Skiing in July

Forgive us for the hiatus, but we went on another spontaneous trip this weekend, this time to the freezing yet spectacular Bariloche which is located in northern Patagonia.  Just in case you were wondering, I brought my Patagonia jacket to match and boy was I happy I had it with me.  Did I mention it was freezing??

To get there, we took our first 20+ hour bus ride, just like the Argentines do.  It's really the way to go if you are traveling within the country:  seats that fully recline like beds, the right price, and even complimentary wine.  Also, good company ...

The food on our way down to Bariloche had some high points (not many), but I was really hoping that the bus food was not foreshadowing our "all-included" hostel food that we'd be eating for the next 3 days. When we finally arrived in town to breathtaking views (I actually mean that, not like in the Seinfeld way), we headed off with our group on a tour to see more breathtaking vistas.  

Our group for the duration of the trip consisted of nearly 30 people from all over the globe -- USA, Puerto Rico, Mexico, The Dominican Republic, Argentina, Brazil, England, Malaysia, etc, most of whom are spending an extended amount of time in Argentina like us.  It was the first time Cait and I have been fully immersed with people primarily speaking Espanol and while we may not have been able to participate in all conversations, we picked up quite a bit.  Thank you Vamos Spanish Academy! 

On day 2, we did what any good visitor to Bariloche would do and went skiing.  While Caitlin was sailing off on the blacks and reds, I of course took the beginners package, trying not to admit to any of my classmates that I have skied 3 times before.  I was really happy to have taken the lesson though because it ended up being an all day affair with a great end result - in the morning a 2 hour lesson and then in the afternoon, a trip down a green trail with the instructor.  Truth be told, the last time I went skiing was in Massachusetts 2+ years ago and I think my friend Lisa can attest to how ridiculously awful and scared I was on the green.  So, you can imagine how proud I was to make it to the bottom of the mountain this time!  Not without incident, of course.  I had a minor run-in with a fellow beginner in which his ski pole somehow made its way directly to my mouth.  I made sure all my teeth were intact, confirmed I was bleeding from the girl next to me, and then got right back up and completed the trail.  Woo hoo!

The funny thing about taking a ski lesson in Argentina is that the lesson is obviously in Spanish.  My instructor also spoke a bit of English though, and has really perfected his gestures, so I had 3 ways to figure out for the 4th time how to ski.  Luckily I could piece together most of his Spanish, since after he would gesture and speak in Spanish for let's say 5 minutes at a time, he would "translate" the same thing for me in English for about 3 seconds.  Luckily again, I had skied before, so the day ended up being pretty amazing.  The views from the mountain were spectacular and Caitlin said the views from where she skied from were even more magnificent.  These photos confirm!!

After a long day on the slopes (ha, it's funny to hear myself say that), I was so hungry I could have eaten a sandwich from a gas station with the Griswolds.  Like I said, I was not super excited about going from bus food to hostel food, because really, how good could hostel food be.  Well, let's just say it couldn't have been further from the bus food.  We actually gave the cook a round of applause all 3 nights because each meal was muy muy rico!!!!  I haven't had soup since I have been here (unless you include Ramen noodles, which I won't) and I've really missed it, nearly as much as peanut butter.  To my delight, soup was the first course of all 3 nights and it was just as fantastic as the rest of the meal.  Delicious.

On top of our fab meals, the chocolate in Bariloche is heavenly, so we experienced a bit of that as well. 

We got back from our long bus ride this morning at 8, dropped off our stuff at home and then went right back out to class.  What good students we are!  :)