, my hard-drive with my Jesus movie-documentaries-and photos, My photos from photo class, my mattress, my shelving unit which was brand new, and all my clothes had mold growing on it) They wanted to move all my stuff but said my Brother couldn’t do it without a notarized letter from me. This was on a Saturday. EVERYTHING IS FUCKING CLOSED HERE ON THE WEEKENDS. It took me 2 hours to find a place that could print and fax. When i got the letter, NOTHING WAS OPEN TO GET IT NOTORIZED. Nothing, I mean nothing was open. I even called the US Embassy to see if they could help, and they were closed. Unbelievable. I ended up talking to the lady there and sending the un-notarized paper and begging her to let my brother just move the stuff. Saying things like “Listen, he´s a doctor, you can trust him. He has pictures of me on his phone, he has the same last name. Please please please” She said she would ask her boss the next morning and i guess it worked because he got in a moved everything. Shitty situation. All my stuff has been destroyed. My brother did tell me something pretty cool though. In Buddhism, you get rid of all your worldly possessions, and even have a funeral for your death. You are then reborn a monk. So this is kind of like that. All my things damaged and destroyed. Hopefully the insurance I paid for will cover everything but you know how those corporate companies screw you with the contracts they make you sign.
We leave tomorrow for Chile, the other guys want to go to Valparaiso but I want to go to Pucon to climb a volcano i was told is super fucking awesome. I leave next Wed. for the states and will be starting over.
Much love to everyone. Talk to you in a week.
Robert
PS. There is a pick up line we learned here (that only works on Argentineans) It goes like this
You point to the ground and say “Se te cayo tu papel” meaning “You dropped your paper”
They look at the ground for the paper they dropped
Then you say “El que te envuelve Bon Bon” which means “The one that wrapped the Bon Bon” (Bon Bon is a chocolate here)
THE GIRLS GO NUTS FOR IT. I don’t understand it. I guess you are calling them sweet but they start blushing and laughing and it has probably worked 98% of the time. Its pretty fun to do to everyone we see since every girl here is gorgeous.
