I love Argentina!

We just found a small cabin home for 100 pesos that includes a kitchen, small bath, small living room and loft beds. They even included a small boombox and had it tuned to a station that has only played the Eurythmics. YES! Our little car is covered with dust, inside and out, and parked next to our little home and we have settled ourselves for the night. Beets are cooking on the stove and I am watching a small black lab play with a ball in the grassy field from the living room window. Trees and mountains are all I see beyond the samll cabins that surround us.

We drove up north from Bariloche around the seven lakes, and ended up in a small town called Villa La Angostura. I learned how to drive stick shift and drove for about an hour on dirt and paved roads, and drove all the way up to fifth gear! Now I can drive with Rob on long distance trips, and feel kind of embarrassed that I didn´t learn sooner. I guess it´s a little different in San Francisco, we tried once, but I panicked with all the hills.

There was a time today where we were running low on gas and had to coast as often as we could, but we finally made it to the gas station. Our whole trip took about 5 hours of driving, and reminded me a lot of the peninsula in Washington state. We drove through canyons, around mountains and lakes, on dirt and paved roads, stopping once in awhile to absorb the view, take pictures, and see the small towns.

We are planning to head back to Bariloche tomorrow since we have reservations at Hostel 1004, but might come back to this magical land.

El Bolson was cool, but it was really small and there wasn´t a lot to do. We went to the fair, had some waffles, and I bought marketry art. However, we did meet Nadia, a girl who is from L.A. who went to law school, passed the bar exam and then decided to take a year off to travel. She is traveling by herself, so we invited her to come along with us back into Bariloche. We stopped by a lake and I went swimming, Azure went in waist deep, and Mike skipped rocks. The water was really really really cold, but my body adapted and it was really refreshing. Nadia stayed with us one night, and then we parted ways this morning, but we will see her once we´re back in Bariloche.

Argentina has been very good to me so far. She is caring, beautiful, and unique. I love her so much right now.