BARILOCHE

Hi, it´s not often that I get to write on this site. J is busy putting on 100´s of photos so I thought I´d grab the chance.

This is now our ´holiday´. We´ve decided to take a break from ´travelling´and settle here for a while. Quite honestly, we couldn´t have chosen a better location - it is just like Switzerland (I promise you there are even wood chalets and we´re looking forward to our cheese fondue dinner soon!). Every second shop here is a chocolatier with a coffee shop inside it - almost like pure heaven!!! I´ve also had to indulge (to Jez´s disgust) in ice-cream....no one told me it would be THAT huge. They have this stuff here called ´Dulce de Leche´, translated literally as sweet of milk, it is just like condensed milk boiled for ages. In a nutshell - sickly sweet and it is divine on anything! Yip, that means it´s time to get back into a fitness regime. I went for a run 2 days ago and it was only 20 min (about 3km) and I can hardly walk although I´m trying to pretend I´m fine - surely I can´t be THAT unfit!

Today we managed to drag ourselves off our balcony overlooking the lake and mountains (in the sun) and head up the mountain behind us. The lazy fat american tourists take the cable car - NOT US! We walked about 7 km uphill (700m ascent) until we reached a revolving resturant. (Believe me I wasn´t laughing climbing with my sore legs!) Well we were rewarded with home made ham sandwiches - believe me a treat after months of ´chicken and rice´- and then a coffee in the resturant. (ok, and apple strudel...well we had just walked up a mountain!). The real reward was actually the views from the top which were definately worth the sore legs! The stunning with snow capped peaks in all directions and lakes nestling at their feet. We were also able to see some, if not most, of a cycle route that we have planned for a few days time. One of t he roads leads uphill to a ski resort - should be a healthy challenge!

I suppose I had better tell you that we have also spent a day in Santiago - another big city - but it felt like a culture shock coming from rural, undeveloped, unsophisticated, very cheap Bolivia (and Chicken and Rice!!). The Chileans speak a different Spanish and are less patient with us foreigners! We were pleased to only have 24 hours there while waiting to catch our bus to Mendoza in Argentina. The bus trip provided stunning scenery. We started off at sea-level and slowly started to climb until we met the border of Argentina at the top of the pass with the mountains growing higher and bigger and more colourful as we approached. I must just add that we thought we would NEVER arrive in Mendoza - our bus driver was even stopping at GREEN traffic lights and when we were all safely through the border control (which was epic in itself) we were just parked on the side of the road while (we think) the bus driver went to the cafeteria for his mid afternoon snack. I suppose driving a bus is hard work!

We hadn´t anticipated that we were finally in the right place at the right time . i.e summer! All the hotels and hostels were full - finally at 11pm, at night 2 hours after we arrived, our taxi driver was delighted to let us go at the ONE (scruffy) hostel had a room available. Luckily it was cheap! At least the Argentinan´s don´t believe in eating early, so we were still able to indulge in the famous beef and wine at a local resturant - not disappointed.

The next day it was really hot - over 30´C. Jez was able to experience a day in the type of climate I grew up in Pretoria. Kids playing in the fountains and of course football in the shade (it´s amazing how much they love futbol - I´ve even seen it played with an old shoe as a ball replacement), shops closed for siesta´s until 4pm, while we sat at a sidewalk cafe, sipping cold lager! Need I say more...

As Mendoza is known for it´s red wine, Malbec in particular, it was time to explore the vineyards. The only way I could coerce J to come was to offer it to him as a part of a cycle trip. That was fun - if any of you consider a wine tasting by bike, don´t hesitate. The wine was a bit disappointing but the whole day was really great. Good to see the Argentinian region - now we have to make sure we get on and do a lot of real tasting before we leave here. We had to rush back after our trip so that we could be in time to catch our bus ´semi-cama´ (semi-bed) for our 19 hour bus journey to Barlioche. Thank goodness for wine tasting in the day - we manged to sleep a bit.

We´ll be here for about 2 weeks to relax....tomorrow we´re going rafting and then we´ll hire bikes for 2 days to cycle around the mountains and lakes. It also looks as if we´ll be doing the 7 lake tour (3 days) for which we will hire bikes with panniers. In between this, J will hopefully try his hand at catching Argentine trout and I hope to read on our balcony and work on my tan!!

Hope this finds you all well and happy. With less than a month left, we are starting to look forward to returning and catching up with you.

All the best

Michelle (and Jez)