Rambling Robert's Travels

This blog chronicals the travels of myself, Rambling Robert, on my next adventure to South America.

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I am a world traveller. I do not work as such. I have been homeless and unemployed since 1October 2003. I worked as a chef for 30 years in America.

Saturday, March 19, 2005

Bariloche Argentina

Bariloche is a small city in the Andes mountains , more or less in the middle of Argentina as far as North South goes, about 40 kilometers from the border of Chile.Altitude wise I am at about 1,200 meters above sea level.It is Saturday the 19th of March and I have been here for 6 days. Tomorrow I will leave and go to A small mountain town in the lake district of Chile near Osorno, about 250 kilometers from here.
All in All I have enjoyed Bariloche. It is a little touristy but then again so am I. It is touristy because it is so beautiful. The lake here is just stunning with all these jagged mountain peaks in the background. There are several sandy beaches along the shore and a National park as well as a municipal park.The attraction for the tourists is the stunning mountain scenery, the excellent trout fishing and swimming in the lake, hiking and rock climbing in the mountains and the city sports an excellent nightlife if that is your thing. There are many bars and restaurants here and the prices are all quite reasonable. The two local beers are both lagers called Quilmes and Isenbeck, with Quilmes being by far the more popular. They cost about 75 cents (US) per liter. My own preference here in Argentina has been to drink the fine and inexpensive red wines from the Mendoza Region. There are also a few Irish Pubs here and since it was St.Patricks day two days ago it was quite a lively night in town.
There are 5 or 6 Irish people in my hostel and today Ireland is Playing Wales in Rugby at 12 on TV. There are plenty of Brits here and so I will go back and watch the match. Should be plenty of screaming yelling and chanting!! I dont really have a dog in this fight so I just want to watch a good match and enjoy the excitement as these two traditional rivals go head to head. It is an important match.
I have been spending my days taking slow long leisurely hikes in the mountain and enjoying the sweet smelling fresh mountain air and the stunning mountain vistas. Too bad the weather is become autumn and it is a little too cold to sawim in the lake although it sure looks inviting it just aint happening.
I have had to learn (the hard way) all about bed bugs. These nasty little creatures were in my bed the first two nights I was here. I didnt know what was biting me. I thought it was fleas or mosqwuitos but it is too cool for mossies and the bites were not localized enough to be fleas. Bed bugs bite you all over the place and fleas have a distinct preference for ones ankles. I had no bites on my ankels. The bites are in tight little patterns you get them in bunches. So I was examining some bites on my hand near my thumb and one of the Irish guys looked at them and nodded solemly and said "Bedbugs Mate."
I swithced beds and told the manager about it and he said he would clean the sheets and the bedding and I said the people in the other beds in my room werent getting bitten so when one moved out I just switched beds and now I dont seem to be getting bit anymore. I had thought of changing hostels but, I really like the place I am in it is called Perikos. Nice kitchen really friendly folks and it is a non smoking hostel. This is very unusual for Argentina and it is a real treat for me. I like to breathe here. So I stayed. Other than the bugs it has been a rather un eventful week. I will end this letter now and get some lunch food and go back to watch the rugby. Next Update from Chile.
Rambling Robert the traveling man

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