Blogs from Río Negro, Argentina, South America - page 16

´Reko´ is a Mapuche word meaning ´clear water´, and it is the name of my home for the next month. I arrive after a jolting taxi ride along stone tracks to find a nine year old boy brandishing a saw blade - enter Apollo, a mini overlord with the intelligence and audacity to preside over all volunteers that enter his home. His father and uncle, Gerardo and Gabriel, ten years ago exchanged their Buenos Aires existences for a life of clothes manufacturing in India and bio-construction in Patagonia. The current project is the taller; sitting in the shadows of the Andes, where leaves on every mountainside are now turning from green to an almost blood red, this ark like structure will eventually be used for the manufacturing of solar instruments. The roof is midway through its ... read more

Last night was a wild time. SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS. We got iced by Joey at MALABAR. Brett fell down a couple times. He may have slept on the floor in our room for a while. I ate a pound of ravioli by myself at 6am. WE ARE NOT ROLE MODELS. Happy Easter. And.....I AM NOT GOING TO URUGUAY BITCH!!!... read more

We started our trek towards the mountain and the Refugio (the place high up on the peak where hikers can stay and cook and have a warm place to sleep) around 11am. We wanted to get going a little earlier than that however as usual we were kind of tired and sluggish and didn’t do too much towards getting going. We waited for the bus for about a half hour until I asked where we should go to catch the bus and we were told that it was four blocks away from where we had been sitting like idiots for the last half hour! So we made our way down there and waited another forty minutes or so for the bus which finally came to take us to Villa Catedral, which is the jump off point ... read more

"Anathallo - Dokkoise House" "Anathallo - Hanasakajijii" The only difference between hippies from Argentina and Canada is their native language! They look the same, dress the same, act the same and smell the same! I found it strange that El Bolson, a self proclaimed refuge from the hectic world for hippies, has yet to ban plastic bags. El Calafate and El Chalten both have banned plastic bags from their grocery stores. What's with that El Bolson? I thought hippies praised mother earth? Come on, get with it! Perhaps you can swap out plastic bags at the SuperMercado's in exchange for a joint and a home made bar of soap! Now how hippie would THAT be?!! Jokes aside, I loved El Bolson. It was always on my radar as I made my way up the Route 40. ... read more

Since coffee shops are the only places with bathroom (and internet), I'm sitting close to the Rio Negro, watching all the people who are jogging, sailing, cycling, rowing... These cities on the coast must be quite nice places to live. Infrastructure is good, it's quite safe, people live in very nice houses (in Puerto Madryn Bolivians own the construction companies, that's why they have solid and beautiful buildings - according to Alejandro, one of the guys working at the hostel. However, I'm a bit afraid of talking about construction and buildings since I know that an architect is reading this ;-) and the weather is agreeable too. The hostel in Puerto Madryn was one of the best ones: central, close to the terminal and beach, nice people, ok temperature in rooms, breakfast without restrictions (a la ... read more