Bariloche y El Bolson

So my last day in Bariloche (Saturday), i went with Raul, a guy at the same hostel from Mexico City, to the Colonia Suiza. I had no idea what to expect but it did NOT live up to my expectations. it was a bunch of log cabin tienditas (kitschy tourist stores) and restaurants, of which exactly 1 was open. we walked about a kilometer to somewhere where they raise trout and had a nescafe. mmm. finally, the saving grace was walking down to a lake and playing muskrat (great game i learned from robin and mook last summer where you try to hit a rock in the air with another rock).

finally, i left Bariloche and got on a bus to el Bolson, where i arrived in the evening, took a taxi up to Fede´s house. That night i met back up with Katie (from vida´s farm), and we went out to ¨tribal night¨with a bunch of girls, including another Katie and Zoe (also americans...also into the farming thing), and Fede´s 14 year old daughter. we met up with two guys from mendoza, Carlos and Pablo. Carlos plays trumpet in a reggae band in mendoza and had brought his trumpet with him so he went up and played with the band for a bit.

Sunday, Veronica, who i met on the boat to bariloche, arrived and went spent the day in town eating ice cream. el bolson is really well known for its ice cream. i had mate cocido con 3 azucares (similar to green tea ice cream) and calafate (a berry here) with sheep´s milk. so down here, there are like 40 kinds of ice cream, of which 7 are berries i don´t know. moras (blackberries), cassis (black currants), fine, but also maqui, calafate, and a couple others i´ve never heard of. fun to try as many different kinds. every trip to town involves a trip to jauja (they also have nice bathrooms with toilet paper, which is unheard of here...usually you have to bring your own).

Monday, Katie (the new one, i just met, who went to harvard and worked in boston) and veronica and i went hiking to the cajon del azul, a place where the rio azul ( amazing rivier that´s the color of caribbean ocean) is forced through a canyon for about a kilometer. at the top, there´s a refugio (cabin) with a guy who´s lived up there the last 27 years, built the cabin himself, takes in guests and backpackers coming through. so we got there and drank a mate with him and went running back down the mountain fast to no miss the end of the sunlight (with the time change). except for a couple quick stops for blackberries on the way, and the slow parts on suspension bridges when only one person can walk at a time.

Finally, today i managed to get to the feria, the market that happens 3 times a week with artesanias and food of el Bolson. highlights were raspberry beer and meeting Blanca, a woman who runs a urban permaculture place where i might try to go tomorrow to a "minga", a mapuche word (the indigenous people in patagonia) for community work day, to help her fnish the 2nd story of her house, which is all natural building. and then i might try to go back to puerto varas inchile before heading back to buenos aires...we´ll see if it will happen!

much love to everyone, monica