Hi Gang!

Hope your long weekend was filled with chocolate and fun! As we mentioned earlier ours involved a looong bus ride. Really it wasn't bad I think we probably slept for at least half of it and they played a delightful array of movies the rest of the time. I swear on these trips they are not allowed to play anything which males may possibly not be interested in. We got Jumper and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry amongst other gems. During this trip an interesting little story developed. As we waited for the bus in El Calafate, we saw two little girls playing around the bus driver who were evidently his daughters. A woman, presumably the driver's wife, looked on carrying a baby boy and kissed the man good bye when we headed off. I even commented to Ryan how it was sweet….after about 4 hours or so, we made a quick stop to get a bite to eat. Ryan was caught up in the last 10 minutes of Million Dollar Baby (OK I'm not going to make anyone miss out on that) so I went to pick us up some hot empanadas and pepsi. As I waited in line, I watched our driver go behind the counter of the restaurant to get something to eat (ok a bit weird but he probably does this route every second day) and then saw him kiss one of the waitresses!! Quite sad I guess, but also some how amusing to think of him with a girl in every port or a waitress in every seedy bus station fast food joint. Ryan says he can imagine the bus driver's countless illegitimate babies scattered across Argentina. Seriously though, the seats were super comfy (they lowered to almost horizontal) and when you can sleep a bit, it's really not a big deal to have a few long trips. Having said that we were happy to reach our destination of El Bolson in the evening of Easter Sunday. Our hostel had been well recommended on the internet and we were happy to discover a smallish place and a room to ourselves as it's low season at the moment. Awesome! Soon we ventured back out into the not so cold -we were used to rugging up against the cold in Southern Patagonia but having come a looong way North, and were swanning about in tshirts again J. We made our way to a restaurant and had a dinner of trout (a speciality fresh from the rivers in this area) and ice cream made from the local Calafate berry. Delicious! The next morning we had no real plans, so our lovely host Claudio let us know about a walk we could take which started just near the hostel and was 30 blocks (lol we couldn't figure out how long that was- big blocks or small blocks??) So after a brief tour of the main street of El Bolson we headed off across the river. We walked along some lovely quiet country roads, past hippy camping grounds with chickens and vegies growing and even an adorable little confiteria (food place) at a crossroads in the middle of nowhere with a VW beetle out the front J After about 4 ks we came to a beautiful mirador which looked across to the next valley and a huge river called Rio Azul. We ate our lunch checking out the little farms dotted along the river, some kites circling above and our fellow picknickers (a guy with a guitar who must have been playing a concert to no one before we came along and a couple who bought their tiny dog and bottle of wine ) Only a couple of ks further up the road was something called the Cabeza del Indio or Indian Head- a rock formation apparently resembling said head. We took a further trail complete with very informative signs telling us the pros and cons of the respective paths (this one takes longer but has a better view. That one is steeper but you get to go through the forest. He he) And yes the rock does kinda look like a head, perhaps of an alien not an Indian but no importe. It really was a beautiful walk amongst completely new scenery - much more foresty here than further south. We were very surprised at our ability to quickly walk the 6ks to the site- guess Torres del Paine trained us up! We napped in the arvo (see we are relaxing as well!) and made dinner in the hostel kitchen. The people who owned Hostel Peheunia in El Bolson really were the loveliest couple- Claudio and Valeria and their two little kids, who we tried to practice our Spanish on, though the older boy (about 7 or 8) was more interested in telling us words he knew in English from school. We had nice chat with Claudio about food as he used to work in the kitchen of the Hilton in Buenos Aires and cooked all kinds of meat (alligator, nandu (like an emu) etc) and was very interested in trying kangaroo. We got by quite nicely using a mix of Spanish and English (though Claudio kept apologizing for his bad English) however we were slightly concerned when earlier in the day, the family had to go pick up the son from school and he said "If anyone comes by only let them in if they have big mochillas (backpacks) like you. No Argentinians ok because you know (English fails him, makes shape of a gun with his hands and waves it around)" Don't worry we found out later that he was simply very conscious of ladrones (thieves) and gave us lots of useful tips on not getting robbed. We laughed about it in the end J We left the hostel the next morning with many Buena Viajes and Argentinian kisses on the cheek all round.

After leaving our lovely hostel, we had decided to go and check out the local market before we caught our bus into the next town. We set off at about 10am, hoping to catch the local feria or market, which we had heard some good things about, in full flight. Upon arriving at the plaza where the market is held regularly, we found the area deserted, save a few vendors just setting up their stalls. So, we decided to wander off for a while and spent about an hour and a half having coffee, in order to let the market get started. When we wandered back for a second look we found the market operating at about half capacity… so we sat in the park for another half an hour. By this time, it was just after 12, so we decided to grab some empanadas for an early lunch, and then check out the main part of the market. When we got to around 12:30, we decided that things probably weren't going to get much more exciting, so we wandered through past the basic stalls, many manned with dazed looking, dreadlocked locals. All in all, not the best market we have been to, a little disappointing considering the good things we had heard - I guess that's what you get when you leave event planning up to a bunch of lazy hippies! We soon left to catch our bus, not before buying approximately half a kilo of gourmet chocolates for the long (two hour) bus ride to our next port, Bariloche.

After an uneventful bus ride (where I unsuccessfully tried to make Hayley watch Tropic Thunder) we arrived at Bariloche and caught a taxi from the bus terminal to the centre of town, and the hostel we had hoped to lodge at during our stay. As soon as we stepped out of the cab, we were fairly recognizable with our bulky mochillas/backpacks, and were asked if we needed help finding hostel 1004 (where we were headed to) by one of the hostel's staff who happened to be passing by. Although it is fairly hard to miss (the hostel is situated on the 10th floor of Bariloche's tallest building) it was nice to not have to worry too much about where we were going, and we were quickly ferried up an elevator and into the hostel. The most striking thing on stepping inside, was looking out to the buildings balcony, with gorgeous views of the enormous Lago Nahuel Huapi upon which Bariloche is situated. After relaxing with the view for a few minutes, we were told that there had been a mix up, with people planning to stay an extra night, and so there were no beds. We were however asked to wait for an hour, as there was a booking down for 5pm which, if not honored, would free up two beds for us. So, we spent the next hour enjoying the view and playing cards, and when 5:10pm came along, we were told that we were in luck. After being taken on a quick tour of our rooms, kitchen etc., we were all ready to settle in… when… the booking showed up! Numerous apologies followed, to which we said todo bien, de nada (all good, no worries) and made our way to our backup plan, Hostel Achalay, situated slightly up a hill, a few blocks further away from the lake. Our new place, despite being a backup plan, was quite charming, and despite lacking the grandiose views of 1004, very quickly grew on us. Tired after all the confusion, we had an early night. More about Bariloche in the next few days!

Much Love,

Hayley and Ryan