THE LAKE DISTRICT

10-20-10
So much to say! The last night in Mendoza we went to Vines of Mendoza, a wine tasting bar, with Guy Danielle, Anna, James, and Sally (uk and germany). We had flights of wine and cheese plates. After leaving feeling a bit tipsy we went to a restaurant for dinner around midnight which was the standard! we are getting used to having dinner late by this time! It really is amazing because we first would go to dinner around 1000 at night and the restaurant would be totally empty. When we would walk out into the streets at midnight the streets were packed...children up to older adults.
The next morning Guy Danielle Neel, Blake and I went on two wine tours, thanks to Warren! We went to Luigi Bosca were our party did not have to pay! woop woop! we felt special. Next we caught a bus about 5km down the road and Blake and I could not figure out how to pay so the driver just shooed us to the back... holding on tight we were standing in a maniac bus (full of school kids) trying to figure out where we were going. We made it thanks to Guy. Guy speaks spanish. Weinert winery is one the oldest wineries that still uses huge casts barrels which can hold around 45,000 liters of wine. We had lunch with lovely pizzas and paired wines. The quinces on the dessert pizza were a bit much but we ate it all up! We made it back to the hostel in time for Blake to run to the Sheraton to find out about his package which on the phone they said had not arrived...he was not happy. (the package consisted of his rain pants and few other things he had left in BA) but because the look on his face when he came back from the Sheraton with that big yellow box and everyone cheered i have to tell about it!
Our bus left Mendoza at 845pm and Shannon Blake and I got the back row and Shannon pulled through with a bottle of wine at teh last minute. She tried to get us extra champagne on teh bus by telling the "flight attendant" that blake and I were just married but didnt work. He did give a a shout out over the speaker and people clapped (i think that is what he said but you know...no spanish)

Luigi Bosca Winery

 Wienert Winery...originally built in the late 1800´s, was vacant from 1920 to 1975 when the Wienert family purchased the property.

 This barrel has a useful life of aprox. 200 years and holds aprox. 70K liters of vino

10-21-10 Bariloche
We arrived in Bariloche at 1pm and went straight to Patanuk Hostel...it is wonderful! The hostel is right on the lake which reminds me some of Lake Tahoe, massive with huge snow capped peaks. The owner Iñaki found out he was in the new Lonely Planet and was pumped!! He is from Spain and moved here with his wife and opened the hostel 4 years ago. Definitely the best hostel yet! nothing fancy but perfect with good people. AND the bar downstairs brews their own beer! another plus. Blake went down the first night to get a beer while i napped but stood there and could not talk to anybody. haha. that night we ate more steak at Taqueria with a guy from new orleans, Erik who is doing his residency there. It was his last night in Argentina...not ready for that! We had some mate for the first time also that night with some folks at another hostel we met. It is quite good. we will try and bring some back...btw it is the national tea.

The view from our room at Patanuk hostel

 Sunset from the other hostel in town...1004 which is on the 10th floor of this building in town, also where we had mate for the first time

 The restaurant we ate at that night...looks like a hobbit house

10-22-10
We got up and did a hike to Frey. It was a little overcast but still beautiful. We hung out on a small beach by the lake. That night we went to Ignacki´s friends Itatian restaurant and ate Deer Ravioli and Deer Goulash ...yummy!!!!!

10-23-10
Got a bus to El Bolson about 2.5hrs south. The market was going on so I finally got to buy stuff!!! my bag is now even more stuffed. When we got off the bus a couple fo people handed us flyers for hostels but we were going to camp! haha! so after shopping in the market with our packs we went to info center and Blake pulled ou the flyer he thought was the one we wanted, but we realized when the old man walked in we had given the wrong one...ended up being a blessing! What a wonderful place. Agustin and Laura are couple in their 60s or 70s and have built two small cabins on there land just out of town. The pictures will show better because i have been typing for while now and getting tired. But we had one of the houses to ourselves and it was so peaceful! We cooked all our meals and relaxed, and Blake helped water the plants while i took pictures. Talk about a workhorse...This couple started early every morning and did not stop working until around 9 at night after the sun went down. they have chickens, beautiful gardens, leather shop. We hiked during the day to Cajon del Azul whish was a blue river canyon...breathtaking. the next day we hiked again but with my blisters now hurting like the dickens blake had to his super star routing to get us back to the farm...

10-26-10
We came back to Bariloche and met up with Anna and James again who we met in Mendoza from the UK. AND they got ENGAGED!! CONGRATS!! So of course that night we celebrated! the four of us went to a fantastic dinner with champagne and wine, lamb, beef. Needless to say, the next day was rough.
For the census here, the whole country shuts down! everyone had to be at home from 8am to 8pm...i mean nothing was open and only a couple of buses could run so cooked dinner and had planned for all our food and drink. Met some more awesome people here at the hostel , sophie from australia who is an electrician and hilarious! Sarah from vermont is working on farms here to help pay for her trip. we went to bed at a decent hour last night thinking we were going to bike today but we woke up at 8am and it was raining...boo! so we are diong the blog instead!! good to get caught on it for sure.
Tomorrow we go to see whales and penguins in peuto madryn on the east coast of argentina the bus leaves tonight at 6pm...maybe we will camp.

More pictures to follow on the next post....this whole process takes forever!