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Published: January 22nd 2009
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I´ve now been in Bariloche for 4 days, but it feels like several weeks worth of experiences. I think I am still in culture shock to some degree, or maybe I´m just trying to get used to this new rhythm. Actually, I still don´t quite know what the new rhythm is!
Whereas I´d expected to take Spanish classes in a group every day, it turns out that there is no one else at my level (a sort of not-quite-beginner level, but muddy and messy enough to not be with one of the more advanced groups!) so my only choice is to take one-on-one lessons. I´ve had two such lessons so far, with Silvi, a very patient and warm teacher who is originally from Buenos Aires. I go to her house for lessons: she owns a beautiful but ramshackle old house right beside a small lagoon, about 18 km away from Bariloche. She runs it as a bed and breakfast, and at the moment she is renting out the 4 spare rooms to other Spanish students. I am living with a couple, Juan and Maria, at "Kilometre 12", so the bus ride to get to Silvi´s is not too far. And
I can´t complain as to the location, because she basically lives in the woods and the views from her windows are of mountains in all directions.
Everything here is measured according to how far you are from the centre of town. When you get on the bus, you have to tell the driver where you are going (eg, " Km 12") and then he will charge you accordingly. I might add, he does this, takes and counts your money, calculates and gives you back your change, WHILE he is driving the bus at full speed! I´ve even seen one driver thumbing through a wallet of bills in order to give someone change, while the bus careened around a corner at high velocity. The buses here are really something else. On the one hand, it is nice as a tourist to be able to take transit with the locals, and it only costs approx. 60 cents (Canadian) each way. You can take the buses to a lot of the local hiking spots and viewpoints, so it´s a very affordable way to do sightseeing.
However... the mysteries as to when and where the buses will appear are plentiful. I have
spent far too many hours waiting for buses so far... at least now I´ve bought a trashy Argentinian magazine to pass the time while I wait. It´s quite an experience: you wait in a little hut with an ever-growing crowd of locals; when the bus careens into view you need to flag it down so that it will stop. Everyone piles in, and the bit with the paying and the giving of change happens. The driver usually has the radio tuned into a rock station and the music is playing a full blast. When it´s time to get off - I haven´t quite figured this part out yet - you have to press a button and hope that he stops. The doors open while the bus is still moving, and then you jump off and stand there, slightly dizzy, amidst the thick cloud of dust kicked up by the bus as it speeds out of view. And hope that you´ve gotten off at the right place!
It´s been unseasonably hot here this week. Normally there are highs of 21 here at this time, but this week the temperatures have been well into the 30s, and the locals are finding
this hard to take. For me, it is still a relief compared to the humidity of Buenos Aires. I tried to upload a photo of the lake, but this computer didn´t like to upload photos... although I did manage to upload one onto my final Buenos Aires entry.
The Spanish is going very slowly!! I am still having an immensely difficult time understanding the Argentinian Spanish. This whole business of pronouncing the double "l"s and the "y"s as a "j" sound is so disorienting, because it affects so many basic words, and it can cause me to lose the meaning of an entire sentence. Indeed, I am finding that some Argentinians can utter an full sentence without pronouncing a single consonnant! Aieyaieyaie. I guess I was spoiled at the Spanish Centre in Toronto - my teacher pronounced everything as written - and now I´m listening for consonnants that never seem to appear!
So, my time here is turning out to be more solitary than I had planned. In the mornings, Maria lays out a beautiful breakfast for me with bread (lots of white bread - Note: there are only 3 food groups in Argentina: 1) heaps and heaps of white bread; 2) heaps and heaps of sugary foods; and 3) heaps and heaps of meat), as well as a selection of jams and Dulce de Leche which is basically a caramel-tasting spread of very very sweet thickened cream! I try my best to make conversation with Maria and Juan, and they are very kind, although they are also very busy with their house and garden and I´m never sure whether or not I´m being a nuisance by hanging about. It is difficult for me to decode what is going on, what with the cultural differences. So, I try to be as outgoing as possible and try not to read into things too much.
There is lots of time to fill, and it is difficult for me to meet up socially with the other Spanish students because they live in a different part of town - 15 minutes by bus (that doesn´t take into account the time spent WAITING for a bus.) And since I take my lessons solo, it´s hard to connect up with them. The Spanish school organizes various hikes and walks every couple of days, but it´s hard to stay in the loop as to when and where these are. I think the basic principle with the school (and indeed, perhaps with the country itself!) is: no worries! Things are mostly unplanned, no one really worries much one day to the next. It´s hard for me to adapt to this way of doing things, as I don´t want to end up with an entire day or most of a day with no plans to see anyone. I do like my time alone, but there needs to be a balance! So for now, I´ve joined up with any activity that I´ve heard about, and have met up to eat with the other students whenever possible.
I am now thinking that my next destination might be Mendoza, and that I might continue taking Spanish classes there. My hope is that I will be in a group, and that it will be more centralized so that I can hang out with the other students.
Anyhoo, I am trying not to feel too¨"solitary" and am trying to soak in the scenery as much as possible while I have the chance. After all, I think this is the landscape that I will love the most out of all the ones I will see in Argentina: as some of you know, lakes and trees are my FAVOURITE, so I need to make the most of these views and the fresh air while I have the chance.
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