Sorry that it’s taken me so long to write up about my trip into the South. I didn’t have time to write as I was going and when I got back I had an unexpected emergency at home that I had to rush home for. So, here’s a quick summary of how I spent the rest of my week in Patagonia.
Day 2 (continued)
After Lisa and I left the internet café on Monday night, we went back to the hostel to find the other Lisa and Hanna. They were both in bed because they were planning to get up really early and do a hike. So, Lisa and I went out for dinner and a drink. The town was really deserted as it was off season. There were absolutely no bars in town. And, even the restaurants were quiet and seemed to close early. It was actually fairly creepy walking around a sleepy little resort town at the bottom on the Andes in the cold with very little light or noise. So, we were back to the hostel and in bed around midnight.
Day 3 – Biking Uphill to a Tea House and Cooking at the HostelThe next day, after Lisa and Hanna returned from their hike, we went and bought things for a picnic lunch and went and rented mountain bikes. The owner of the shop where we got the bikes gave us information on some “easy” bikes routes we could take. We rented the bikes for the full day. And, I had great ambitions of pushing it to the limits and biking for the whole day. Haha. Twenty minutes later I was huffing and puffing and was ready to throw in the towel.
We decided to take this route up a mountain to a tea house that the guy in the bike shop had told us about. We spent 2 ½ hours biking up-hill on dirt roads. Not to mention, it was very cold and raining off and on the whole time and the wind was fighting against us very fiercely. It was really difficult. And, to be honest, I think I pushed my bike more than I rode it. Luckily, Lisa was right on par with me, while Lisa and Hanna were up ahead being the tough outdoorsy girls that they are - hitting that mountain with full force.
We stopped quite a bit to catch our breath. The views at the look out points on the mountain were really pretty. We saw many many people hiking or driving up the hill but no one else biking. We really think that the guy at the bike shop was just trying to be mean by telling us to bike the mountain. And after two hours, we were really doubting that there was a tea house at the top. After all, who the hell ever heard of a tea house at the top of a mountain. We were starting to feel a little silly for even believing him. We had our lunch of bread, cheese, olives, and fruit on top of the mountain. And, then, we finally found the illusive tea house.
It was built in the 1930s and was part of a whole resort. It was really cute. We went in and ordered some tea. They had lots of different teas to choose from. We each got our own little white tea pots, a cup with the loose tea that we had ordered, a tea cup, and a little strainer. We had to put the strainer with the tea over the cup and poor the water through it to make our own tea. It was pretty neat!
We each went through two pots of water and spent a lot of time resting and warming up over tea. As we were getting ready to leave the tea shop, they handed us a little flier for the tea house. It advertised as being “5 minutes from San Marteen.” That cracked us up as we had spent 2 ½ hours getting there.
Anyways, I really enjoyed the ride down the mountain. Lisa and I flew down it, whereas the other Lisa and Hanna did not like going down and took it slow and steady. We made it down the mountain within 15-20 minutes.
Once we got down, we took a little break at the hostel and then decided to take our bikes to the bus station and buy our bus tickets for the next day. Lisa and I were heading to Bariloche and the other Lisa and Hanna decided to go to another little mountain town between San Marteen and Bariloche. So, we got our tickets and then went on-line and got our hostel rooms booked.
Then we decided we were going to cook dinner. So, we went to the super market and got the stuff to make a great veggie and chicken stir fry over rice, complete with two bottles of wine and dessert. We even used the yummy orange pumpkin (which is a combo of pumpkin and squash) that they love so much in Argentina. Cooking dinner at the hostel was quite interesting as there was really not much cookery available. We actually had to run back to the store for plates and cups. I did the veggie chopping and Lisa 2 did the cooking. The other two girls ran to the store for the other things we needed. It took quite a while to make. But, it came out wonderfully!!!
So we spent the night enjoying our nice dinner and chatting. We saw some girls from school and talked to them about what we’d done and what they’d done. Then, Lisa 1 taught us how to play Yuker. Then around midnight, as we were exhausted from our hard day, we headed off to bed. Before we went to bed, I made a thermos full of mate. We had bought a big mate thermos with the intention of drinking mate on a mountain watching the sunrise the next morning. However, we realized that we wouldn’t be able to boil the water in the morning as the kitchen didn’t open til 8. So, I did it that night and figured that cold mate was better than none after we’d gone through all the trouble to get the mate and the thermos.
Day 4 – Mate at Sunrise, Then to BarilocheThe next morning my alarm went off at 5:30, and I literally bounced out of bed. I was so excited about our sunrise hike up the mountain. Everyone eventually got up and threw on their “only” warm clothes. Then we were off on a hike, following Lisa 2 and Hanna. Again, my ambitions were much more grand than the reality. We went on a really long, steep hike in the dark for about an hour. I was huffing and puffing and generally dying after about 15 minutes.
It was starting to get light when we found a good place to stop. It was a perfect little clearing with a surface of rock where you could sit and see the town below perfectly. As it was a foggy day, the sun didn’t actually “rise”, it just got lighter. But, it was still really fulfilling for me to wake up and see the town all lit up (with lights in the windows) and then see it grow light. We drank our mate as planned, which was still scalding hot. Then Lisa 1 and I had to pop down the mountain and get to the bus station for our 9 o’clock bus. The hike downhill the mountain wasn’t much quicker or easier than the hike up.
We went back to the hostel to grab our things and then popped over to the bus station. The bus ride was really lovely – 3 ½ hours through picturesque mountains and streams. We arrived in Bariloche right around 12:30 as planned and took the bus into town – with only a minor mistake in navigation. Of course we had to hike up a steep hill to get to the hostel we had booked. But, we finally made it. It was a really cute little mountain chalet with beautiful views of the lake and mountains. The owner was super nice and spoke perfect English. Lisa and I ended up in a four bed mixed dorm. So we ended up with a couple who spoke only Spanish and were kind of weird for the first night.
After we checked into the hostel and dumped our stuff, we talked to the owner about different excursions available. We decided to book a full day horse back riding trip for the next day. Then, we went off to explore the town. Now, people go to San Marteen with the idea that it’s less built up and more quaint than Bariloche. But, I really preferred Bariloche. There were more shops and services. But, the shopped actually sold a lot of neat things and local specialties such as wool sweaters and chocolate! So, Lisa and I had a late lunch and explored the town checking out the sweater stores, chocolate stores, and lake front. Even though it was warmer in Bariloche, it was still cold and windy, so I found myself a nice fleece to wear for the next couple of days.
I really thought that natural scenery in Bariloche was nicer than that it San Marteen. The lake in San Marteen looked just like a lake in the hills, whereas the lake in Bariloche was huge and contrasted against tall mountains in the background. It was gorgeous.
Lisa and I were really tired that night and weren’t quite sure what to do with ourselves. We had eaten a late lunch so we weren’t really hungry and we were too tired to go out drinking. So, we ended up taking a bus to a mall to see a movie. Unfortunately, there were no movies we wanted to see, so we decided to nix that idea. We walked back to town and stopped and shared a personal pizza and large bottle of water before taking a trek back up the hill and to the hostel. I think we were to bed around midnight.
Day 5 – The Perfect Day . . . Horseback Riding, Mexican, and the Best Damn Irish Pub in Bariloche . . .
The next day we got to sleep in until around 9 since we didn’t get picked up for our horse riding trip until 10. We got up and had a nice complimentary breakfast of medialunas (another Argentine favorite – basically sticky, sweet croissants), dolce deleche (of course), and tea. Then, a taxi came to pick us up and take us to the ranch.
It was a beautiful, idealic ride to the ranch. And, right in the middle of the beautiful scenery, we turned off and pulled up to the ranch. Three other people joined us for our ride. There was a young married couple and another girl around our age. They were all really cool.
They greeted us with coffee, water, and juice. Then they took us out to the horses. The guide insisted that I have the prettiest, biggest horse even though I wanted the cute white one. For our morning ride, the guide took us up into the mountains. It was a beautiful 2 ½ hour ride. We pretty much walked the whole time. And, I preferred to stay at the back and take pictures, absorb the experience, and just think and listen to other people’s conversations.
After our morning ride, they brought us back to the ranch for a nice BBQ. They served us great salad, potatoes, bread, lots and lots of different meat, and of course nice red wine. Then, we were off on our afternoon ride. This ride was tons of fun. First of all, the weather hugely improved. Whereas it had been a bit chilly and windy in the morning, the sun came out and it was beautiful. The guide took us to another side of the ranch that was a lot more flat and foresty. We got to do a lot of trotting and galloping. We even went through a huge field at one point filled with wild horses where we got to go as fast as we wanted. I wasn’t a huge fan of the trotting, but when my horse broke out into a gallop, I really enjoyed that. It was kind of like flying.
Sadly the day ended and with some fried dough pastries and juice, they sent us on our way in our cabs. The horseback riding was definitely one of my top ten experiences in all my travels. It was just so much fun!
After we returned to the hostel, Lisa and I took showers and headed out to a Mexican place we’d seen earlier in the day. The Mexican food was great. We had several drinks and a couple margarita shots. Then, we headed over to the Irish pub in town that was supposed to be the happening place. On our way in, we ran into four guys from school. We took a table with them and hung with them for the night. They had a live band and Lisa and I danced and had a great time. The night ended at around 4 a.m.
Day 6 – The Enchanted Forest and Reuniting With Our Friends . . .
We had booked a boat ride for the next afternoon. So, we woke up around ten and dragged our asses slowly out of bed. We were hung over and in massive pain from our horseback riding adventure the day before. By the time we made it out of the hostel, we barely had time for lunch before we had to board an hour long bus ride to the harbor. We just barely made it on the boat on time. It was a pretty boat ride and we stopped at two different islands. The first island was really cool. It had all these orange trees which are only found here and in Japan. Supposedly, the island was the inspiration for the Enchanted Forest in Bambi. It was really pretty. The second island wasn’t as neat. It was just a national park with about 50 species of tree. It was pretty, but nothing terribly special. All in all it was a nice relaxing day after all those days of physical activity.
Meanwhile, Hanna and the other Lisa arrived in Bariloche. We didn’t make it back into town in enough time to meet them for dinner. So, we went and had Chinese on our own. It was really good and really inexpensive. Then, we met up with Lisa and Hanna who happened to be eating at a restaurant on the same street as us.
We decided to go for ice cream. I couldn’t decide what type of ice cream I wanted, so I thought I’d be clever and pick something that I didn’t know. After all, you can’t go wrong with ice cream right??? Haha. WRONG!!! I ended up with this terrible combination of egg whites and port wine. It was gross! I didn’t eat it. We ended up just sitting in the shop until they kicked us out about 12:30 eating ice cream, talking about our days apart, and playing Yuker. Then it was up the hill to the hostel and off to bed.
Day 7 – Mount Cathedral and Heading Home . . .We were up early, eating our medilunas, and planning our day on Saturday as we had to be on the bus by 2. We decided to take the cable car to the top of Mount Cathedral for views of the city. We took the bus and then the cable car up the mountain. The views were very pretty. We spent a little while up there playing and then headed back down.
When we made it back into town, we headed for one last stop at the best chocolate shop in town and loaded up on chocolate. My favorite were the liquor filled chocolates. I thought they were so novel.
We had very little time before the bus left and we still needed to get our bags from the hostel. But, we were hungry. So, we ran to a supermarket for sandwiches and snacks. Then it was up to the hostel and to the bus station in a taxi. We made it with about 20 minutes to spare.
The bus was nicer than the one that we took to San Marteen, but it was still not fully reclining as we’d been promised by the guy we booked the tickets with. Either way, the ride went fairly quickly with chatting, reading, and looking out the windows. Before I knew it, it was 10 p.m. and we were stopping for our Milanasa dinner. Then, it was time to sleep on the bus. I really didn’t sleep well in the upright position. I woke up constantly and was very uncomfortable. I just was ready to get home.
Day 8 – Finally Home!!!
Luckily we arrived in Bs As on-time at 10 a.m. I went directly to Ben’s house. I hadn’t seen him in two weeks!!! He had some welcome home flowers and nice gifts from Peru for me. He took me to San Thelmo (an old neighborhood in Bs As) where they have a big antiques fair on Sundays. We had lunch and did some browsing. It was a beautiful day! It was nice to be back in the warmth of Bs As. That night we ordered greek (which was fabulous) and rented a movie.
We also spent most of the next day together since I didn’t have school til Tuesday and Ben took Monday off to spend with me. I found out that night that there had been a tragedy at home. I didn’t sleep much that night and had decided by the morning that I really wanted to go home.
I went to my first day of Intermediate One and then booked a plane ticket home. I packed a couple of things and said goodbye to Ben again before heading to the airport.
So, there was my week in Patagonia. It was a really great trip and fairly cheap. I’m really glad that I went!
