We are creatures of the wind/wild is the wind

Yesterday evening view from my window.

I didn't do anything very interesting yesterday...I woke up with a sore knee from the hike the day before, and it was rainy, so I decided not to go through with the planned hike that was 2 hours away. Rose had a good time though and said the rain wasn't that bad, and it was mostly a tour bus thing rather than hiking, so I guess I could have gone. But it was a good day, I caught up on some stuff and took a nice walk when it cleared up. I bought some famous Bariloche chocolate, yummm. I finished another round of edits on my research paper, yaaaaay.



Today we wanted to go kayaking, but it's low tourist season so the places are either closed or only offering kayaking on certain days of the week that are not Mondays. And the biking trip sounded rather unpleasant (on roads with cars, lots of uphill), so we went for another hike instead, to a big hill/little mountain called Cerro Otto. It was tough at first because it was really steep, but it was a nice woodsy path and I'm glad we took it instead of the easier road. This trip has taught me that I'm ridiculously out of shape! Anyway, after the first bit it was easier and the views were great. The pictures aren't that great because it was super-cloudy though. It got pretty cold and windy, so we didn't go all the way up to the top.

Here's Rose just enjoying a little medialuna (croissant) snack...


and here's a little more perspective:


She is holding up the sky:


And a bridge to nowhere:


There was a funny incident in the hostel kitchen today...there was something interesting on the stove that looked like someone had been boiling water with mate in it. I asked Sebastian, the cool hostel guy, what it was and he said, "Sopa de marijuana," or something like that, and with confused politeness I said, "Oh," and smiled and nodded, while thinking, "Wait, did he just say marijuana?" I realized that he did say that and I got the joke...I said, "Looks and smells an awful lot like mate!" Finally he gave up on trying to fool us and told us it was mate cocido, cooked mate.

We wrapped the trip up with leftover lentil soup and carrot soup and a loaf of bread. I love cooking soup when it's cold, especially that carrot soup. I was happy that it turned out ok even though I don't have the recipe!

Tomorrow: onward and southward, to Calafate! We leave at noon and arrive at 4:30 the next day. Bumpy bus, here I come!

Title credits: David Bowie