The first day in Bariloche (Monday, June 28) we walked around the city, I bought a new pair of jeans and a scarf, and we had cheese and chocolate fondue for lunch. The shop owners in Bariloche are under the impression that they live in the Swiss Alps. The next day we tried to go skiing, but there wasn't enough snow. We went up to check out the hill anyways. We also looked into hiking and biking, but because the weather was so awful with rain and wind we ended up just taking a bus out to the end of the line, where the driver kicked us off and we walked down to his first stop on the way back into town. He didn't like us very much. We continued to walk around town later in the rain and stopped to buy a TOOONNN of chocolate.. :)
Leaving Bariloche was interesting, to say the least. We had flights to Iguazu that had a layover in Buenos AIres. When we finally got to B.A., we ended up getting stuck there over night because there were bus drivers on strike or somesuch. Because we were only supposed to spend a day in Iguazu, there was no point to getting a later flight there because our flight back would be a few hours later. The Iguazu part of the trip ended up being canceled, and we never got our money back. We were also given a voucher for "Breakfast at any restaurant in the airport, up to ____ pesos per person" (I don't remember the value we were told but it seemed reasonable - the cost of a decent breakfast) which turned out to be "breakfast at one place in the airport - and you can only have a couple media lunas and a cafe con leche per person" which is not much at all. ANYWAYS. I'M NOT BITTER. We were able to fly out of B.A. for Mendoza the next morning (which was just our later flight bumped forward a few days). We were able to sleep some that morning at the hostel because there wasn't much sleep to be had the night before in the airport.
Later that day we went on the half day winery tour because Mendoza has the perfect climate for vineyards. We decided that the hostel was a disaster and checked out on the 3rd (after the first night) and packed up and walked to a different one. We were then able to find a cafe where we could watch the Argentina v. Germany game of the World Cup. Not a good day to be mistaken for a German. :(
Jeremy left on the 4th (Sunday) to fly back to B.A. and then home. The rest of us took a bus to San Juan for special meetings. There were folks there who had driven an entire day from Chile to be able to be there. They actually gave us a ride back to Mendoza rather than letting us take the bus back. On Monday we spent the day taking a "High Mountain Tour" - it was a lot of driving but there was a lot of beautiful mountains. And we got to play in the snow finally! On Tuesday we went PARA GLIDING in the afternoon!!! It was tons of fun :D The guy who was in charge of steering me kept yelling at me to "RUN!!!" at the beginning, and I felt rather bad that his legs were too long for mine to actually help any.
We had decided after the Buenos Aires airport disaster that we were going to take the bus to B.A. from Mendoza, and that enabled us to sleep on the bus all night long and get in the next morning. That day we mostly chilled and Steven took a really long nap. Sometime in Mendoza he'd gotten sick and wasn't sleeping that well. After his nap we went to visit his host mom and pick up some things he had stored with her. On the way home we ate pizza (again) and I still have the fridge magnet that they hand out so you can order from home... I don't think I'll ever use it, but it looks cool :) The next day we took a bus to El Camino - A very colorful neighborhood full of dancers and restaurants and artists. We finally got to watch people tango! I finally got a mate gourd there, and Russ was able to pick up quite a bit of artwork.
That afternoon I ventured out for the first time by myself in Argentina - Steven was taking a nap and Russ was at the airline office still trying to get his money back. I attempted to call home but my pin number no longer worked. Grrr. When I was paying for my time on the way out, the guy at the till made a kissy face at me. Typical. When Russ got back we went to the grocery store to get tasty things to take back to the states (alfajores, dulce de leche, and the mate stuff), as well as water - since after Steve got sick we'd only been drinking bottled water... We left for the airport that night because my flight was so early in the morning - The guys stayed with me for a while drinking mate until my flight showed up on the departures board with all of the information I needed. WOOOO!!! Another night in an airport!!! 48 hours until I'd get home!!! I didn't really want to leave after we got out of the cold and wet south haha!
Well, I ended up getting through everything without much hassle - which is a good thing because I don't really speak Spanish... And I was able to sleep on the plane. The layover in Peru just required us to go through security again, the Costa Rica layover required nothing, just walking to the other gate and waiting for the plane. The El Salvador layover just had people checking our carryons for liquids and patting us down. Met a girl and her mother on their way home to California after the Costa Rica stop and was glad that the girl spoke English and Spanish - so we were able to sit near each other all the way back to LA. I got through US customs by 1 am, and spent another night in the airport. I HATE LAX. I got over to the terminal I needed to be at, and some nice security guy gave me a cart that he was going to put away (where I would have needed to pay for it) so I didn't need to carry my bags. I washed my hair in the sink and took a sponge bath after attempting to sleep on a marble bench, and starved until I could check in and get through security for my flight to San Jose, CA, where I had a couple hour layover until my flight to Minneapolis. (I actually got real breakfast there - steel cut oats made with soymilk!!!) And then of course I had my flight back to Fargo. UFF DA. Mom, Nanu, and Grandpa Dave were there to meet me and pick me up and we went back to their place that night... We left for home on Sunday, stopping in Fargo, Grand Forks, and then Park River...
I can't wait to do this again!!... Though I could wait forever before the next overnighter in an airport...
I have pictures somewhere but can't find them right now...
No comments:
Post a Comment