I was startled awake this morning at 9am by construction workers who were drilling and banging. Although we were on a different floor it still seemed like the construction was taking place on the wall behind my head. I laid in bed and tried hard to go back to sleep, but wasn’t able too. Maria is sensitive to sound when she sleeps so she always sleeps with ear plugs and had no problem drowning out the construction noises. I played online to pass the time and listened to my Ipod which couldn’t mask the construction sounds. Maria got up at noon and we found out that Ruben and Marita had gotten up early as well because they couldn’t sleep either. They were waiting for us so they told us to get ready and we’d go sight seeing. Maria and I both decided to shower and since Maria and Ruben were ready Maria showered in their bathroom while I showered in ours. I had just finished showering and was ready to get out when the water got really cold. I was getting dressed when Maria came back into our room wrapped in a towel with shampoo and soap everywhere. She was so annoyed that the hot water had cut out and that she wasn’t done showering. She wanted me to go downstairs to complain with her, so I did. The manager said he’d turn the hot water back on for a couple minutes, but that the workers needed to work so it wouldn’t be long. Maria finished her shower and we got ready and packed up our bags, knowing that we’d need to change rooms.
We met Marita and Ruben in the car and we went off for some sight seeing. Our first stop was at Llao Llao which is one of “The Leading Hotels” and the most famous and most expensive resort in the area. They only allow so many visitors in at a time so we had to wait until some people left just to go in the lobby. The hotel was beautiful inside but there were many hotel staff around all making sure that we didn’t go anywhere expect the main corridor. I would have loved to explore a bit more and see a room, but hopefully I’ll be back some day! Our next stop was at the cathedral that Llao Llao owns which was really cute and had a great view of the lake, it’s a really popular wedding spot and I can see why!
From there we headed to a Swiss village. Many Swiss and German people came to this area of Argentina to settle after World War Two so small villages of Europeans are pretty common. We had lunch outside at a cute little restaurant and enjoyed relaxing in a quite place. We were all exhausted so we decided to go back to the hotel and all take naps. It was around 4pm when we got back to the room and the construction was still happening. After much discussion with the manager they finally moved us to a different hotel right next door. We moved into our new rooms which were much much nicer and unpacked a bit. Maria and I walked around downtown Bariloche and grabbed an ice cream. Since we could still hear the construction from our near room I bought a pair of ear plugs. Maria and I then headed back to the room to relax. I washed laundry in the sink because I have almost no socks left and know that I will need them for my hike. I was able to sleep for about 2 hours which was wonderful and the construction finally stopped.
At 9:30pm we got up feeling much more refreshed. We showered and got dressed and met Ruben and Maria as well as, Simon, Maria’s cousin, and his girlfriend. The six of us had dinner La Vizcacha which was typical Argentine gaucho steak house. I had Melanesia that was great, but of course not as good as Maritias’.
After dinner Simon bought us a bar called Antares which specializes in different types of beers. I was very brave and ordered a sampler with tastes of eight different types of beers. I had everything from a dark to light and every shade in between. I really had never liked beer or red wine before this leg of the trip but both are growing on me. I wouldn’t say I love beer, but some of them were good. I really liked a local honey beer that they served, it was delicious! While we were drinking two of Simons rugby friends joined us for drinks, they were great guys. One of the guys, Alex, is working for a hotel now and working on getting his private pilots license. He lived in Chicago for two years when he was younger and had great English we chatter for a couple hours. Alex’s father is also a pilot and once Alex has his license and is comfortable flying the two of them are talking about opening an adventure-tourism shop in Bariloche. Now if I could only find a guy like that in America! He seemed really nice and was sad that we couldn’t hang for too long.
Our next stop was an Irish pub called Wilkeny which had great music. We chatted and had a drink staying until just after 3:30am. From there we headed to one of the most popular clubs in Bariloche, which was filled with high school students. At this point it was close to 4am and Maria and I were both tired and knew we had to be up early and didn’t want to stay too long. The cover charge ended up being over $20USD which everyone thought was outrageous. Since we were getting tired and it was a young crowd we all decided to move on. We went to another club that had free entrance but was very hot and smoke-filled. I hated it. We danced for a bit, but everyone seemed to agree about wanting to leave. It was 4:30am and Maria and I were exhausted. Simons friend drove us back to the hotel. I showered because I was so hot and smelled like smoke, then quickly got myself right into bed!
Bye for now.
Love,
Katie
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