Amy: We survived our first self-organzied bus trip today. We traveled 6 hrs from Puerta Varas to Bariloche, Argentina. The border crossings out of Chile and into Argentina were organized by a guy from the bus company so they went very smoothly. It was nice not to have to figure out what to do and where to go on our own. We did not have any accomodations booked so we had to figure that out once we arrived at the bus terminal which is about 3 Kms outside of town.
I am not sure how we did it but we ended up at a hostel that is located 2km´s up a hill about 5 km´s outside of town and the view is incredible. The deck outside the hostel overlooks a lake, with many treed islands, that is surrounded by mountains. The people are very warm and friendly and the facilities seem to be great. I will try to post some pictures tomorrow.
I bought my first bottle of Argentina wine today. I have had a couple Chilian beers but no Chilian wine as of yet. The beer was good though. I hope to try the famous Argentina beef before I leave the country as I have heard the portions are huge and the price is cheap.
Tomorrow we will hike down and go back into to town to figure out what is the best way to continue our journey South. I have a feeling it is going to involve a very long bus ride. But on the bright side, todays bus was quite comfortable and had air conditioning.
I am quite sore today from the short time we spent on the beach yesterday. We have been told that the ozone layer over Chile is quite damaged and I think that must be the case. It was not that hot and I was not out that long but I sure burnt my face, neck and arms. Lesson learned, I will certainly be using the sunscreen more frequently.
