Spanish Lessons in Bariloche

South America » Argentina
January 19th 2009

Published: February 4th 2009

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BlueIce

Silvi's B&B

Samantha and I with Martha, Bink and our wonderful host Silvi.

We decided to take Spanish lessons for a week, and Maria was able to squeeze us into an already very busy schedule. We spent the week enjoying our friends, studying Spanish, swimming in the lake, and making plans for the following weeks.

I never took a foreign language in high school. Pilli was given the difficult task of introducing me to Spanish. Samantha and I took separate lessons because my knowledge level is much more retarded than hers. I thought Pilli would just give me a list of vocab words, but nooooo that’s the easy part. You see…There is this nasty little rule that allows them to change each verb into many different forms depending on its usage. By the end of the week I was beginning to catch on to the system on the most basic level, but holy smokes, I think a wheel-barrow would have learned it faster than me. Pilli did an awesome job of working through all my confusion with me and we had many good laughs. Samantha benefited greatly from the experience as she had not been in a Spanish class for over 10 years. It would be great to come back for a

Patagonia Looks Like home, but it's so Much Warmer.

The veiw across the road from Silvi's B&B.

month or more and really focus on learning Spanish.
For any one who is thinking of going on an extended stay in South America I highly recommend Maria’s school. The cost is extremely reasonable approx. $15-20 USD per hour for private lessons. The great thing about it is the flexibility and diversity of the school. If you would like to make empanadas with your instructor in Spanish or discern Spanish lyrics in good music or play Spanish memory games or go to the beach for the lesson rather than sitting in a class room, then Spanish in the Mountains is for you. SpanishInTheMountains.com it really is excellent.

The 5 nights spent at Silvi’s B&B will be remembered by the late nights sitting in the kitchen, laughing, and enjoying Samantha’s homemade tacos and Argentina’s delicious red wine. We watched the inauguration of Barrak Obama on TV in a living room in Argentina just before our Spanish lessons. Every body in Argentina watched as well, it was big news.

The mountains surrounding Bariloche has several huts located in the mountains on the tops of ridges far from any road or motorized access. They are stocked with food and supplies

Running for Bus #20

A daily event.

on horse back and used by anyone willing to hike up, spend the night, and eat dinner. Martha and Bink visited one on Saturday that shared the space of 900 sq ft with approx. 100 other people. Fortunatly they had brought their own tent. Some are located quite close to town and Samantha and I made a quick hike to the top for the view. If you want to get out and see the area I recommend a rental car. The bus works well for local hikes but it does take time figuring it out and then waiting on buses. At the end of the week Maria arranged for us to housesit for her neighbors, and we really appreciated the opportunity. It was a small mountain shack that reminded us of home very much. It was a great ending to a wonderful week. Thursday night we had pizza and beer with Maria on her back porch. It was sad saying good bye. She is coming back to Alaska next May to go skiing so we will see her then. We heard that a boat was leaving Puerto Montt on Saturday headed South. Reluctantly we caught a noon bus on Friday