Christmas, Crime, and Connections

Well my bus was an hour late in departing but arrived three hours early, so I suppose it evens out in the grander scheme of things. Now I’m in Bariloche, a small city in Argentina’s Lake District nestled not surprisingly, along a crystal clear blue lake and snow-capped Andean peaks. What I’m doing here is anybody’s guess. A lot has happened since the last time I bothered to document my comings, goings and the occasional thought and observation. Chris and I parted ways, what has it been now, two weeks ago; if memory serves. Before that, our frantic pace down and eventually over the Andes was driven by his need to catch a flight. With him gone, it was now up to me to make all the choices. My initial decision was to do nothing at all. I was tired of “hostel-jumping” and disillusioned with my true motives for this undertaking. I felt lost and rudderless. So I would stay in Mendoza till Christmas and hopefully figure some things out before continuing onward. I’m glad I did.

The people I met and our frequent group activities helped rejuvenate my spirits and reconnected me in a way I hadn’t felt since leaving Quito. There was Kelvin and Karen, from Wales, Louis and Ashley, also from Wales, Mike and Chris, the couple from Australia, Sjoerd, my Dutch dorm-mate, Siggi, the Icelandic guy who was the only one who had been there longer than I, Adi, the Israeli girl who was actually travelling alone, and Christophe, my French dorm-mate who as on the receiving end of the one bad experience to happen at the hostel during my stay there. Long story short, another dorm-mate, Fernando, stole 1000 pesos (approximately $333 US) from him and vanished. Besides that one anomaly, I loved my time at Hostel Alamo.

We all went out to a nice restaurant for Christmas Eve dinner (my first away from home) where there was unlimited alcohol. We took full advantage as we drank nine bottles of red wine and four bottles of demi-sec between the eight of us. The next night we had a huge BBQ at the hostel that slowly grew in size as more and more guests joined in the festivities. And the day after, Sjoerd, Adi and I decided to stay in and cook. Sjeord handled the veggies, I cooked the steaks, and Adi took care of dessert. I’m sure that those three days will be some of my fondest memories when my travels finally conclude. But, as it was in Quito, all good things must come to an end and it was sadly time for all of us to move on. I headed south in an attempt to find cooler temperatures and more scenic landscapes to ride out the South American summer. But now that I’m in Bariloche, where the air is clean and brisk and the cobblestones in the sidewalks are flaking, broken, or missing altogether, my immediate concern is what I will be doing tomorrow, New Years Eve. Luckily Sjoerd was able to recommend me a great hostel and it doesn’t appear as if finding people to hang out with will be an issue at all.

Oh btw, I finally took the time to upload some pictures. Sorry for being so lazy. Take a look if you got a chance. Unfortunately I've only put up from Ecuador, so it's what I was up to two months ago. I'll be playing catchup for quite some time unfortunately. As always, stay tuned for more updates.