End of the Farm, Mendoza, and Bariloche

       It has been a while, which is a good thing, well at least for me. In the end of October, the 20th, I left the farm in Jujuy. I was quite sad to leave, but it was too easy to stay there and live with that lifestyle. I was too comfortable there, and one purpose of this trip is to experience unfamiliar places. Before I left, we had a farewell and birthday party for me. We all drank Sidra (alcoholic apple cider), ate home made healthy cake, and it was pretty amazing. A very unique birthday experience, something I never could have imagined. I will never forget the family, and feel as if I will definately see them again. They drove me to town on the 20th, and I caught a bus that night to Mendoza, Argentina.
       After the 21 hour bus ride, I arrived in Mendoza, and found the Damajuana Hostel. My first whole day in Mendoza, I went out to rent a bike and do the famous wine tours. I spent the whole day biking around, and went to a winery, an olive farm, and a chocolate factory. A pretty touristy, but delicious day. The views were great, and it was nice to be on a bike again. The next day I went to the amazing San Martin Park in Mendoza, where I read, relaxed, and sun bathed on the shore of a resevior. I met a ton of people in the hostel, had ping pong tournaments, and shared traveling stories. There was a cool vibe to the hostel. I also went to the thermal pool park outside of Mendoza in Cachueta. I sat in the pools, relaxed, and just spent all day soaking away the dirt from Jujuy. It was perched on the side of a river, with pretty amazing views of the colorful canyon walls. I also hiked a small mountain in the San Martin Park one day, with a great view of the city. I went looking for a guy who could teach me something about rock climbing, and found a really amazing guy named Federico. He worked at a tourist agency, but I told him what I was interested in, and he took me under his wing. He gave me an amazing deal for 3 hours a day for 3 days of private clases. He took me to the gym in town and I learned a bunch. I learned knots, systems, techniques, ect. He also gave me a free all day trip rock climb and repell outside of town. During the trip we also went to these natural springs, (different from the others), that were just inside the river bed, but as hot as a hot tub. On my last day in Mendoza, Federico (who had already done more than I paid for) picked me up and we went to his friends apartment on the 10th floor of a building in the city. He took me to the balcony, and inside of a tiny door that seemed like some kind of maintanence hatch, there was this small bouldering (rock climbing without ropes) wall on the slanted roof of the building. It was amazing, and I was the only tourist to ever see it. It makes a difference what you get to do when you actually connect with the people and speak the language. Without spanish, I would not be able to have these kind of experiences. I left the 29th for Bariloche on a 19 hour bus ride.
      I got into Bariloche in the late afternoon, and went to Hostel 1004 that a friend recommended, but it was full. I spent a night in a cool place called Periko´s, and found a cool french couple (with whom I spoke spanish to, our common language). The next morning I went to Hostel 1004, a beautiful hostel on the 10th floor of a building (the highest floor in the city). It overlooks the beautiful lake that Bariloche sits on, Lake Nahuel Huipi. The first day in Bariloche, I went to rent a bike and do a loop trail, 35km or 20miles, called Circuito Chico. It goes along the lakes, mountains, forest, and officially made the top five prettiest days of my life. The water is blue, the mountains tall with snow, and everything just seems so unreal. I sat and ate lunch on a rocky beach point and just looked out for at least an hour. It was amazing. The views were spectacular, and once I find a computer that doesn´t take 10 hours to upload photos, I will upload a few. I got back to the hostel, and there was a finger food and wine tasting party. A bunch of people from all over the world, including Germany, Italy, China, Korea, US, Canada, Argentina, Columbia, and more all gathered around for the cause. It was pretty fun. The next day I hiked up Cerro Otto, a small mountain near town with a 360 degree view of the area. It was a good climb, and a better view. I spent almost the whole day on top, reading, writing, ect. Yesterday, I met a guy from Conneticut, and we went on a hike at Cerro Catedral. We planned just to do the short hike, but we got to the fork in the path and went for the summit to Refugio Frey. Only 1700 meteres elevation, but a good 3-4 hour climb. At the top there was snow and a beautiful little cabin for climbers to stay at. The view was spectacular with a frozen lake in front of the cabin and mountains surrounding the whole thing. A magical place. We descended through the streams, trees, and lakes and were exhausted by the end of the day. I said bye to the Jim (the guy from Conneticut and his girlfriend Laura, who are both medical students) today, and I am leaving for El Bolson tomorrow at noon. In El Bolson, I am going to another wwoof farm, where the family (from the US) runs a ecolodge and an organic farm. It is a completely different experience than the preivous farm, but I am interested to see the beautiful landscape. I will keep in contact, and hope all is well.