Bariloche, Argentina

On Saturday we took the bus to El Bolson. A town about 1.5 hours south of Bariloche. El Bolson is in a valley surrounded by mountains. They have a huge feria 3 days a week in which the locals sell their handicrafts, home brews, fruits and jams.


There is more chocolate and chocolate shops than you can imagine in Bariloche! We made our selfs sick at least one day...


A short hike to the top of Cerro Campanario for views of the Lake and snow capped mountains.


Zapallitos. We ate a lot of these at Martha's house. It tastes similar to squash. We have eaten as a side sauteed with onions/eggs/tomatoes and a tart. There are larger ones are called zapallos and are like a pumpkin.


Our home for the week in Bariloche

April 19-April 26
We have traveled many kilometers since our last update...here is a re-cap.


It was quite an adventure to get to Bariloche. After leaving our hotel in Cartagena before the sun came up on 4/16, spending a night in the Santiago, Chile airport, stopping in Buenos Aires for a minute, and one overnight bus, we finally arrived in Bariloche on 4/19....ready to start school again on Monday. We arranged to stay with a host family again. This time it was Martha Vasquez and her son Marciano. She also, like our other family cooked breakfast and dinner for us. However, meals are a little different in Argentina. Breakfast-everywhere-is bread/toast with dulce de leche and duranzo (peach) mermelada along with coffee or tea. Dinner on the other hands is typically much more filling and usually not until 9:30 pm. Breakfast was at 8 since we had class at 9, so this has made for some long days here. Dinner was usually carne (beef) with something or pizza. School was fantastic here, we can tell we are progressing...but still so much to learn! There was some sort of excursion everyday with the school. We took salsa lessons, watched Motorcylce Diaries in Spanish with spanish subtitles (highly recommend...of course probably not in Spanish), did a short trek to the top of a lookout point with beautiful views of the area, and visited a brewery. Bariloche is part of the Lake District in Argentina. It is on one side of Lake Nahuel Huapi and near the foot of the Andes so there are amazing views all around the city. The ski season here starts in June, so it's starting to get chilly.