A Taste of Home and a Taste of Paradise

(Sorry in advance that this post is so long, I did a lot over break. Also, I'm not happy about its length either, it took me 5 hours to put together :O )

I woke up at 5 on Sunday morning to get to the bus stop in time. It was a weird feeling getting all ready and putting my backpack back on. It was a very familiar feeling but strange to be feeling it again. 

I missed the first bus that goes to the main bus terminal and caught the second one with little time to spare. I arrived at the terminal 15 minutes before my bus was supposed to leave. I thought I would be fine until I saw that every entrance I knew how to use was blocked off. I snuck into the car entrance into the parking ramp. From there, I ran around for another 5 minutes looking for the door that got me into the building and not just another level of the parking lot. Once I was in the building, I made it onto my bus without problem and had a smooth journey to Buenos Aires. It was strange not traveling with Jeremy and Alex.

I met up with Melissa in the bus terminal there. Also, I ate a PB&J sandwich (thanks Mom and Dad, it was heavenly).

It was great to see her again. It was odd being apart because we have spent the past month and half almost constantly together. Before I knew it, I was on another bus for another 20 ride. This was by far the most luxurious bus I have ever taken (and I would consider myself somewhat of an expert at this point). For dinner, we had a 3 course meal and an option of wine for a beverage. Plus beverage refills! This might hold no meaning to most of you but some of the busses I have been on for this amount of time give you like a packet of crackers and maybe some water. I am also considering creating my own photo book and submitting it to publishers titled “Scenes from a Bus Window”. Just kidding, but seriously some of the prettiest pictures/scenery I have seen are from these bus rides. I really enjoy driving through the Argentinean countryside because it has been the only times that I have really felt like I could be in Wisconsin. The landscaping is very similar in a lot of parts and there is something oddly comforting about that.

We got into Bariloche around 11. We caught a cab to our hostel, dropped our stuff off and then headed out to explore the town. Bariloche was settled by large Swiss population. Due to this, all of the buildings have are influenced by that. I’ve been told that it feels just like stepping into a city in the Alps. 

However, more exciting than the architecture, the Swiss influence means some pretty amazing chocolate. We more than took advantage of this. Within the first half hour, we had the best hot chocolate I have ever tasted in my life and some great chocolate samples.

Also, a Dulce de Leche filled churro

There is one street that has over ten chocolate shops. As we were shopping, we would pop each one and look around, sneak a sample and carry on. (Scott, we were cruising the samples like pros).  We made it to the main plaza and saw the World’s Largest Chocolate Egg being worked on. 

From there, we went to a really beautiful church

 and then the lake side. 

Fun fact: the post in the water is a replica of the point on top of the church

Finally, we went into a few different travel agencies to weigh our options. We wanted to make the most of the time we had in Bariloche but also be economical. We headed back early evening to wait for Maya to get in. She was in Cordaba since Wednesday with her study abroad program. When we got in and had Wi-Fi again, we got the message that she was already there. We ran through the hostel to greet here. Not long after, we were all wrapped up in a group hug. I know, we were only apart for less than week but we honestly we usually spend at least 50% of the day together and after a month and half, I got pretty used to having them by my side.

Anyways, after we were reunited, we spent the next hour catching each other up on what happened when we were apart. After that, we sifted through all the information Melissa and I acquired and created a tentative plan. We headed back out to the travel agencies and booked our ziplining trip for the next day and then we went out to eat. We ate a restaurant called The Giraffe. 

They had a section with local dishes so Melissa, Maya and I split two. The first was trout and the second was red deer. Neither Melissa nor Maya had ever had deer meat before which was slightly mind blowing to me. Both were great. It was fun trying something from the region. We chatted for a bit and then headed out to buy so more chocolate for dessert.

When we got back to the hostel, we chatted for a bit longer and then called it a night. P.S. the view from our hostel looks like it could be a green screen

On Tuesday, we woke up at 8 to the best hostel breakfast I have had. It was homemade baked bread with raspberry jam and cereal.

At 9, we were picked up to go Canopying (ziplining). It was really fun. The guides were super nice and gave us recommendations of how to maximize our short time in Bariloche.  

After Canopying, we had the driver drop us off at Cerro Campanario instead of back at our hostel. We hiked the 30 minutes up the steep hill to see the most incredible views I have ever seen in my life. On the way up the hill, I kept getting weird bits of déjà vu because the trail looked just like the ones that I have hiked many times to get to the top of the bluffs in La Crosse. However, once we crested it was quite evident we weren’t in Wisconsin anymore.

 

We ate lunch and dessert at the same restaurant at the top. It was surreal to look out the windows and remember that where we were. 

After we ate, we headed back down.

We caught the bus home from Cerro Campenario and then caught the next bus to Cerro Otto. Cerro Otto has a gondola that you can take up or it is about a 6 hour hike. We arrived at 5:30 so the choice was pretty easy. The ride was pretty fun and once again, amazing views. 

When we got to the top, there was a multipurpose building. It had lots of look out points, a circular restaurant lined with windows and a floor that spun so within 5 minutes you could see the 360 view, gift shops and a random art museum.

When we got back, we booked our tour for the next day and then bought dinner. I FOUND CHEDDAR CHEESE!!! This sounds like it shouldn’t be a big deal but I haven’t even seen another type of cheese besides bad mozzarella in Uruguay. So, upon my quite eager request, we bought some for our dinner. It turned out to taste like a mix of Kraft American cheese and cheddar but to me, because I missed cheese so much, it tasted like it could’ve been 5 years aged cheddar. 

After we got the rest of our ingredients, I headed back to start cooking and the other girls went out to get more chocolate. While I was cooking, I met a couple that teaches English in Bolivia. The girl was from Wisconsin and she studied at UW-L. Smallllll world. While I was cooking, I kept going out on the porch to admire the full moon and the breath taking view.

As we ate, we enjoyed the company of our new Australian and Dutch friend.

Once again, we were picked up at 9 from our hostel for our day’s adventures. Our bus driver, Martin, told us facts the whole drive. Our mini bus was filled with people from all over; Italy, Venezuela, Spain, Montevideo and Buenos Aires. Our main destination was the Cerro Trenador, a volcano with a glacier. It’s named Trenandor (thunder) because when big chunks of ice and/or snow break off and fall, it sounds like thunder. We were luckily enough to experience this when we were there. It truly did sound like thunder, at first, that’s what I thought it was. The Cerro was an hour and a half away from Bariloche so along the way we stopped at many amazing spots.

 

We got back at 6:30 and went out to buy our dinner ingredients. We got distracted and went chocolate shopping instead. We had multiple samples, some ice cream, and all before dinner.

On the street, I did a money exchange like the movies. I passed a store and the woman standing on the street outside asked, money change? I countered, “What’s your rate?” She then directed me instead the shop where a man was in the back with a toolbox of cash. (I wasn’t the only one in the store, there were lots of people on the street outside, and I was with Melissa and Maya). After all the excitement, we finally went to the grocery store.

Thursday morning we were planning on going Skydiving. It turned out to be too windy so we headed to San Martin de los Andes early instead. Melissa and Maya kept saying how weird it was to change plans so quickly and not know what we’d be doing the next day. It was in moments like these that I realized that I am now used to this type of traveling, no concrete plans, going with the flow and taking things day by day. When we got into San Martin, I checked the reservation I had made online on my phone. I took a better look at the address and was wondering why it looked so funny. Then I looked closer and saw that our reservation was for a nice little place in Slovakia. 

After we had a good laugh, we set out on foot going from hostel door to door checking to see if there was room in there in. Since it was Semana Santa, we were getting pretty nervous that no one was going to have space. We tried a fancy looking building because we were getting desperate. At first they said they didn’t have space and then at a second glace, he found a 2 bedroom apartment still room open for $20 a night per person. He warned us that it wasn’t that nice but when we walked in, we all stopped, looked at each other, eyes wide and jaws dropped.  After we dropped our stuff, we walked around the city and bought our dinner ingredients. We came back, cooked together and hung out. It was so fun to have our own place.

We woke up at 5 the next morning to catch our 6AM bus to Pucon. The bus was only supposed to take 4 hours but it took 2 hours to cross the border. 

We got to Pucon, Chile around 12. The whole town smells like bonfire smoke, I’m not sure why but I didn’t mind one bit. We finally got in and found our hostel. It was a cute little place, snuggled in the nature.

Also, this was in the backyard

It is an eco friendly hostel, which is really cool because recycling basically doesn’t exist here in Montevideo. After we got settled, we explored the town and looked for tours.

Just a volcano chilling in the city view

After a while, we found a tour that allowed us to climb the big volcano. When we bought this, we got a deal on going to the hot springs later that night. After we confirmed that we were going to climb the volcano, we were taken to try on our gear. By the time everything was in order, we only had an hour to each lunch/dinner before we went to the hot springs. We quick stopped by the grocery store to by ground beef, ran back to the hostel, cooked burgers, and then headed back to the agency. (It would have been easier to eat at a restaurant but we were too cheap to buy restaurant food/ we would rather spend that money on tours and chocolate).

We headed to the hot springs, which were kind of a disappointment. It turned out to be a like a resort, that funnels the hot spring water into big indoor hot tubs. Despite being a little disappointed that we weren’t at the outdoors one, we still enjoyed ourselves.

The "Adult Only" section. When we first walked in, I turned to Melissa and asked if we were even allowed in here. Why do I always forget I'm an adult?

Delicious snack we had

When we got back, we made some more rice. They told us to carb up for our hike. We also made our food for the next day (PB&J sandwiches!).

On Saturday, we woke up at 5:30, tired, and really nervous. 

This is why we were nervous, this is what we were climbing!! 

We ate a breakfast of eggs and started our cold, dark walk to the office. When we got there, we geared up and headed to the base of the volcano.

When we got there, the sun was just starting to rise. We got to see it from the side of the volcano which was gorgeous.

I was really worried about the hike because I thought I wouldn’t be physically able to do it but it was much easier than I imagined (not easy but not as bad as my mind made it seem). We took a nice pace, I was never out of breath but I did have burning muscles and the breaks were welcomed.

My volcanic bathroom aka an old Gondola spot

In the end, we couldn’t make it to the top because the weather had changed to rapidly. The entire rest of the walk had been dangerously iced over. On the way down, we got to use these plastic slides which was so so so fun!

We had some amazing guides. They were really fun, funny and encouraging. On the way down, I chatted a lot with one of guides, named Joaquin. I had asked him if he has ever seen anyone slide down the volcano and he started to tell me the story of when one his group members fell and died during a huge storm. He explained that the weather had changed from perfect to a snow/wind storm in 5 minutes. They were almost at the top of the volcano. One member, who wasn’t listening to Joaquin’s instructions mis stepped and started to fall, as he was falling, he threw his ice pick into the air, losing his only tool that could help. Joaquin was diligently watching where he fell so he could go help him. Unfortunately, the climber fell into a crevice and was immediately covered up with snow. Joaquin called for backup from all other guides on the volcano but 2 other climbers had fell 10 minutes ago on the opposite side of the volcano so no one came to help. He spent the next 5 hours and the consecutive 2 days, alone, trying to find the climber. He was never found. Joaquin has an amazingly inspiring outlook on the event. He says that it reminds him every day the importance of taking his group’s safety seriously and also the importance of forgiving oneself.

When we made it back to the office, they had drinks and cookies ready for us. We hung out with the guides and other climbers for the next hour. They were teaching us Chilean slang and laughing at our Uruguayan accent. It was really fun (sorry for my lack of descriptive words, I'm loosing the ability to speak complex English).

We decided that we wanted to cook a traditional Chilean meal. We found a recipe online and headed out to buy the food. First, we watch the sunset from the beach and checked out a feria. 

When we got to the supermarket, we decided that we were too cheap to buy the right ingredients so we made a mix of the recipe and cheap food.  

Mammoth onions

It was weird finding American brands in the international section

In the midst of cooking dinner, we had visitors that Maya met on the bus. They surprised us at our hostel to take us out for dessert. We finished cooking/eating and then joined them for dessert. We road in the back of their pick up to get to the restaurant and it was Maya’s first time.

On Sunday, we went to the money exchange office to change our Chilean pesos back to US Dollars. I had taken out much money then I needed in Chile in order to have money for Argentina. The reason I had to do that is because we cannot take out US dollars anywhere in Argentina. US dollars are almost impossible to acquire in Argentina. For this reason, the Blue Market exists. It’s a good and a bad thing. The government rate of exchange is around 8.5 Argentinean pesos for every dollar. If you remember, in Bariloche, on the street I got 10 pesos to the dollar. The Argentineans do not have confidence in the Argentinean peso. They think it is safer to save their money in dollars or euros, a more stable currency. For this, they are willing to trade more money for our money.

  

After the change office, we hopped on our bus back to San Martin. 

Border crossing from Chile back to Argentina 

We arrived and got settled into the same hostel/apartment. We spent the day roaming the town. 

These bonnets can be found all over the city. They are a remembrance for the women who were kidnapped and/or killed in Argentina's Dirty War. Often pregnant women were kidnapped and killed after they gave birth. The children were then sold to rich families. If you would like to read more about the dirty war, here is a link:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_War

The red text below the bonnet says "never again"

We bought some chocolate eggs and a bottle of local wine for our little Easter celebration. 

We ate out for our last meal and a cute little restaurant that had local dishes. We shared another plate of trout and a cut of meat (Argentina is famous for their meat).

We got back to our suite and celebrated Easter together. We ended up staying up till 3 AM chatting. It was a little bittersweet. This is the first holiday I have ever spent away from family. Luckily, I was able to Skype in for a bit and receive a lovely video from Samuel of everyone saying hi.  However, sitting around the table, eating chocolate and laughing with Melissa and Maya I knew that I was with a new, little family and that made it much easier to be away.

On Monday, we got up early to walk around the city a little more. The city is really cute, like a ski town. We heard that the trails and views are comparable to Bariloche but unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to see that for ourselves.

Causal mid city Jig

At 12:30, we border our bus where we stayed for the next 20 hours.

But we didn't want to go

We got into Buenos Aires at 10:30 Tuesday. We had 7 hours to kill before our bus/boat back to Montevideo. We locked our luggage away in the bus terminal and headed out to walk around the city. We mostly just went shopping because everything in Buenos Aires is way cheaper than Montevideo. We were looking for a new backpack for me, rain boots for Maya, and sweaters for us. We were successfully on the backpack and sweater.

Meli, scattering all of the Pigeons.

We got on our boat/bus to Montevideo without problems. I was surprised how nice it felt to be back in home here. Also, I was so excited to see Jeremy and Alex because we haven’t been separated for 3 months. It was really strange not having them with me when I was traveling. We ended the night, all of us around the table laughing and telling our stories. It’s nice to be back.