Chile

The long awaited return to Chile. Five years ago my life took a turn for the better when I studied abroad in Santiago. Now, I am here again with my friend Liza, traveling como mochileras, to see this country in the wintertime.

Today is our first day of nasty weather. We are in Villarrica, the sight of the gorgeous Volcan Villarrica and in the land of the lakes. The air is covered in rain so we can´t see the volcano. We are heading out on a night bus to Santiago.

We crossed the Argentina'Chile border by bus...and that means we didn´t have to pay an entry fee into Chile!!! So when you travel by bus in South America, you escape the fee.

Bariloche ended up being a calm, relaxing week in comparison to the wild, sleepless party in Buenos Aires. Our host family was so great. Caro, our host mom, is a young mom with two beautiful girls. Since we were there during the Argentina 2-week vacation, the house was full of her friends that were in Bariloche for the week. The school was shit so I went 2.5 days. We learned more with our family than at the school. Caro´s boyfriend, Agustin is a great chef and cooked great food everyday for us. I have some great photos of us making empanadas (I will definitely make them in the states) and teaching liza how to open a bottle of wine the right way. Actually, I have a great video of that!

The best part of Bariloche was an all day bike trip I did by myself. I left school early one day and went on a Short Circuit bike trip around some lakes. The trip was difficult because there were a lot of hills. The views were preciosa and maravilloso - just unbelievable. Bariloche is very similar to a mountain town in Colorado but it has these amazing lakes. Colorado is missing the lakes - or else it would really be perfect. Barioche was FULL of Brasilians so I definitely learned to understand Portuguese. That will come in handy when I go to Brasil for the 2014 World Cup.

We also went to Villa la Agostura which is close to the Chilean border. Beautiful town!

The skiing in Bariloche was not that great but definitely worth the trip. We had a blast because of course, we were off track and snowboarded down some ATV trail! WHOOPS. The lifties thought that was hilarious when we asked them where we had been. Only crazy Americans would go through trees that were not marked.

The Argentinian people are beautiful - inside and out. They eat dinner after 10PM which is a little crazy, go out dancing until 5AM and drink little Italian coffees with more sugar than I usually consume in a year. Will I be back in Buenos Aires?

I met a woman that teaches in an IB high school outside of Buenos Aires and they are always looking for native English speakers because her school is bilingual. High school math teacher in Buenos Aires? Maybe one day....

Bariloche

A small mountain town in Bariloche, Argentina. think Breckenridge, but developing country with awful pollution and dogs living in the street.

then add the majestry of the ANDES mountains and the most beautiful blue lakes nestled at the base of the mountains. This mountain town is international and breath taking throughout the whole day. As the sun moves, blues, greens and pinks transform the skyline into postcard images.

Right now there are more Brasilians here than Argentinians and I just heard English for the first time today... I have been here for 5 days.

I went to an amazing restaurant in town, opened for 6 months now, Sesamo. The owner, Ari, is Israeli and moved here 7 years ago. Many Israelis travel throughout South America for months after the obligatory military service. He came down, loved it and moved to Bariloche with a good friend from Israel. They opened a hostel in El Bolson, a neighboring community, and know has about 100 beds. They opened the restaurant -Middle Eastern food in a country where the only food is pizza, pasta and meat. Thank you to Ari for opening a slice of heaven in Bariloche. The food is spectacular. I like to think that I am a good judge of Middle Eastern food and the hummus - jumus in spanish - is amaaaazing. I could eat there pretty much every meal!

The Rocky Mountains are the best skiing in the Americas. I can say that now that I have skied in South America. Pretty sure there isnt skiing in Central America so I have tried it all (almost). Vail is #1 for sure! Aca, the snow is like sugar but with a hell of a lot of ice. The mountain is big but there is no elevation so the runs are pretty short. The best part, our hilllllarious expedition into the trees that left us on a 4x4 trail in the middle of the mountain, literally off the ski map. of course we walked through an ATV trail and rode down part of it. Of course.

We had fun but I am counting down the days until opening day in the Rockies.

Off to Chile in a bus on Sunday....