El Bolsen Dec16-19,2008

From El Chalten to Bariloche it is 24hrs on a bus. We actually stopped half way in a town called Perito Moreno and yet this is not where near the actual "Perito Moreno" Glacier is...gotta love it. People actually go here thinking they will see this glacier and are obviously disappointed. To get to Bariloche you can take Ruta 40. For some reason this ruta is famous and I am still not sure why. There is NOTHING on this road. Even the scenery said, "what the hell are you looking at?" However there was the occasional armadillo (which i did not see becasue they were so tiny) So often I used my wonderful imagination to change a rock on the side of the road into one. I got a couple of ppl on the bus that way (he he).
I sat next to this guy named Dan. Dan the dud as I grew to call him (and then later the paper stealer). I thought we would hit it off becasue I asked where he was from and he said San Fran and I said where and he said San Carlos and I said my sister used to live there. That was the end of it, no more talk from him. I asked Dan if I could read his paper and he said yes but, "I need it back because I made some notes" Okay dud(e). He underlined words like Beer, and cool and crazy, and young (he was 42). Okay those are some crazy notes, dud. I kind of made fun of him which is maybe why he did not really want to talk with me...hmmmm. I think Dan wanted to be mysterious on the bus...whatever.
What was great about this boring bus ride was the music being played. One of our bus drivers looked really rough and mean (could have not been farther from the truth) but he popped in his favorite CD. First song I sh&t you not was "I had the time of my life" yes Dirty dancing. Gets better, Like a prayer, girls just want to have fun, and then later a lil G&R, (I can´t think of anymore but they were good - Esther help me out!). Esther is the woman who was sitting in front of me and we we were laughing so hard and everytime we got off the bus for a break a new song would come on Esther would start dancing. It broke up the very boring bus ride.
I decided to get off at a town not far from Bariloche called El Bolsen. It is supposed to be this hippy town where they make jams and granola and crafts etc...why not. Esther who was now my bus mate got off as well. Ester picked a great hostal. El Pueblo (the girl who worked here=Sky (of course) worked in a Hostel in San fran). So as we are deciding what we will do the next day Ester reads about parachuting off a mountain...."yes we will do this I think" - She is from the Netherlands so you must say this in a Dutch/English accent. I said why not. I believe fate brings ppl in and out of your lives for a reason, not sure this is a good thing but you only live once! Sign me up.
IT WAS AWESOME. I honestly thought the ride up in the taxi was more dangerous. The jump was great. We were up there for about 25min and I was actually getting a little bored (yes those who know me are not surprised) and I told my guide this with a fake yawn. Should not have done that...he said "Listo" (ready). For what don´t know so I said Si. We do several spirals descending and I nearly lost my stomach. That was the BEST rollercoaster ride I have ever been on. Then he said are you still tired. Ahh No sir, check please. Esther...Thank you!
Next day we have a jam packed day. There is an open air market that begins at 10am and then we are going on a bike ride to see some waterfalls. We get our bikes and are out the door on time. What were we thinking. It is South America AND they are hippies. The market did not really get started until 11:30am. Whatever we had some coffee. After the market we set off on our bike trip. We got the map from our hostal. "sure, sure you can do a loop, pick up the trail here, yep bikes are no problem on this." Please remeber this sentence. First part was the Indian head. Looked more like a baby crying. Hopefully this was not sacred ground becasue of the picture to your left. Somehow with the way the day ended up I think it may have been (foreshadowing). Then there was a big sign that said Waterfalls this way, so natually we take this route. Somewhere we made a wrong turn. I am going to blame Ester on this becasue I was holding on for dear life. Bikes and I really do not get along especially on a really rocky road. We end up on a horse trail. How do I know this becasue as we are riding down a very narrow path I hear Esther yell "S#$T" and then I say "WHAT?" as I feel a warm sensation all over my leg..yes I just rode through horse pooh. You ask why I did not see it well perhaps it was becasue of the rose bushes scratching my face and arms and me holding on for dear life as we rode down a very small path where a small swerve would end your life. Suddenly a guacho shows up out of nowhere and tells us, "les pierden" (You are lost). So now that we have just takin these F&%$ing bikes up a mountain we have to back track. Ah yes we did miss the TINYEST arrow telling us which way to go which in the end was also NOT for bikes. When we finally did reach the waterfall we both gave a sigh that said...so thats it. Huh. We practically laid down on the ROCKY road home for this pick up truck to give us a ride to our Hostal. Whoever you are I thank you!
Off to Bariloche.