If you ever get the chance...

....to take a 28 hour bus ride in Argentina, you should at once. Sitting on a bus for 28 hours isn’t the most fun thing in the world, but the various landscapes are impressive.

Set out from Bariloche at 9 am Tuesday, arrived in El Calafate at 1pm the next day. We had 10 minute stops in Esquel, Rio Gallegos, Comodoro Rivadavia, plus a few Podunk gas stations and roads here and there.

The best (or worst) part of the bus ride was the occasional closed paved road in the middle of nowhere, which resulted in taking the dirt road right beside the unoccupied highway for 30 minute chunks. Nonetheless, a bit bumpy. Also, the 40 mph speed limit, and at time moving at 5 mph, made the journey a bit slow.

Supplies needed for 28 hour bus ride:
-1 bag of salami
-1 package of sliced cheese
-loaf of bread
-several handfuls of peanuts
-1.5 Liters of Argentinian Orange Soda
-2 Oranges
-Jam
-Patience (...an iPod and Spanish study Materials)



Another closed yet completely empty road making us take the dirt path:

Bariloche Update

Happy Easter! Here is a photo update from the last few days in Bariloche:

A view from Cerro Campanario outside Bariloche:


Making funny poses with my couchsurfers:


More funny poses on Cerro Campanario:


Making empanadas


My first empanada from scratch! You need to fold them just right for a nice seal and a pretty finish. We made empanadas filled with deer, onion, & tomatoes, peppers & others filled with egg, cheese, onion, peppers, and tomatoes. Yum.


Stewing the veggies and meat:


The empanadas:


With Couchsurfer hosts:


Heading to El Calafate, Argentina on Tuesday. Central Southern Patagonia. 26 hour bus ride hooray! Hopefully stay there 3 or 4 days, go to some Glaciers, maybe do some trekking, and then go further south to Punta Arenas, Chile, after.

Things Not to Say

Here are my observations about odd things I have encountered learning Spanish.

I've learned quite a few things NOT to say, for example:

‘Estas acabado? – Are you finished (for example, using the bathroom)? Umm, bad sexual connotation, never say this one again. Of course, it is 'technically' correct, but instead say ‘Ya termino?’

‘Me quieres cocinar algo’ (Do you want me to cook something?) – Not only an entirely wrong & nonexistent sentence structure (subjunctive practice will take awhile), but me quieres anything seems to have a sexual connotation that makes people laugh. Instead I must say Quieres que te concine algo?

‘Estoy exitado’ – No, I’m not horny, I was just trying to say ‘Estoy emocionado’ (excited).

I’m sure I said a lot more funny stuff that people were too courteous to point out...

Then there are also verbs for everything. Even the most obscure things. Two of my favorite so far with no literal English translations:

Asphaltar – To ‘asphalt(ize)?’ Okay, to put down asphalt on a road.
Solucionar – To ‘solucionize’. Okay, to find a solution.


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Off to go shopping for ingredients to make some very American ‘California’ hamburgers and mashed potatoes for my couchsurfing hosts tonight in Bariloche. ‘California’ burgers were specifically requested.

Host Ulises making pizza for dinner the other night, complete with tomato sauce, onions, palmitos (hearts of palm), cheese, and ham:


Host's families dogs. The male would like to ferociously kill me 90% of the time (one time he licked me to death, thats it), thankfully there is a hefty metal chain that keeps him about a few steps away from me on exit:

Finally Learning

Great to have a week of relaxing and doing not much of anything here in Bariloche. Moving around gets a bit tiring (nonetheless, can't complain cause its still fun). So here's my daily schedule this week:

8:00 Get up.

8:25 Walk to class for 35 minutes

9:00 Take 3 hours of Spanish classes

12:00 Walk home for 35 minutes

12:35 Bum around for an hour, talk with couchsurfers in Spanish

13:30 Do my Spanish homework

14:30 Bum around, talk with couchsurfers in Spanish, or take a walk.

17:00 Study some Spanish

18:00 Take afternoon mate or coffee and some snacks at the kitchen table with the couchsurfers. Continue to learn in Spanish with them.

19:00 Clean the table from afternoon cafe/mate. Bum around and chat until its ready to make dinner

21:00 Cook dinner

Thats about it. And quite enjoying it all. My couchsurfers here are some of the friendliest and most accomodating I've been with. I cooked dinner for them tonight while they provided the snacks and drinks. There are 2 guys living here...their brothers, sisters, and neices and nephews are always dropping by. It's a pretty tiny place so I sleep in the kitchen/dining room combo. They really enjoy correcting my Spanish and helping me out, plus every once in awhile ask about words in English. It's holidays for Easter starting Thursday afternoon, so no classes on Friday. But nonetheless I am learning a ton because I haven't had any learning structure past practicing vocabulary since I arrived here. Since I've been talking so much in Spanish this month, I have alot of questions for the teacher and should be able to benefit alot from only 12 hours of lessons. After Thursday, there are some great places to hike around here, so I'll probably climb a few hills for some good views. Still trying to decide where to go next after Bariloche. South, but not sure in what order, speed, or manner.

With hosts Ulises and Fabian having fun trying to fix my flat inflatable bed:


A view from near the Spanish school of the lake:


Main Square in Bariloche:


My street for the week:

Andes Crossing Part 2!

As usual, my latest long haul bus ride over the Andes was ridiculously amazing and picturesque.

Uncharacteristically, the bus arrived at the terminal in Puerto Montt an hour late. For long haul buses, they seem to take off exactly when it is stated. We took off at about 930, and I promptly crashed for an hour and a half so I'd be awake for the good part over the Andes. The bus went north first to the city of Osorno, then headed over the Andes to Bariloche. I grabbed a top level front seat for the best views.

By about noon we started to go up, and we were basically in a forest. For the next 4 or 5 hours, we winded through the Andes, going up and down. This crossing is not as tall as near Mendoza, so it is really green everywhere. There were plenty of lakes here and there, and in the peak of the trip, towering rock formations and forested peaks.

We stopped first at an outpost in Chile to get stamped and exit. About an hour later, we stopped at an outpost in Argentina to get stamped for entry and get searched.

Anyways, about 6 or 7 hours later, I was in Bariloche. It kind of feels like Lake Tahoe, but the city isn't as peachy and cabin like.


The bus at the Argentinian Border crossing. A few bags got searched. They didn't take my garlic!:


ye Bye Chile! Maybe I'll see you again soon:


A few hours in starting to get foresty and going up:


Hi Argentina!


A bit windy and some big mountains, but it has nothing on Aconcagua!


The lake is about 60 miles long...Bariloche is the biggest city on it, about 100,000:


Almost there! It got really desert like 15 miles outside of Bariloche then switched back to forests:


As a side random note, supermarkets have hilarious American like names. For example, BIGGER, JUMBO, FULLFRESHMARKET, and other great titles. Just waiting to see a supermarket called GRANDE. Did see a few Walmarts but I have no clue where at this point.

Puerto Montt, Chile

Puerto Montt is the first place where a couchsurfer just told me to call him when I got in, no address or anything. Plus, again, he didn’t speak English. Hooray, more practice!

So anyways, I got into the bus terminal in Puerto Montt after a 14 hour bus ride from Santiago, at 830 am. Gave my host a ring at the phone center at the station…no answer. Great. I had all day, so I figured I’d wait a bit and try again before settling for a hostel. Second call 10 minutes later…success! I stumbled through a 5 minute call with Cristian, my couchsurfer, in which he told me to walk 5 minutes to the right out of the terminal, find the bus stop, take the #9 or #139 colectivo for 20 minutes to ‘la arena’, where he would be waiting. Needles to say, I hoped I had comprehended everything correctly when I took off from the terminal.

I made it to the bus stop. I wasn’t sure here what a colectivo was (names of transport are different EVERYWHERE), so I asked two ladies. Glad I did. I thought it would be asmall bus. Turns out, it looks exactly like a taxi, but runs a fixed route. They hailed the correct one for me and I was off. Showed the conductor where I needed to go, was there pronto, and waited 10 minutes at the arena(while hoping I was in the right place) until my couchsurfer popped up around the corner!

But he was cool, he made some coffee and a bean dish for breakfast when I showed up, gave me a key, and proceeded to clean vigorously for an hour (weird), before I decided to take off and walk around the city.

View from my room @ couchsurfers Place:


Puerto Montt is almost as I expected, a port city, in a very green & foresty area, fairly hilly but not too bad, about 200,000 people. The centro isn’t much to talk about, but they have a nice walk along the water where you can view the foresty coastline, islands, and some really old looking boats. I walked about 4 km to the port market(Angelmo), where they had an array of stalls with fresh fish. After about 30 women asked me ‘quieres almorzar joven?’ (do you want to eat lunch) and 29 no thank yous, I settled on a stall with a big boiling pot with a bunch of stewed seafood and meats, complete with seafood broth as a drink for $5. Yum. Talked to some old guy at the table across from me for 15 minutes over lunch in Spanglish, after he asked me if I wanted a glass of his Chilean wine…he spoke some English, was from Santiago, and his son lives in Tacoma, Washington…you just never know when you see someone.

My Amazing lunch that day:


Which came from this caldron of boiliing stuff:


My first boat look like this:


View from the Port:




Anyways, there are tons of volcanoes, islands, and national parks in the area. So decided I was going to go to a nearby national park on Friday, Parque Alerce Andino. The ‘minibus’ was supposed to leave at 740 from the bus terminal. My lazyass hit snooze on my alarm, woke up at 7, left at 715, and power walked 30 minutes to the terminal, nonetheless missing the bus. Crap. Next one wasn’t until noon. But no worries, backup plan was to take a bus to the island Chiloe, to the city of Ancud.


So…2 hour bus ride later (including barge, transport), I’m in Ancud, town of 30,000 people. It feels like this area/town hasn’t changed since the area was inhabited 6,000 years ago. It was foggy, drizzly, and the architecture reflected that. Definitely a fishing and handcrafts town. The houses were all wood shingled in various colors, from green to blue to yellow, really pretty unique. Since the weather sucked, I just walked around for a bit, went to the museum, learned something about the Chiloe people (as usual how the Spanish came here and when), and took a bus back after about 5 hours in the city. What I saw of the island, which is a small percentage, was very beautiful, green, rolling, short forests. I wish I had more time here, because there is a lot more things to see and do on the Island.

Chiloe Landscape:


A typical house on the island:



The following day, I woke up early enough to take the bus to the national park. After a 30 minute ride, they dropped me off on a dirt road, and told me to walk 10 or 20 minutes to the entrance. Anways, the park was kind of like a low forest, in the mountains. There is a city of a whopping 400 people, called Corrientes, there, as well. I was basically the only one in the park, save for a few people I saw.

Since there are only 3 buses all day to/from this place, I had to make sure I knew exactly when/where the bus picked me up. The driver told me to board at the same spot on the dirt road at 2pm. No problem. Got there at 140, parked my butt for awhile until 230, then I thought maybe he said ‘doce’ instead of ‘dos’. Anyways, walked down the empty dirt road 15 minutes to the only market, where the guys told me to hitchhike. I was actually a bit excited, but then when I walked out, the bus was approaching, and I boarded.

The bumpy ride in the 'minibus' here:


The vast emptiness they dropped me off at:


A view from inside the park:


Waiting and waiting and waiting at the 'bus stop' in Correntoso, Chile:


Fun fact: I am now enjoying hot showers again in Bariloche. There was no natural gas in Puerto Montt, so I took some collllllllllllllldddddddddddd showers. It stunk.

End of Story. Un Abrazo de Bariloche, Argentina.