Switzerland!?!

---

As you see, I'm still in the province of Neuquén but here in San Martín de los Andes it's a totally different world. The first 5h of my bus trip I saw only Patagonia's earth/grass/bushes-landscape. However, the colours were amazing and instead of sleeping I was taking pictures all the time (I travelled during the day). The closer we came to the Andes, the greener was the landscape and anybody in Argentina who misses Switzerland should come here...: chalets, same vegetation, chocolate, fondue(!), cars stop for pedestrians...if people didn't speak Spanish I'd feel like in a Swiss winter sports village. It's very relaxing to be here since it's somehow 'familiar'. The funny thing is that the Argentinians don't know about this similarity.

In Mendoza were many European tourists, in the hostel in Neuquén I was the only non-Argentinian and almost the only girl. Here most tourists are Argentinian or Chilean. For me it's great because I have to speak Spanish all the time and I learn a lot about the country and the people. In Neuquén I spent the whole evening talking with Jorge about the differences between Switzerland and Argentina, and yesterday evening the kitchen in the hostel was full of talkative Argentinians. I also meet quite many people from cities that I will visit during the next weeks and I get helpful infos about these places.

My plans for S.M. de los Andes are some hiking/cycling + city and the Parque Nacional Lanín.

I'd love to add pictures and I haven't forgotten the entry about the book, but the computers are so old and slow and there's only 1 computer for the whole hostel...I hope I'll be able to do that in Bariloche.

---