Bariloche, Argentina week 2 - 29 Jan-3 Feb
Activities:
Cycled the circuito chico, a 25 km cycle ride. Planned to catch a bus to Colonia Suiza, however we missed the bus, and Ron once again saved the day by hooking us up with a friends car (his ford still residing at the local garage) to transport us to the start of the circuit.
The Circuito Chico, is 25 km of spectacular views, sharp but short hills and exhilarating downhills. The awesome foursome had a new addition, our new housemate, Ale (aka "Speedy Gonsales") who had no comprehension of bike gears so cycled the whole way in Granny gear, and he was left in our dust on the downhills (he "liked to enjoy the views" so he said - but we saw the smoke coming off his tyres!)
Had awesome sundowners (yet another concept the South Africans had to educate the ignorant about) at Ron´s incredible penthouse overlooking the lake. Sundowners was followed by `moonrisers` as a full moon rose from behind the mountains which was reflected exquisitely on the lake.
The masses turned up for the Thursday´s Caminata (trek) with Evo, (see last week´s post) to Lake Guiterra and a beautiful waterfall. On returning we treated ourselves to Helados (ice cream) our traditional reward after a hike, and then met up with Ron, Maarten and Ale for a drink at Pilgrims.
Friday 2 Feb - Graduation Day and Maarten´s Birthday
We `surprised` our favourite housemate, Maarten-the-pancake with presies in bed, wrapped in the good ol Traveller´s Guru Newspaper. We sang "Happy Birthday" in every language we knew including the Spur Restaurant Birthday chant. At school, we had an incredible cake made by Lindsey(which she did on the stove!) with a Dulce de Leche filling (this is a local Argentinian type of spread which is a mix between caramel treat and condensed milk). We all sang "Happy Birthday" in Spanish.
We graduated from school and received certificates - to commemorate this momentous occasion we demanded a prize giving where the headmaster himself had to present us with our certificates.
We had a brilliant two weeks at La Montaña. The teachers were very professional and their enthusiasm in the classroom was contagious. The school offered brilliant free afternoon activities which created a good balance between learning Argentinian customs (eg salsa and the truco card game) and experiencing the beautiful surroundings which Bariloche has to offer. No job was too big for them, and they went out of their way, and beyond our expectations to help us with any questions, concerns and recommendations to make the most of our stay.
Spent Friday afternoon, tanning on the lawn in front of Ron´s apartment by the lake. Celebrated Maarten´s birthday dinner at a typical Argentinian parilla with amazing steaks. Afterwards we hit the bowling alley, which can only be described as a time warp, with young guys working at the end of the lanes, who manually put up the skittles at the end of every go! Beginners luck was not on Nicky´s side, but after a motivational coaching and tactical psyche up by Gayle she wowed the crowd with her one and only strike. Within two minutes, Gayle managed to crush her finger between two bowling balls which rapidly swelled and turned blue, (demanding lots of attention!) and resulting in her narrow defeat by Ash (by one point!) Ron on the other hand, a definite closet bowler, got the highest score of the night. We then went to Trapalanders for unbelievable raspberry daiquiri`s. We pulled an all nighter in anticipation for the Ruta 40 bus ride which left at 6:30am on Saturday morning.
We had mixed emotions leaving on Saturday morning, knowing that it meant separation of the "Awesome Foursome", yet at the same time we were excited to be exploring Patagonia and travelling with Lindsey, Ash and Chantal, who we´d met at school.
Activities:
Cycled the circuito chico, a 25 km cycle ride. Planned to catch a bus to Colonia Suiza, however we missed the bus, and Ron once again saved the day by hooking us up with a friends car (his ford still residing at the local garage) to transport us to the start of the circuit.The Circuito Chico, is 25 km of spectacular views, sharp but short hills and exhilarating downhills. The awesome foursome had a new addition, our new housemate, Ale (aka "Speedy Gonsales") who had no comprehension of bike gears so cycled the whole way in Granny gear, and he was left in our dust on the downhills (he "liked to enjoy the views" so he said - but we saw the smoke coming off his tyres!)
Had awesome sundowners (yet another concept the South Africans had to educate the ignorant about) at Ron´s incredible penthouse overlooking the lake. Sundowners was followed by `moonrisers` as a full moon rose from behind the mountains which was reflected exquisitely on the lake.The masses turned up for the Thursday´s Caminata (trek) with Evo, (see last week´s post) to Lake Guiterra and a beautiful waterfall. On returning we treated ourselves to Helados (ice cream) our traditional reward after a hike, and then met up with Ron, Maarten and Ale for a drink at Pilgrims.
Friday 2 Feb - Graduation Day and Maarten´s BirthdayWe `surprised` our favourite housemate, Maarten-the-pancake with presies in bed, wrapped in the good ol Traveller´s Guru Newspaper. We sang "Happy Birthday" in every language we knew including the Spur Restaurant Birthday chant. At school, we had an incredible cake made by Lindsey(which she did on the stove!) with a Dulce de Leche filling (this is a local Argentinian type of spread which is a mix between caramel treat and condensed milk). We all sang "Happy Birthday" in Spanish.
We graduated from school and received certificates - to commemorate this momentous occasion we demanded a prize giving where the headmaster himself had to present us with our certificates.
We had a brilliant two weeks at La Montaña. The teachers were very professional and their enthusiasm in the classroom was contagious. The school offered brilliant free afternoon activities which created a good balance between learning Argentinian customs (eg salsa and the truco card game) and experiencing the beautiful surroundings which Bariloche has to offer. No job was too big for them, and they went out of their way, and beyond our expectations to help us with any questions, concerns and recommendations to make the most of our stay.
Spent Friday afternoon, tanning on the lawn in front of Ron´s apartment by the lake. Celebrated Maarten´s birthday dinner at a typical Argentinian parilla with amazing steaks. Afterwards we hit the bowling alley, which can only be described as a time warp, with young guys working at the end of the lanes, who manually put up the skittles at the end of every go! Beginners luck was not on Nicky´s side, but after a motivational coaching and tactical psyche up by Gayle she wowed the crowd with her one and only strike. Within two minutes, Gayle managed to crush her finger between two bowling balls which rapidly swelled and turned blue, (demanding lots of attention!) and resulting in her narrow defeat by Ash (by one point!) Ron on the other hand, a definite closet bowler, got the highest score of the night. We then went to Trapalanders for unbelievable raspberry daiquiri`s. We pulled an all nighter in anticipation for the Ruta 40 bus ride which left at 6:30am on Saturday morning.
We had mixed emotions leaving on Saturday morning, knowing that it meant separation of the "Awesome Foursome", yet at the same time we were excited to be exploring Patagonia and travelling with Lindsey, Ash and Chantal, who we´d met at school.
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