bariloche, argentina

After two months of volunteering in Temuco, it was time to take a little vacation and renew my visa, so I took the 8 hour trip across the border to Bariloche. The bus passed through a variety of distinctive scenery and crossed through two national parks. As soon as I got to Argentina I immediately noticed the difference from Chile. Primarily the Spanish accent but also just a lighter feeling in the air. It may be because I was higher up in the mountains, or because I was on vacation, but it was a surprisingly welcome change. I spent four days in Bariloche, first browsing its chocolate shops. I met some wonderful people at the hostel - Lise from Canada, Casey from Idaho, and a sweet Argentinian couple from Buenos Aires, Jorge and Belen. It was a lot of fun hanging out with people outside of my Temuco bubble and sharing stories. In addition to hearing about Argentina´s history with Britain (i.e., the Malvinas/Falkland Islands), I learned about the dictatorship in Argentina and how there is still a strong movement of mothers and grandmothers demanding justice for their children who disappeared in the 1970s. With Jorge and Belen, I went on a hike through the magical arrayanes forest (apparently these trees inspired Walt Disney to create Bambi) to beautiful lakes, and spent a day in El Bolson (the hippie town 2 hours south) with Lise eating street food and wandering around the open air market. On Casey´s last night in town, we feasted on handmade gnocchi and talked about traveling, life, and relationships.