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Day 185 cont: Back at base
I got back to Bariloche in the early evening and caught a taxi straight back to Perikos, the hostel on the hill where I had stayed the previous week. After popping to the supermarket to stock up on provisions, it was a nutritious pot of pasta and tomatoes (a reliable staple) for dinner, before spending the evening chatting to the other people at the hostel, one or two of whom had been here last week, making me feel right at home!
Day 186: Lessons
I had another spanish lesson this morning and considering that I was a bit disheartened by my inability to understand any of the locals in Esquel, it actually went rather well. My teacher, bless her, has photocopied an entire textbook for me, so I've got something to work with when I leave Bariloche (the one I got in Buenos Aires wasn't very good)! After school, I went into town and faffed around for a while, window shopping and buying a quarter kilo of various chocolate icecreams (it's an addiction, I need help). Since finding that I can just about read in Spanish (with the help of a
dictionary and a whole lot of patience), I've rediscovered bookshops, and subsequently seem to be visiting them all too frequently. Feeling like a fraud, I browsed the shelves of a couple downtown, buying a couple of simple books to add to my collection. Mental note to self: books are heavy and I will have to carry them!
After all my shopping exertions, I spent another relaxed evening back at the hostel with a plate of pasta and tomatoes. This time, I tentatively opened a bottle of malbec, and managed to force down a couple of glasses with no ill effects. That said, I'm still not quite right. Although the stomach bug has settled down, I seem to have developed a stinking cold in its place, and after watching a bit of football (Champion's league, followed by a Boca match) and a very poor film (the Da Vinci Code), was soon off to bed.
Day 187: Worker's day
The first of May in Argentina is 'Worker's day', and to celebrate this, noone goes to work. This meant, that the spanish school was closed, as were most of the shops, supermarkets, banks and well, pretty much everything. I
subsequently spent much of the day relaxing at the hostel, eating icecream (I know, I know) and sitting down by the lake making the most of the gorgeous weather with my new book, "El leon, la bruja y el armario" (aka: the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe), which is turning out to be a slightly easier read than Paolo Coehlo! With lots of families down by the lake, and it being just about warm enough to sit outside (albeit with a jumper), it proved to be a very pleasant afternoon. For a bit of variety, I did spend a little while looking around an exhibition of Argentinian cartoons on display in the main town square, where there were countless other people milling around, enjoying the bank holiday sunshine, and chuckling at one display board or another.
Attempts to watch a film back at the hostel were halted in the evening when the television gave up and died. It's a shame it hadn't done that when the Da Vinci Code was on last night. I was subsequently restricted to reading my book, talking to people (shock horror), and doing a bit of homework, ready for my last day at
school tomorrow.
Day 188: Last day in Argentina
Having come back to Bariloche a couple of times, I do feel quite at home here, although predictably I have become a bit icecream/chocolate dependent, so it's probably as well that I do have to move on. I had my last lesson at 'school' this morning, and after saying goodbye to everyone, went into town to stock up on chocolate (not for immediate consumption) and icecream (I don't have a portable freezer, and so had to polish this off fairly quickly), before going on a mission to buy some antimalarials ready for my trip to Central America.
The search for antimalarials proved to be a bit of a challenge. The first couple of chemists I asked didn't stock doxycycline, and having been told by one of them that I should ask at the hospital, I soon found myself trekking out of town to check out the local healthcare facilities. I found the hospital, and after a general nose around (I only had a look in the outpatients departments and didn't make it as far as the wards), I found the pharmacy, operating out of a large cupboard in a hospital corridor. They wouldn't sell me any doxycycline, and were only handing out drugs to people with a prescription, but they did point me in the direction of a couple more private pharmacies in town. Eventually, I found a chemist that had two in-date packets in stock, although when I found out the price per packet (about five times the price of retail value back home), my jaw nearly hit the floor. Apparently, despite being a fairly useful antibiotic, noone really uses it Argentina, hence the cost. In case I encounter similar problems in Chile, I bought a packet (I needed five), and hopefully I'll be able to buy the rest more cheaply elsewhere!
As a break from cooking my own food, I signed up for the hostel barbecue today, with the promise that there would be soya, salad and bread aplenty. Unfortunately, the barbecue man cancelled at the last minute, and so five of us decided to improvise and cook a roast in the oven. The vegetarian option was somewhat limited to roasted veggies and tatties, whilst the others shared half a cow, but it was very nice all the same. After a good meal and a couple of bottles of Malbec, going to a Flamenco evening in town seemed like a good idea, and I found myself heading down to one of the local bars with three of the others. From what I remember (not a huge amount), it was a pleasant evening, although I think that my ability to speak spanish (and probably english), deteriorated somewhat towards the end of the evening, and I finally crawled into bed at half-three, not looking forward to the inevitable pain that would ensue when I had to get up a few hours later.
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