This weekend I took a trip with my exchange program to San Carlos de Bariloche, Patagonia. Everything was nice and pre-organized so there were no life risks that usually make my vacactions interesting to read about. Bariloche is a small town in the mountains near the border of Chile. Its pretty unique in that most of the original settlers were from switzerland, ireland, and northern europe in general. All the houses look like they should be in switzerland and the town is well known for its chocolate. The town is mostly popular for its skiing in the winter, but since now isnt skiing season we did a lot of hiking and sightseeing. The mountains remind me of the colorado rockies, but surrounded by a lot more lakes.
The weather was good enough for us to go swimming in one of the lakes and it was probably the clearest lake I've ever been in.
The exchange program spoiled all of us by giving us a hotel with a beautiful view, guides that spent whole days with us, and fancy resturant dinners with wine and dessert included. I felt like a major tourist, especially since I was always with a large group of Americans. The town of Bariloche reminded me of any typical small town in many ways, one of the bars we wandered into at night was full of locals that all knew eachother playing pool and aukwardly dancing. I definately didn't spend much time discovering the night life though since my days started early and I thought it a bit illogical to leave Buenos Aires (where the night life is amazing) to go out to some small town bars and clubs and spend my days hiking hung over. It was a nice break from going out, although there was never a day without wine.
