San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina

¡Hola Chicos!

A quick hello from Bariloche, in Argentinian Patagonia, where we arrived a week ago after crossing the Andes from Chile. We are now on the edge of a massive lake, Lago Nahuel Huapi, at the foot of the Cordiliera. The winter season is just starting off, and soon the town will be bustling with skiers, but for the moment it is fairly quiet.
We decided to sign up for some Spanish lessons, which have been keeping us busy this week. We are improving slowly, and it helps a bit that we are staying with a local family as well. However Argentine Spanish is quite remote from the Spanish they speak in Spain....! Here they pronounce their "ll" and "y" as "sh" sounds, which is quite confusing, as in Spain these letters are pronounced "y"! There are also quite a lot of words that are different, but I guess they will still be useful for the rest of our time on this continent.
Argentina, like Chile, seems to us fairly close to our western ways of life. The only few differences seem to be mainly the schedule of mealtimes (lunch around 14h00, dinner around 22h00) and the custom of "mate", a tea-like plant which is mixed with hot water in a cup, then sipped through a straw, and handed around to the rest of the group. It is very bitter and neither Pete nor I have really taken to it yet...
Last week end we explored the surrounding area on local buses and discovered some pretty amazing landscapes with crystal clear lakes and snow capped mountains. The weather was very cold but beautiful, and the ice didn´t discourage the local red crested woodpeckers, which we were able to admire, hammering trunks wirth their beaks. There is also a humming bird which comes to say hello every morning at the window of our hosts' kitchen.
Our lessons end tomorrow, and we haven't decided yet where to go next, so we'll keep you posted!