March 4, 2009 - March 6, 2009

I have finally returned to Buenos Aires from my travels to the far south and am going to take a couple of blog posts detailing the trip. Hopefully my blog posts will catch up to current time, but for now they will be in the past.

March 4, 2009

I arrived in Buenos Aires from a 12 hour flight! So long, thank God for CVS all natural sleep aid. Alyssa picked me up from the airport and took me back to the apartment we will be living in when we return to Buenos. It is in the Recoletta neighborhood. She made me an excellent breakfast of omlettes and beans. Then of course I took a three hour nap, after which we at empanadas... yummy. A lot of this trip is spent eating or planning for the next meal... my favorite activity.

Originally we were thinking of spending the first night in Buenos, but it was raining and gross so we trumped the original plan and decided to jump on the next 20 hour bus to Bariloche. Our bags are super heavy: clearly it is our lifetime supply of peanut butter... we must start eating!

March 5, 2009

So due to previously stated 20 hour bus ride we awoke on the bus. To Alyssa shagrin last night they started showing Batman: The Dark Knight at like 11:30. And then they turned it off at 1 in the morning about 15 minutes before the end... whoopsies. We have started to lighten our load by eating peanut butter. Later in the day we got to enjoy an excellent film with the Jonas Brothers, Camp Rock, dubbed in Spanish.

Me, Alyssa, and Rob in Bariloche

Just outside Bariloche we had a drug raid on our bus. Turns out to be nothing, but they pulled a guy off and looked through all his baggage. In Bariloche we met up with Rob, a friend Alyssa had met in Mar de Plata (the beach). We stayed at this very cool hostel. All the people there and one of the employees decided to have an Asado (Argentine barbeque) that night.

Before the asado (since argentines eat between 10 and 11 at night) we had a first dinner of pizza. The asado was amazing. There were a couple of Swedes, some Aussies, and a Welshman, plus the Argentine hostel employee - Christian. We had sausage on rolls (called choripan) and beef. The beef here is absolutely amazing. The asado ended with lots of Bon Jovi dancing and singing. I am loving this country.

March 6, 2009

Today Alyssa and I decided to do a hike up a mountain called Cerro Campario (or something like that). It was a VERY steep hike straight up the side. Very hard. At the top there were amazing views of the surrounding area of mountains and lakes. One of the most beautiful views I have seen to date.

After lunch, Alyssa, Rob and I took a bus to Lago Gutierrez where we hiked to a small waterfall and were joined by three friendly dogs. The entire hike we lollygaged (or as the British say faffed) around. (This blog is going to be full of new Britishisms that Rob is going to teach me as he is from London.) After the hike we went to a geologic and palentologic museum. We saw a fossil that was 90 million years old, which is almost the same age as Rob (ages older than us at 32). Also a really awesome Saber Tooth Tiger skull. On our way back to Bariloche we missed our bus stop and had to walk a bajillion meters through the suburban area of the town.

Rob on Lago Gutierrez

Alyssa and I faffing

We went out to dinner and a bar with Christian from the hostel. I tried a beer with hot pepper in it, which was very tasty. Ate waaaaay too much mexican food. Back at the hostel Christian had me try two Argentine mixed drinks. Fernet, which I think tastes like medicine, and Gancia, which is very light, lemony, and delicious.