I'm living about two miles outside of the main town. This morning I did a practical Spanish class with my teacher and we toured the city. We spent a long time in a wine store and it was great to kind of have a translator so that way I could have a good conversation with someone about the wine industry here and be confident of what I understood.
Time is interesting here. Because Argentina is less of a hypochondriac about darkness, the entire country stays on the same time zone, including the entire western portion. This results in drastically different sunset and sunrise times. Although I took the bus into town at 9am, it was dark out until I reached town, but in Buenos Aires I walked to school at 7:30am in sunlight.
Because of this weird timing I only ever feel like eating breakfast, so after class I went to a chocolate factory and breakfasted. The predominant colonial representation in Bariloche is by the Swiss, followed closely by Germans. I believe the last Nazi war criminal to evade Nuremberg was found in Bariloche. This makes it so I can't buy beans, tortillas, sour cream, or mexican salsa here, making it hard for me to survive since my normal diet consists of burritos or more burritos. I can live with it though, because it also means there are many microbreweries and chocolate shops. A bottle of microbrew here costs about $20ARS which is about $4.50USD. It's hard to convince yourself to buy a 12oz bottle of beer for $5 when you can buy a bottle of 10 year old wine for $10. I hear that happy hour at the breweries gets you 2 for 1 so I think I will go try the microbrews at their origins. Back to breakfast at the chocolate factory: most notable was the drink I decided to try. It's called a Rapa Nui and contains four layers: on the bottom is super thick melted white chocolate. Layer two: slightly less viscous but still requiring verticality to depart the cup, a layer of milk chocolate. Layer three: Argentine Espresso (is a little less dense than American Espresso). Layer four is something I've only seen in Argentina which I believe is frothed milk like on a standard cappuccino but instead it is made with this kind of partially whipped whipping cream so it results in a super dense foam. It came with instructions on how to drink it... Any drink that precocious is bound to taste good.
After breakfast I felt like vomiting because of the sugar, so I decided to walk the two miles home on the beach instead of going inside the packed busses. It was thrilling because much of the lake front is owned by people. Upon reaching one such private section I was impeded by this estate's private pier which was solid concrete and circumvention was impossible. I decided defeat was not acceptable, so I tied my pack to my foot and climbed the concrete wall. As I poked my eyes over the wall, scanning for a hideout to stage my crossing in front of the mansion's living room vista, I spotted raised flower beds right below the windows of the mansion, about the same height as the width of a torso. I waited, my arms growing tired from hanging with no footholds and 15' of drop below. Finally the lady cooking inside the mansion, who seemed to be the only inhabitant, left for another room, and I mantled the wall, sprinting as best I could, having forgotten that my pack was still attached to my foot, to the flower gardens. I then army crawled for about 20 meters until shrubbery gave way to my escape. It was as close to James Bond as I've ever felt. I was rewarded for my bravery (stupidity?) with the discovery of a new bouldering location!
Time is interesting here. Because Argentina is less of a hypochondriac about darkness, the entire country stays on the same time zone, including the entire western portion. This results in drastically different sunset and sunrise times. Although I took the bus into town at 9am, it was dark out until I reached town, but in Buenos Aires I walked to school at 7:30am in sunlight.
Because of this weird timing I only ever feel like eating breakfast, so after class I went to a chocolate factory and breakfasted. The predominant colonial representation in Bariloche is by the Swiss, followed closely by Germans. I believe the last Nazi war criminal to evade Nuremberg was found in Bariloche. This makes it so I can't buy beans, tortillas, sour cream, or mexican salsa here, making it hard for me to survive since my normal diet consists of burritos or more burritos. I can live with it though, because it also means there are many microbreweries and chocolate shops. A bottle of microbrew here costs about $20ARS which is about $4.50USD. It's hard to convince yourself to buy a 12oz bottle of beer for $5 when you can buy a bottle of 10 year old wine for $10. I hear that happy hour at the breweries gets you 2 for 1 so I think I will go try the microbrews at their origins. Back to breakfast at the chocolate factory: most notable was the drink I decided to try. It's called a Rapa Nui and contains four layers: on the bottom is super thick melted white chocolate. Layer two: slightly less viscous but still requiring verticality to depart the cup, a layer of milk chocolate. Layer three: Argentine Espresso (is a little less dense than American Espresso). Layer four is something I've only seen in Argentina which I believe is frothed milk like on a standard cappuccino but instead it is made with this kind of partially whipped whipping cream so it results in a super dense foam. It came with instructions on how to drink it... Any drink that precocious is bound to taste good.
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