Bahia Blanca

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Sun 4th Nov:
After a reasonable breakfast I went walkabouts to find an internet cafe - was unable to upload the photos yesterday as the PC had no spare USB port. The city was quiet and most shops closed but eventually found a place open.
At 11.00 Raul, Patricia (his wife) and Austin (their nephew) arrived at the hotel and we went on a long drive towards the sierras. Austin spoke fluent English and translated the conversations. We soon left the flat landscape around Bahia for the rolling and beautiful countryside of the sierras. On the way I had my introduction to "mate¨" - the traditional S. American drink popular with people from S. Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. It is made with hot water (carried in a flask) and a herb called yerbos, it tastes slightly bitter but is like tea without milk. I was surprised that I quite liked it. We entered tha national park area and stopped at unique village called Tornquist which was designed by an aristocrat called Don Ernest Tornquist. It is the most symmetrical and grid shaped village I´ve ever seen with an artificial lake, park and church in its centre. The countryside was beautiful, tranquil and quite a change from the bustling city. a varied array of trees and flora carpetted the hillsides. We took a circuit trip around the national park area past Cerro Ventana and Tres Picas through some beautiful small villages with individually styled houses and gardens to match. This was obviously a popular weekend picnic area. Our stops were interspersed with further drinks of mate and some delicious cakes which Patricia brought for the trip. After a few stints of walking, a browse in some of the tourist shops and a lunch we headed back towards Bahia Blanca - a great day´s outing, though Austin was tired when we reached his home at 6:00 (he had been out partying all the previous night, and had been busy doing all the translating throughout the day).
Raul has arranged for me to visit his school tomorrow afternoon. I plan to book an overnight coach to Neuquin arriving there on Tuesday morning. It will be interesting to see what the west of the country is like.

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Photos

My "Three Guides"
Raul, Patricia and Austin in the park at Tornquist.

The Church In Tornquist
Raul, Particia and yours truly posing in front of the church in the centre of Tornquist.

Patricia Fishing??
We stopped at a few streams enroute. Patricia decided to do some stone-stepping towards the centre of this stream.

Cerra Ventana
This wonderful view of the mountainside is the "sierra window".

Gateway to the Cemetary
This piece of architecture is another of Ernest Tornquist´s work and is the entrance to the area´s cemetery.