Bariloche & things that are different 2

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As I wrote last time, I spontaneously changed hostel when I arrived in Bariloche. The reason why I did that was the following: when I arrive in a new city I first look for a map to have an idea where the hostel is. Well, in contrast to what they claimed on their homepage, the hostel I booked is quite far from the centre. Since it's low season in Bariloche, Rubby - a Venezolano who works for the hostel where I'm staying now - was at the terminal and offered dorms to the arriving tourists. That's how I landed in this hostel 'freedom'. It's a bit...hippie, a bit alternative...but the people are great and it's surprisingly well organised. It's one of the hot spots for all the groups from Israel who travel Argentina, but there are also many Argentinians and some French people. We, the guests, get invited all the time for dinner or mate or tortas fritas etc. Since I cought a cold in San Martín I haven't seen that much yet. Yesterday I went to the museum about Patagonia and did a little trip to the valle encantado and villa traful. I hope I'll feel better tomorrow because I would like to do a bike trip and maybe horse riding in the valle encantado.
People here in the South are a bit calmer, a bit more European, the cities are smaller and safer and the weather is like Swiss autumn with a strong wind blowing every day. The computers here are very old, though, I still can't upload the pics.

2-3 additional things that are different: time and distances. As expected, Argentinian 10 min are rather half an hour or more and cities, which you can reach by bus within 1-2h are considered as close. Well, Argentina is a tiny bit bigger than Switzerland...
What I like verry much is the open-minded, sociable Argentino. No bus trip without conversation with your neighbour, no lonely breakfasts!
As I already told you, Argentinian meat is great, but the rest is a bit boring (although I haven't tried trucha yet; one of the specialities of this region) and...Swiss chocolate is still the best! In San Martin and Bariloche are many chocolate factories and the chocolate is ok, but you can buy better one in every coop or migros...
One last thing for today: Argentinians are very proud of having the longest forest (it was a bit unclear last time: the forest is 2 times as long as Italy), the highest mountain, the shortest river...and I think that's good because like this people think about it and try to protect these places, because as one guide in San Martín said : 'we, the Argentinians, are used to live in the present, but we have to learn to think about the future, and that's what we start doing now'.

I'll tell you more soon and on Sunday I'm flying to El Calafate in the very South.

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[elmum]

The view from above...
... you're getting today by flying to the very south. I wish you a flight through an azure sky and a happy landing!