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Published: August 6th 2005
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Finances = Very Green
Fitness = Almost Red
Relationship = Green
Arguments = Zero
Greetings from Argentina! For those of you who missed the KPI´s last time, they are back. Not that they all look good, we´ll explain later.
The last fortnight has been a game of two halves. One week in Chile, the other in Argentina. Both countries have been fabulous and people are so helpful and friendly. This is especially good as very little English is spoken and we need lots of patience when trying to speak Spanish. We have, however, picked up some essential phrases including "Do you have a hairdryer?" and "Is there anywhere to dry our clothes?"!!!
We left Santiago on the nightbus amid great excitement of almost fully reclining seats. Especially nice was the bus attendant who put a pillow behind our heads and tucked a blanket around us. But without doubt, the thing that sent us to sleep was watching Britney Spears in Crossroads dubbed into Spanish!!! Ten hours (and eight hours of sleep) later we arrived in Pucon. A gorgeous little town about 500km south east of Santiago. The town was full of hostels so we decided to do the
proper backpacker thing and check into one. The one we chose, Donde German, was fantastic. They did all our washing, dried our boots and had one of the most comfortable beds we have slept in (and that was number 27 of the trip). And all for 14 pounds a night. Wonderful!
Unfortunately we couldn´t climb the volcano in Pucon (still active but luckily not on red alert when we were there) as the rain had set in, but we did manage a hike up 3600 feet to three lakes in the mountains. The final 1500 ft climb was above the snow line, consequently when we got to the lakes they were frozen. The scenery was absolutely beautiful and quite breathtaking. Definitely worthwhile.
The lowlight, for me at least, was going quadbiking. It´s never really appealed to me and now I know why. However, despite getting absolutely soaked through, falling off and bending part of his bike, Mark absolutely loved it. I shall never be doing it again!!!!
After Pucon we headed south before joining a tour to take us across the lakes and Andes to Argentina. It was very good and had it not been raining, the
scenery would have been stunning. Instead it can only be described as dramatic. However, the two days it took were very relaxing and very enjoyable and it was fun crossing the Chilean/Argentinian border high up in the Andes.
So now we´re in Bariloche, Argentina. We´ve been here almost a week and are staying for a further few days before we head back to Chile. As it was still raining when we arrived (six days on the trot) but it was snowing higher up in the mountains, we decided to book some skiing lessons. After kitting ourselves out with the latest ski gear that the rental shop could offer (circa 1988) we took to the slopes for three days. There are quite a lot of easy runs here which were perfect for Mark to learn on and for me to refresh my memory. And while the slopes were busy by Argentinian standards, compared to Europe there was hardly anyone here. The sun even came out on our second day providing magnificent views across the ski resort and beyond to the lake. Unfortunately the camera was back in the hotel room so no photos.
Talking of our hotel, which is called Casita Suiza, the owner and staff have been absolutely fabulous. We were recommended it by a lady in Chile so we booked ourselves in for two nights as we didn´t know how long we were going to spend in Bariloche. After planning to ski, we told the hotel we would like to stay for ten nights. Although they are really booked up, they have moved bookings around so we can stay. How good is that! And they have a great restaurant.
However, food in both Chile and Argentina has been great and really cheap (hence our finances being very green!). There has also been plenty of it (hence our fitness being almost red!) and now we´re in Bariloche where wine is also exceptionally cheap and they make the most delicious chocolate ever. We thought Tahiti was paradise but Bariloche comes a close second!
Sadly we only have just over a week left here before we head to Rio and then to Miami. And as Miami is at the end of the trip we´re trying not to think about it to much (or the hurricanes and tropical storms which keep hitting the Florida coast!). In the meantime we shall continue to enjoy Argentina with all its food, chocolate and wine. ¡Salud!
K&M
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