ESTOY EN SAN CARLOS DE BARILOCHE!

It's been two weeks since the last blog, and it already seems a long time ago that I was up in Salta on the Tropic of Capricorn. I'm in some sort of crazy alpine resort now, but that's for later. Here's what I've been up to...

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF...

Meet Diego; he's your typical everyday Argentine. Diego gets up around 8 and has medialunas (crossiants) and coffee for breakfast before heading to work. Maybe he manages an international futbol team, or maybe he just works in a pancho shop, or a kiosco (shop). On his way he has to have his first Mate (mah-tay) fix of the day. Mate is the traditional drink and everyone is totally addicted (it's got 4 times as much caffeine as coffee aparently, eek!). It's a herbal tea made from the Yerba plant, and tastes alot like stewed grass or hay. Mmm. EVERYONE drinks mate, from little wooden cups with metal straws, and carries round little flasks of hot water to make it wherever they may end up. Diego works until about 1 or 2 in the afternoon, then it's time to shut up shop and head for a big meal and home for siesta, cos Hombre! It's nearly 40 degrees! Back to work from 6 til 9ish, and then there is time for the gym and an ice cream from Grido's (the best ice cream shop in Arg). About 10 or 11 Diego gets together with family for a meal, and spends houuurs over it. Towards midnight, it's time for beers with friends and by 2 or 3 maybe it's time to go to clubbing. If it's a good night he gets back home by 7 or 8am. At some point he probably has to queue up for ages for cash, because there aren't enough bank notes in his country, and he will definately have to weave his way through herds of stray dogs...

I'm slowly adjusting to this lifestyle, but yeah, it takes some getting used to. There's a big big italian influence in Arg, and sometimes I swear people are speaking Italian. It's "Ciao!", not "Adios". Everything takes place at a very slow pace, I'm often told to "tranquila, chica!" (chill out). There always seems to be a large police presence on the streets, often guarding odd things like hotdog stalls; clearly they are worried about possible hotdog crime (it's rife). Alfajores also play a big part in life - they are taste cookie things - of varying quality. Often filled with the delicious and calorific 'Dulce de Leche'. It being Argentian summer holidays at the moment, everyone is out in the parks on pedalo's eating popcorn. Bouncy castles seem kinda a big deal here too... Sometimes my life is a surreal place, and you've got to just sit back, sip your Mate and smile.

CORDOBA

After Salta I headed south on another night bus to Cordoba. It is Arg's second largest city. Arriving at my hostel I was quickly roped into a trip to the river in near by Cuesta Blanca by some other backpackers. After all night on the bus this was bliss. It was gorgeous to just swim about in the fresh water and sunbathe on the beach. We got a really busy minibus - Collectivo - back and then I passed out for about 2 days... So after that, I didn't really do a whole heap of stuff in Cord. Like I said in my last post, I'm feeling pretty nakered at the moment. So I did alot of sleeping, eating, and wandering the Plaza's with an icecream in my hand. I did make an effort to go to Alta Gracia - the village where Che Guevara spent some of his youth. The little house they lived in has been made into a small but interesting musuem, which is free on wednesdays. One night I met up with my friend Uri and had awesome Choripan (a hybrid between hotdog and chorizo = amazing) and listened to an acoustic Argentian band on the rooftop of his hostel. The moon was full, the stars were out. Very contented to say the least. I ended up staying in Cordoba for longer than intended, which I think happens to alot of people. It's a nice city, with the right mixture of bustle and calm. Inevitabley I moved on Mendoza on yet another night bus...

MENDOZA

Mendoza is in the premier wine region of Argentina. Therefore it would not have been right to miss out on this excellent oppurtunity. I headed off on a tour of some Bodegas, and olive oil factory and a handmade chocolate shop. Yeah, I know, living the dream :) Admittedly, the night before I had gotten quite outrageously drunk with the girl who worked in the hostel plus an american guy. Had been dancing all night and hollering out taxi windows in spanish at 5am... so maybe didn't enjoy the wine tasting quite as much as I should have done... but it was a very interesting day and I learnt alot. The next day I went on another boring tour (why do I do it to myself, why?!) of the high mountains to the west of Mendoza. It was actually stunningly beautiful, and I saw Aconcagua - a dormant volcano of nearly 7000 metres. Very spectacular. It was very cold up there, but I liked it. Sick of being so hot all the time! Can't help my Britishness sometimes... Another night out occured, where I roped the entire population of the hostel into playing games in the backyard, then went out dancing again. This time I met some really lovely local guys who took me on a sunrise tour to the Monumento de Gloria overlooking the entire city, in their ancient Ford Falcon (that runs off natural gas?!). It was really magical. I know what you're thinking, but sometimes you've just got to trust your instincts with people. I'm learning that if something doesn't seem right, then it's not, but sooner or later you have to put your trust in people and take a risk. It pays off sometimes. They taught me alot about the history of their country, and in my broken spanish we discussed communism, the conquistadors, and Tevez. I got home at 8am like a true Argentine, and checked out ready for my bus to Bariloche.

LOST (and found) IN TRANSLATION

My Spanglish is improving. Slowly. It's always tougher when I'm tired, and sometimes the accent completely confounds. They might as well be talking Japanese. I start to sound like Mañuel from Fawlty Towers "¿QUE?!"... Slowly but surely I'm getting there, it's coming back. I find it improves exponetially when I have a drink in my hand... and degrades equally so the next day. The language barrier is always surpassable. I met a french speaking deaf guy in Cordoba, and we had many english/spanish/signing/lip reading conversations. Language is an amazing thing. I have discoverd, much to the hilarity of everyone else, that I have been using a verb in Spanish-spanish that means "to collect" or "get", when in Argetina this means something COMPLETELY different. Yep, I've been saying "can I **** my bag/plate/cup?". Great. Hahah! Recently I've had met some lovely young Argentines and had really good conversations though. On the 22 hour bus down here I sat next to a lovely young guy and we swapped music and talked about all sorts - all in spanish! Go me. It's a blessing to be born with English as your first language; it gets you very far in the world, but when you speak with someone else in their home-tongue you really get an immense sense of achievement and satisfaction. In my spare time I conjugate verbs in my head...

THE MOUNTAINS...

So here I am in the Lake District of Argentina. Everything is surreally like the Alps. Little wooden buildings, blue lakes and wooded mountains. It's super expensive - it's like a holiday resort. So I have gone out of town abit to a place called Colonia Suise (literally - a Swiss village!) and found the cheapest campsite possible. It's nice to be back to nature again after so long in cities. I was getting a bit fed of them, but boy was it cold last night! It's worth it; I watched the sun set pink over the most crystal clear lake I have ever seen, and shared dinner cooked over an open fire with my Argentian tent-neighbors. I am so very, very fortunate to be here; and I never forget that no matter how little sleep I achieve, or hours I spend on buses.

Over and out for now Chicos... I hope to be in the Andes proper next time I write.. maybe even in Chile.

Ellie