I feel like
the luckiest girl in the world.
If I’m
going to be honest with myself, the start of my trip was a little rough. I didn’t find everyone to be very friendly, and I’ll also take responsibility for
the fact that it took some time for me to get back into the mode of being a
backpacker. I now feel light-years away from
any of those feelings and I’m literally having the time of my life! Every single day I make a point to not take
what I am experiencing for granted – and fortunately it is not that hard to
continuously feel amazed! I’m seeing
beautiful views, meeting amazing people and getting the chance to explore the
world. Seriously, how lucky am I???
It’s pretty
incredible to think back about what I’ve done in the past week and a bit. Leaving Puerto Madryn was a little sad
because it was gorgeous there and the Hostel was amazing. But luckily I was traveling with a great new
friend who I got to bond with and form a real relationship with that I hope will
last past the bounds of our individual backpacking adventures. The bus ride was actually not bad, and we got
the front seat on the top level of a
double decker bus! It gave the feeling
of a rollercoaster, and was also sometimes a little scary in the middle of the
night seeing the speeds at which we were traveling on these really narrow roads
and being quite high up. The main plus
side was waking up to an incredible sunrise right in front of me – nice treat!
Arriving in Bariloche was actually great.
If I thought the last hostel was fun, the new one here offered the best
views I have ever seen from a hostel or hotel in my life! It was up on the 10th floor, in
the penthouse (appropriately called penthouse 1004) in a building just next to
the river. Lonely Planet says it has 5 star
views, and that is spot on (see facebook for pictures). The common area was also really fun and
fostered great opportunities for people to meet each other, which they did in
fact do (myself included). I met some
great people at this place. I even encountered
a father/son duo who have been traveling together for the past 7+ months…. What
an incredible experience and opportunity for the both of them! North Americans don’t have a reputation for
backpacking around and yet I actually met many of them in this place
surprisingly. There is a Chabad house in
Bariloche which was nice. They are
actually a temporary location catering to the swarms of Israelis who come in
during high season. What that means is
that the Chabad couple comes to Bariloche from Israel between Novemberish and
start of April. This was there second to
last Shabbat before closing shop for the season and returning to Israel. Lucky I made it in! Dinner was relatively small for what they
usually get (about 30/40 people) and lunch was actually only 7 of us – quiet and
intimate. On Sunday I had really wanted
to go rafting (despite its hefty price tag) but unfortunately they didn’t offer
it that day because of the low season’s lack of interested parties. I already had to plan in advance to leave
Bariloche on Monday afternoon because there was a planned bus strike for
Tuesday and that would mean leaving on Wednesday which would give me no time at
all in Mendoza – a place I really wanted to stop in before heading to Cordoba
for Pesach. And so, I forwent the
rafting but actually met up with a lone Israeli traveler (a phenomenon!) with
whom I exchanged numbers at a travel office that caters to Israelis – she brought
with someone from her Spanish class and I brought with a guy I met in the
morning with whom I was sharing a room, and we all went on a local
excursion. We climbed this peak called
Carre Campanario which offers some of the most amazing views of the whole
area. It was actually breathtaking (and
not just because of the difficulty of the climb!). The guy from my room and I decided to
continue the days adventure by extended the hike about 20 kilometers down the
road to walk around a Nature Reserve to see more of the area and the
views. More gorgeous beauty. That evening, a bunch of us from the Hostel (including
an Argentinian guy from Buenos Aires) went out for a drink at a local pub and
sat amongst the locals which was fun.
Monday afternoon was my bus out of the city so I spent the morning
walking around the town, seeing the local shops and being by the water just
nearby. Many people express that they
love Bariloche and now I know why J
My trip to
Mendoza would be my longest bus ride yet.
However, it turned out to be the best ride so far, too! The bus was
packed because everyone wanted to leave the city before the bus strike. They showed two English movies on the bus (“The
Theory of Everything”- AMAZING! And “Gone Girl”- also pretty good), and we also
played a bus-wide game of Bingo which was really cute! There was a steward in the bus who was
incredibly attentive and very cheerful – that with our spacious reclining seats
made it feel like we were in first class… OK, maybe business class. The best part though was my bus-mate. I sat next to this Colombian guy who is doing a Masters in Physics at the University in Bariloche and was heading
to Mendoza for vacation to visit some friends.
It took a few hours until we actually started talking to each other but
what’s the loss of a few hours on a 19 hour bus ride? We ended up having great, stimulating
conversation and a bunch of laughs. We
exchanged numbers and the night of the day we arrived, I went out with him and
his friends and really hung out with the locals! They were all incredibly intelligent and
super hospitable and it was a really cool experience that I was very happy to
have. Arriving in Mendoza, I checked
into my hostel, took a shower, handed in my laundry for the first time (much
needed after 2 weeks of travel) and sorted out the rest of my time there. I met someone in the hostel who was also
stuck there that day because of the bus strike and so we ended up walking
around the city together. He was
visiting from Brazil and had learned in a program like America’s West Point and
was super knowledgeable about the history of where we were. It was like having a personal tour guide as
well as a cool friend to hang out with.
For Tuesday, I signed up for an excursion that included a trek,
repelling and a visit to the local hot springs.
The trek was fun and a good workout (I was happy that there was another
girl who was having a harder time climbing up the mountain because she kept
needing to take a break and with my pushing myself, I was happy I didn’t have
to be the one to slow down the group!).
The top of the peak once again offered really beautiful views! About half way down the other side, we
started the repelling. There were 3 descents - 12 meters, 7 meters and 47 meters. I had never repelled before and when we got
to the first descent I almost had a heart attack! I was so scared! My heart was pounding and I thought I would
throw up. In reality, it wasn’t so scary
and was in fact really fun – also seeing the guide show us what to do and
explain technique made it more approachable.
I had a great time and was proud of myself for doing it despite my initial
hesitation. The hot springs were also
nice, and after a morning of physical activity, relaxing in all the different
pools was a nice treat! Wednesday I finally got to go rafting! In retrospect I’m happy that it wasn’t available
in Bariloche because the rafting in Mendoza was a 3rd of the price!!
While waiting to be picked up from the hostel, I met another guy who was going
on the same trip. It turns out he is
starting to work for the agency that does the tours and they sent him to
experience the trip. We clicked right
away and the rest of the day was like spending time with a best friend! Like a typical encounter, after about 10
minutes of talking I asked him his name and it was Gabriel! And our similarities didn’t stop there. We were laughing the whole day, making jokes –
he helped me with my Spanish and I provided some English guidance (though his
English is faaaaaar better than what I can only call my lack of Spanish). But in truth, by the end of the day, I felt
like I had learned a lot and we practiced some useful phrases as well as some
silly ones (Malardo Basterdo! Or something like that…). The rafting too was a lot of fun and it was a
beautiful day! Overall a tremendous experience!
I kept
shaking my head in disbelief with a smile on my face just appreciating my
current circumstances. What did I do to
deserve these opportunities? I really
felt (and still feel!) so lucky! But
last night also brought my first blip of the trip. Well two actually – firstly I lost my
sunglasses. It’s unfortunate but they
were cheap and now I just need to buy another pair. The second and more serious thing that
happened is that I missed my bus to Cordoba.
I had purchased my ticket upon arrival in Mendoza and planned
accordingly. When I got back to the
hostel afer the rafting trip, the plan was to call a taxi about half an hour
before the bus and get there about 20 minutes before departure. Normally, when they call a taxi (I don’t
normally treat myself, but the cost was about $2.50 and so I thought I would
splurge) it comes right away and all is fine.
However, after the call was placed, the minutes kept ticking by and
nothing came. I waited patiently at
first but when it was about 20 minutes before the departure I started to think about
plan B. 5 minutes later it still didn’t
come so I figured I would go out to the street to just pick up a passing
taxi. It took another 7 minutes until I actually
found one and by that time I had about the same until the departure. My heart was pounding and the driver pushed
the pedal to the metal and sped me there. I ran
inside like a chicken without a head, frantically searching for a bus which apparently
had already left. Once again, I thought
I was going to have a heart attack and most likely throw up. This bus was important because Today is both
Friday and Erev Pesach and it was really important for me to get to Cordoba to
celebrate appropriately with the Chabad here (who I had booked a place with
about 2 weeks ago). I freaked out and
burst into tears! I couldn’t stop crying
not knowing what to do as everyone kept pointing me in another direction. I MIRACULOUSLY passed a bus with the
destination of Cordoba written on the front.
The steward of the bus was an angel and literally took my by the hand
inside the terminal, helped me figure things out and I ended up being able to
buy another ticket on their bus and get to my needed destination. Even once on the bus I had a hard time
calming down. If that bus wasn’t there,
I would have had to rent a car and drive the 10 hours by myself, through the
night to get to Cordoba. My first thoughts
were that I was an idiot by not getting to the bus station far in advance,
especially for a bus trip that was so important. But I also then realized that instead of
thinking of myself as unlucky for having missed the bus, how lucky I actually
was that there was another bus there and the opportunity to take it. Despite my $45 loss on the unused bus ticket,
I felt completely relieved and fortunate that things worked out just fine in
the end. Lesson learned for sure.
So now I’m
in Cordoba, getting my bearings and getting ready for Shabbat/Pesach. Apparently it’s going to be a smaller crowd
than what has been in the past but that suits me just fine. I’m looking forward to the experience here,
but I’m also missing family and friends back at home, especially for this
holiday. I’m excited for the good times
to keep coming and I’ll be sure to document them. Lots of pictures up on Facebook so feel free
to check them out.
Ciao ciao
and Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach!
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