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Our first day in Bariloche was spent organising our gear for snowboarding. We arrived late-ish in the evening, and on arrival at the hostel, took a well deserved shower. After, we headed into town to check out the rental shops, hired our snowboard gear and went back to make some dinner.
Since we stayed up late drinking that night, we didn`t make it out too early in the morning, but were able to hit the slopes for a few hours in the afternoon. When we woke up, Sander reminded me it was my birthday and it struck me, I`m 26, closer to 30 than 20! Oh well, time to go snowboarding I suppose!
On the bus to Catedral, the main skiing area about 30 minutes drive from Bariloche, we got talking to a couple of Brazilian girls on the bus. They were really friendly, not to mention easy on the eyes! I hope all the girls I meet in Brazil are like them! They told us about some decent bars in town. We decided it would probably be worthwhile to go out that evening, it was my birthday afterall.
Sander had snowboarded once before, so knew the basics. Phil had never done it, so I spent some time with him, showing him the ropes. At first he thought he would be riding regular, but found it uncomfortable, so switched to ride fakie the whole time. His gung-ho attitude was fun to watch but every so often ended up wiping-out.
Even though there hadn`t been snow for a while, the pistes were still ridable. I wasn`t too concerned though, it was my birthday and I was snowboarding in the Andes in Argentina. I was having an awesome time.
So, later that night, after meeting some other people in the hostel, we headed out for some dinner, to celebrate my birthday. Phil, Sander and I, started with a selection of meats, including venison and wild boar, with smoked salmon. My main meal was the wild boar in leek sauce, and very tasty it was too! At dessert time, they lowered the lights, and I thought, "Must be someone`s birthday", only to realise the recipient of the strawberries and cream with candles in the waitress brought out, which by coincidence was excatly what I`d ordered, was me!
As we were walking away from the restaurant into town, we saw the waitress who`d been serving us, and she agreed to come out with us. We went to an Irish bar, andafter a few more drinks, went to a more local place.
Bariloche has plenty of clubs, and I had good times going out there but when we were there, there were huge groups of schoolkids. The atmosphere would have been better in the better clubs, but they were charging locals 15 Pesos to get in, and gringos 75! It translates to about 12 quid, but we were not going to pay that just because we`re not Argentinian! Imagine if clubs in England were doing that, there`d be outrage!
The area around Bariloche is beautiful. The drive to Bariloche afforded some fantastic views, and even whilst snowboarding on the mountainside, you can see for miles, over vast plains of tundra to the mountains beyond, or over the large lake covered with a mist to make it even more alluring. Even though the piste conditions weren´t as good as the Alps, the views were better as in Europe, you usually only see more mountains surrounding you, and perhaps the town where you´re staying, in the valley below.
Along with some friends I´d met in Bariloche, we travelled onto our next destination: Mendoza.
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