Bariloche or Brighton?

Once again a week has flown by already............so much to report I am not quite sure where to start. I love this town, and am having such a fantastic time. Only one more week left, though here, and soooooooooo much to pack in.

True to my usual form, it seems I have found myself hanging around in a place where the men are all more interested in each other than they are in the ladies. Only this time it´s not just a coffee shop or wherever, it´s an entire town. I am sure there are proportionally more boys with highlights in this town than there are in Glasgow´s rainbow rooms! No complaints of course......it´s great for a solo white señorita to have plenty companions to go shopping with (!) or have coffee with and it´s a really unthreatening evironment, so I am very happy.

So last week, I seem to have been pretty busy. Spanish is coming on, although my pronounciation is still utterly terrible, but the rest is fine. My tutor suggests I don´t try and order Penne pasta in a restaurant for fear of the waiter thinking he must drop his trousers. Pizza it is.

I have managed an excursion every other day last week. It´s a hard life! These are views from the revolving restaurant at the summit of Cerro Otto. I lazily took a cable car the 1.5km upwards and then sat with a coffee at the top. Excellente! Grandparents can have an armchair 360. vista from this site: http://www.telefericobariloche.com.ar/ingles/confiteria.htm
Strangely on the summit there was a lot of development, including a spoof art gallery with full size Michelangelo Sculptures (replicas). Prince Charles´s would hate it (ref Cairngorm summit tearoom), and to be honest it was pretty ridiculous. But fantastic views...I could see where my homestay was, where we´d cycled, the route to Chile through the lakes, the Steppe landscape, the transitionary forests, the mountains........all for a fiver. Bargain.

On Wednesday I went for a Cabalgata (guided tour on horseback) to lake Moreno and through the surrounding forests. Our gaucho (pic right) was excellent and we covered a lot of ground, including forest, beach, rivers (little ones), and a little steppe. I was pretty chuffed with myself because I´d cycled 30km to get there and back to the stables, done the horse riding, and then got to my spanish class on time. The riding was absolutely spectacular and well worth the effort. Glad of my padded shorts for all that though!

The group I was in were all from the US on a no-expense-spared trip to Argy....their multinational had paid for some employees and their wives to go on the jaunt in recognition of their hard work. Nice! So, there I was in the middle of Patagonia looking like a scuffy cyclist trying to sit on a horse whilst the could-be-cast of Desperate Housewives were decked out in their designer clothes, perfectly made up and manicured, but also sitting on a horse. It was good to share a morning´s excursion with them; always interesting to chat to new people, especially when they inhabit a world so very different from my own.

On Friday I was concerned that my prefered spa might by closing due to lack of custom since I hadn´t been for over a week, so I popped in for a wee session in the Ozone tank (no idea what it is, but it was fun) and a massage. I get 20% off as a tourist, which is not so exciting when the full price is only six pounds. (I am not expecting a sympathy vote!)

On Saturday, I went on a day´s kayaking trip around a lake nearby and it´s been possibly the best excursion I´ve done so far. I am very chuffed that we managed 18km! It started off with absolutely beautifully clear water, cloudless sky etc (as per pic). After lunch, a beachside cooked feast, on the home straight that infamous Patagonian wind whipped up and I saw the eye of a whirlwind. The guide assured me I should just enjoy it as it wasn´t very strong, but we all got wet (not by capsizing thankfully). She was right, it was all very exciting. But a good reminder of how quickly things can change.

The rest of the group kayaking were on an Exodus overland trip. There were a couple of women in the 50s but everyone else was within +/- one year of my age. Áll brits, too. They were doing a 90 day, 16,000 mile bus tour of South America. Camping each night and driving most days for up to 12 hours. It was great to spend a day with them all but I am very pleased I opted for my itinerary rather than theirs. I´ll cover a lot less ground but I think I´ll meet more people and get a better understanding of each place. I would hate to be cooped up in a truck and then tent with the same people for 90 days, 24-7 I think! It was really interesting to hear why everyone was on the trip and how they´d got time off. Some stories not so very different from my own in there. I chatted for quite a time to an exiled “Guernsey donkey” ……keen to get his residential qualifications. It was great to spend the day with a group of brits but after we finished with a few post kayaking beers and I waved cheerio I didn´t mind being back en solo, or feel lonely.

Yesterday, Sunday, I went on a boat ride and trek in Valdivian forest to within a few kilometres of where we started the cycle tour en Chile. Maybe I´ll write more about that when I´ve got the pictures back as I´ve got loads of woodland pics. It was fantastic, anyway and I saw loads of plants. Not much fauna though! I bumped into some people I´d met the day before from Western Australia. They were beef farmers, a mum and daughter who had just finished a two week horseback tour in the area. So we compared notes over a roast beef sunday lunch and a good laugh. Perfect. I did one of the little jungle treks with a two sisters from Buenos Aires who were really good company. It´s great to spend an hour or two here with new people, who are generally interested in the same things as me. They drift in and out of my life quickly but it´s pretty refreshing.

I realise I have learnt as much about people, including myself as I have about Patagonia so far; it´s great. It takes a bit of effort as a solo traveller to go and do stuff, rather than sit and read a book and have a coffee. But generally each time I have bothered myself to do so it´s been well worth it.

I´ve moved homestay now, in to town. I can´t descibe my glee at this. No more earwigs scaling the toast in the morning, no off milk and no more hairs in dinner, I hope!!!! I had to stay at the first one until the end of last week as I wouldn´t get any cash back otherwise, so held out! The first homestay lady is lovely and means so well but it was certainly an unforgettable experience though. Lots of tales from there. Abuela went into hospital with flu last week (she is very definately on the mend)...when she collapsed two paramedics and a doctor were at the house within 5 mins of phoning the ambulance, dressed in scrubs and masked (maybe someone said about the hygiene!) with what looked like a portable theatre in tow. Pretty prompt service anyway.

(bad pic of wasps enjoying ham) I thought there was a burglar last week….at about 3am I thought I heard a window being broken. I then heard Abuela crying and suddenly stop. The dogs howled and then whimpered. And then nothing. About 5 mins later I heard footsteps on broken glass. I was somewhat concerned but stayed in my room. When I woke up everything was as normal. The nurse thought the dogs had dropped a plate during their raid on the fridge. In fact a plant and ceramic pot had fallen from upstairs on to the tiles downstairs. Abuela cried because she was frightened and the footsteps on the broken ceramics were actually paws. Mystery solved!

As a result of the above, and the fact I have lost my UK mobile I have a new “movil”. It´s with "Movistar", rather than Orange. I think my UK PAYG phone fell out my pocket on the bike, not that it worked here anyway. But it has all my numbers on the SIM, so everyone, I am afraid will have to give me their numbers again when I get home again. Sorry :-(

My new homestay is great. I have a beautiful view of the catherdral, the mountains and the lake from my room, and my hostess likes cooking. She is the opposite of my previous homestay in that she is completely lacking in “joy de vivre” (sp) but has an obsession with cleaning. Can´t have it both ways I guess. Next time (!) I would opt for a Cabaña (self catering apartment) of which there are some lovely ones here.

I´ve handed the bike back, with much regret. Unfortunately it didn´t fit in the lift at my new abode and the stairs were narrow…..carting it up 6 flights of stairs each day didn´t really appeal, and now that I am based in town I don´t really need it. I´ll miss it though. Sometimes when I´ve parked up beside my locutorio of choice (telecom/web centre) there´s a guy who recognizes it as my bike so he comes along to talk to me. He´s nice enough……he invents meterological gadgets for a living and teaches a bit too. I think he just wants someone to practice his English with, which is fine. But without my bike parked outside I am harder to find!

Classes this week should be good as I have two new class mates. My nice new Austrian friend in the advanced class already speaks 6 languages and insisted I only speak to him in Spanish. He´s either very patient or very bored!

Have a good week, all!