Bariloche, Argentina (Patagonia)

My favorite picture from my time there.

Day 1: Mexican Food (well from the night we arrived, technically) Lago Gutierrez, Dranks

You could cut the tension with a knife. A plastic butter knife.

There are not words enough to recommend Hostel Achalay if you're gonna stay in Bariloche. Chill staff (although I've rarely encountered a hostel with un-chill staff, still, these guys were great), speak English and veeery understandable Spanish (COUGH COUGH LOOKING AT YOU, CHILE COUGH), plus they bake fresh bread and make their own spreads for free breakfast every morning. And their coffee is fantastic. And it's on top of a hill which you will be grateful for once you get done eating in Bariloche. You're gonna want that hill.

 

We were in the Beatles room.

Everyone is well equipped there (there are approximately 5.8 billion sportswear stores), including the trees!

 Wintry street dog.

 Snow White and the... eight... dwarves....

 

WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE HOW MUCH I WANTED TO STEAL THIS DOG

 This picture makes me laugh SO HARD, just as hard as I did the first time, every single time I look at it. Zach going beyond photo-bombing to basically just being the subject of my picture. Ain't even mad.

 These black labs ran out of someone's driveway and accompanied us for the whole hike! And then on the way back they returned home. What good dogs!

My notorious, hideous bar stool hamburger from the infamous Chicken Shack. After a night of haphazardly drinking at various bars, Caroline, Zach, Jenn and I wandered into this place of ill repute (at least from us) and ordered at random things we hoped might ease us from drinking into sleep. Instead I was delivered this monstrosity, which perhaps does not look that bad from the outside. And at first, I was hungry enough to ignore any problems I had with it. But about halfway through the sandwich I realized that the fries were greasy and not at all satisfying, the hamburger was overcooked, the bread was twice the size it needed to be, and that pink bit you can see sticking out the side is a slice of bologna. NO. NO NO NO NO. I looked up as the truth dawned on me, that this thing I had been drunkenly devouring was an abomination, and saw the same revelation in the eyes of my friends. We all say there for a minute, stunned at how gross the things we had ordered were, until one of us finally spoke the words out loud. At that point Jenn, who smartly had only gotten something simple (some fries, I think?) pointed to the wall next to our booth and said, I could have told you that when we sat down. Looking over at the wall was an array of grease splatter reaching up to the ceiling. With new eyes I looked around the Chicken Shack and realized every person in there was a sad drunken sack of some sort, blindly swallowing their hideous meal in the hopes of finding some salvation.

We had gone to the Argentinian Denny's.

 Day 2: Bike Ride. KILL ME.

 I started out doing the Chico Circuit bike tour with everyone else but was not really into it (nor was I as capable a biker as everyone else!) so I headed back to town and explored a bit, did some shopping, saw some nature from a lower vantage point.

 Weird basket structure near the church, in town. What the hell is it, you ask. I wondered the same thing myself. So I walked over to get a closer look.

 Then I walked inside it. Still not sure exactly what it was, but it was cool.

Day 3: Hike up to Cerro Campanario!

On the way up...

 Rainbow.

 Words can't really capture how breathtakingly beautiful it was up here. Pictures barely even do it justice, really.

 Boxed wine, cheap liquor, and llama sweaters. THAT'S RIGHT.

 Because it is possible to dream in another time.

 Heyyy!! Bit of home, all the way in Patagonia.

 Redemption final meal. Classy pichanga, delicious pizza.

 Delightful cappuccino at a cafe!

Welcome back to Chile feast. After a weekend of feasts... it was exactly what we didn't need and had to have.