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Published: September 23rd 2006
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Cerro Catherdal
Top Notch Views of the Lake District Hola chicos y chicas. Yes tis true. I have finally left Barriloche after 3 weeks of learning spanish and generally having a great time. It was comfort to the extreme as I had my own bedroom and a television. Now Im back to the snoring fellow dormers and the poor sleeps!!
The day after my birthday, I reached school only to find out me and Peter were to have a new teacher for my final week. Irupe, my original teacher, was great and very patient with us beginners. Now we were to notch it up a level with Silvia, a 29year old blonde Argy who was a great teacher, and fit! Bugger, how was I expected to learn now. Actually, the week was excellent, and I am very glad I stayed on for a 3rd week. Peter left at half time on Monday so for 2 hours it was 1:1, hard but good. I talked much more spanish in the whole week, as Silvia spoke much less English than Irupe, forcing us to charlar en español! Enjoyed it and by Friday it was sad to leave the school for the final time.
The previous Saturday I ha intended to
La Montaña Spanish School
Bootiful building!! Makes for good learning........ go skiing for my birthday. Due to the weather, however, we chose to sit in the pub. So on Tuesday morning, when it was beautiful blue sky after 4 days of pissing it down, me and my housemate Plunket decided to go skiing. We left an hour early from school and caught the bus up there. The views from Cerro Cathedral are phenomenal, and perhaps some of the best views I have ever seen from skiing in mountains. There were some good runs and we met up with Marty also from our school and skied with him for a bit. He used to be a professional downhill skier so could I keep up? I could not! Was a great afternoon, but the boots i hired were not very good and thus my calfs were pounding when I got them off. Also my ankle swelled up a bit too, but was worth it. I could not leave Barriloche and not go to Argentinas main ski resort!
In the final week I did go for a few meals! On Monday after our final salsa lesson (where to be honest I did not improve on my 1st weeks boogies) me, andy, gina,
Bariloche Town Hall
Some good old fashioned Nordicness! ina and flav went to a nice traditinal argy restuarant where I ate wild boar. Was actually superb- could live this lifestyle for good! On Wednesday I had a bt of a mexican doo, as at lucnh me and Plunket went for fajitas, then in the evening I got invited by my classmate Peter round for dinner, where his wife cooked us up Mexican. Wammo, just call me Jose! I had my final meal on Thursday night with my Argentinian family. By the end, I chatted with Kuqi much more and she was very patient and gave me lots of confidence. If I ever return to Bazza, I will definitely return to Kuqis! The week concluded with one final knees up, with a tango class, a meal at Albertas (which does perhaps THE best steaks ever), muchos drinking in our local bar and then off for a boogie at a reggee club. A cracking doo, and a great way to say Hasta Luego to everyone I met at the school.
Come Saturday I was wrecked. I´d had 3hrs sleep and I was too meet Andy to leave Barriloche and head south at 12. Packing up was emotional, and I
Uve been tangoed Flav!
Some good old fashioned tango-ing with the teacher! never did say goodbye to Kuqi cus she was out! Eventually arriving at the bus station we found out we had to wait 2 hrs cus all the buses were full. Bugger, I could have an extra 2hrs sleep! We took a short 2hr bus trip to a little town called El Bolson. a hippy little place full of stoners!! I had called a hostel and booked accommodation (in spanish!) earlier so we knew where we were going on arrival. The hostel was a farmhouse in a field about 10mins walking from the bus station, and was basically full of Argentinian hippies juggling, playing the banjo and smoking weed 24 hours a day. They cooked us tea the first night which was wicked- traditional chicken and roasted vegetables- traditional argy fodder?!! Sunday was spent dawdling round the town, chilling out in the hostel and sitting on the loo as I had a slight case of the shits- could have been the traditional argy fodder! In evening, however, Andy thought it clever to go a cçlocal night of tango! Skye had joined us from Bariloche, and a really annoying American girl from the hsotel joined us to the night, set in
a local scout hut! Was a tad different from our school tango classes, however, as these were good dancers. Some even had there own shoes, and the average age was about 60. We didnt fit in very well. Furthermore, we had to endure a short show of Argentinian singing from a middle aged woman with scary eyes, crooning her heart out with, frankly, some real crap songs! Post that, one of the organisers came over to our table and I thought she asked us if we had done tango before, to which I replied no, never! It later came about she was asking me if I would like the next dance! Felt a bit bad after that and hid the corner! We made a sharp exit when all the dancers hit the floor!!
On Monday, we went for a hike in the surrounding mountains of El Bolson. Was a very tough day , beginning at a bus at 8am, a round trip of 3 hrs on a bus, and about 9hrs of walking. We must have done at least 16 miles, mainly up a valley alongside a gushing river. Some of the views were great overlooking the range. The
My drunken buddies
Andy, Inga, Neil and Ina. highlight was when we ran into a bunch of gauchos on horseback. They were hunting for some beasts, and they gave us some of their liquor of some vodka type. Was great to see the traditional Gauchos in all their glory!! The day was good exercise, and by the end I was shattered. I really felt we were in the middle of Argentina when all the gauchos dressed in their leather jackets and their fancy hats on sat on the bus chatting to each other!
The following day we left El Bolson and headed further south to Esquel, primarily to do some more skiing. We found an absolute superb hostel called Planeta Hostel which i a small house changed into a hostel. The owner was a chef before, so has cooked us up 3 great meals in 3 nights (at a price!). On Wedneday we went skiing to La Hoya and did some great skiing, some of the best Ive done all trip. I had better boots and skis, and felt much more confortable in them. The views werent quite as good, but the snow was better and there was nobody there that we never had to wait for
Best steak ever?
Bloody brilliant! lifts. In the afternoon we bumped into Marty the skier and also Barnaby, a french ski instructor from our hostel, and we went off piste. Twice we hiked with our skies on our backs to the top of the hill and skied right to the bottom of the mountain. At one point I felt I was out of my depth as I wiped out 3 times within about 5mins, but was all good fun and i got a few tips to improve my shocking technique!
Yesterday we travelled to a little town called Trevelin, supposedly a welsh stronghold in the middle of Argentina. Sadly it was midday, so everything was closed for siesta! We ended up getting lunch then returning back to Esquel.
We leave Esquel tonight on a night bus, where we will spend 2 days travelling to the very south of Argentina to the southerm most city in the world called Ushauia. So Im going to miss all the Ryder Cup- bugger! Had an eventful couple of weeks. I can imagine its only going to get colder as we reach 'the end of the world'!!
Hope everyones good back home?
Ciao for now
Leaving Bariloche
Waiting at the station for 2hrs cus all the buses were full. Jonny x
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Smudge
Michael Smith
Gangster Lean!
Hey spread, whats with the massive lean you've got on that photo of you tangoing! Reminds me of that classic scene from only fooly, where del falls through the bar when hes with Trigwell!