HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: No rain
BUMMER OF THE DAY: Not getting to the cable car – we sort of tried
WORD OF THE DAY: SBJ – PM’s new name for me after a day in the sun…..
Well this how some of a holiday should go. Doing Sweet F A for 2 days. I sometimes feel a little bad that I just sit, chill, relax, read and internet and it doesn’t help when newbies join and they are only doing a 6 week section, so each stop is go go go and making the most of their time, which is fair enough, but after nearly 10 months on the road, days like this are a real gem, so I will not feel bad that people went up the cable car, took a 3 hour kayak tour, rode 36KM on their bikes, walked and hiked all day. This was some down time, some sun time and I enjoyed myself, so do I care? I shouldn’t. For those of you who know me, even if this was a 6 week tour for me I wouldn’t have done the kayak or the hike and the bike for 36KM would have been a maybe, but probably a no.
I’m combining my 3 nights/2 days of Bariloche into one entry, that’s how exciting my 2 days were here. We were so lucky with the weather, as the rain we had in Pucon was also here for a few days and if I had a preference I would probably prefer the rain in Pucon and have the nice days here. So we had 2 awesome days of 33C and even though it was hot, it was a dry heat, so people got washing done and had 2 days planned of activity.
I got sucked into hiring a bike and after a sleep in on day one till 9am, a late breakfast, yes of course consuming the Bolita’s (oversized Coco Pops) we set of as a group of 6 on the bikes with the plan of riding to the cable car and to head to the top for some views. Well the group dropped to 4 when Liz, not a confident bike rider and Paul decided to revisit the plan and told us to go on ahead. There are no bike paths, so you were riding on the main road with cars, trucks and local buses. So it was a little hairy and we got a few beeps as people passed as which was also a little nerve racking. They did have a loose dirt verge most of the way, so you could ride on that, but loose dirt and stones just are a dangerous mix as well, so you really needed to have your wits about you. Anna and Helen shot out like a bat out of hell with Kate and I coming up the rear. We hit the first gradual hill, so with a change of gear and some crazy pedaling we made it up without stopping and getting off, so far so good, till we got the next bigger gradual hill and with a another gear change and more crazy pedaling I saw Kate get off half way, with a massive ‘thank goodness’ running in my head, I joined her and we walked our bikes to the top of this hill. We stopped to catch our breath and I asked how far we actually had to go and we were both unsure, Kate had no idea as she thought we were heading into town, which was in the opposite direction! Thank goodness we didn’t get lost; her bearings were way off base, mental note to not rely on Kate for directions……. It took us around 3 minutes to figure out we couldn’t be bothered riding the rest of the way, tackling mountains (well small/LARGE hills) and with Helen and Anna out of sight we turned our bikes around and headed back to camp. I rekon we were gone for around 40 minutes and had travelled 1-1.5km one way, so 3km doesn’t sound too bad right!? I can probably say with confidence we didn’t get our 18AUD worth of bike rental, but at the end of the day I couldn’t give a toss. Gray borrowed my bike in the afternoon to run up to the shop, so that was a bit more ‘value’ added to my 18 bucks. But it was pretty funny when Kate and I rolled back into camp after having just left, stating we were done!
So the rest of my first afternoon was spent sitting at a picnic table in full sun with a book and some tunes playing on my IPod working on my tan. I remembered to put sunscreen on my nose, that little puppy hasn’t seen direct sunlight for over a week and I am trying to stop it from getting so burnt, but since I still have some tan-age I neglected the rest of me as I want to get some serious colour. It was a gorgeous day and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and as it is a dry heat, even though it was bloody hot, there wasn’t much sweaty Betty which is the perfect way to bake. I had Gray on my back about how strong the sun was and to take a break a few times, so I got a call out to Zeme finally, it is always good to hear his voice, and then I was back in it for the rest of the afternoon.
After last night’s cold snap, I was preparing for another ‘freezer’ night with extra blankets and socks stocked up in the tent, but as the sun set the weather was quite mild compared to our first night and I didn’t even have to put on a sweater. Thank goodness is all I have to say. I can handle a lot of things, but not being warm when I am trying to sleep is just the pits and I find that really hard to cope with.
Day 2 was pretty much a mirror image of the previous day minus the bike debacle. Another sleep in, a glorious hot shower, a late Bolita breakfast and then back to the picnic tables. This time I was in the shade of one of the trees as I did manage to get some sun yesterday and my shoulders got a little toasted, but that will fade in a day or two and it’s not that sore, but burn on burn is not a good idea, even I know that, so shade it was for me today.
I am trying to finalize my flights to the States in May. I had 2 lots of friends I was going to visit in Atlanta and Kansas but due to my dates not being so flexible and both friends in a little of limbo on what they are doing and getting time off, I have to lock in my itinerary as I am adding those flights to my round world ticket. So I now have 7-9 nights free before I need to be in Ottawa. I looked at flying to Addis and seeing Zeme for the week, but the airfare was 2700AUD. That’s a little steep, even for me, and I would have just seen him in April and seeing him again in July, so I shelved that idea for now and really I needed something on the east coast of the States, so I opened my little Harrods diary that has a map of the world and Barbados, Puerto Rico and Cancun jumped out at me. Okay, so it’s not the east coast of the States, but it is still ‘on the way’ and I was sure I could make one of them work. So I jumped online and started researching flights and what I could and couldn’t get included on my round world ticket and prices for accommodation and flights to each of the options. At this point Kate’s eyes lit up and asked how much it was going to cost, she may be interested. So with a bit more homework, I have given her something to think about. We have emailed her travel agent to check out how much it will cost her to change her ticket and that will help her make her final decision. Kate is someone who needs time…..and as much as she can get…. To think things through, so we’ll see how much it costs to change her international ticket and I am sure that will make up her mind for her. So I am thinking if Kate comes, we’ll do Cancun. I think that you would need a pal to go there and if she doesn’t come I think I will do Barbados and have a week on the beach and just chillax. I can get to Miami on my round world, and then purchase a separate fare to Barbados return and then pick up my RTW ticket again in Miami. How cool does a week in BARBADOS sound people!!!? So if anyone is free from the 7th-14th May you are more than welcome to join me in Barbados, assuming that Kate will not go to Cancun. I’ll keep you posted on that folks. But it is the last thing to sort out, everything else and everyone is all lined up and ready for the Bernstar visit!! I can’t wait to catch up with you all and can’t believe it is finally here, as I have asked before where has the time gone?
The camp ground we are at is massive and busy. They have free Wi-Fi that we could get reception in our tents! Crazy, we are camping and have Wi-Fi in our tent! Now that is how to camp people! They have their own computers, a cabina (phone box that are cheap to call out on) a café and a small shop near reception and they had washing machines near the toilet blocks that you could buy a token for 2AUD per wash. It was a groovy site and being January there are a lot of families and kids running around enjoying their holidays. If I was a kid, this would be kid heaven to spend holidays here. They had play equipment, sailing on mini sailboats and the lake was an 8 minute walk. What better way to spend a summer living in your bathers, playing with friends and camping. It was so cute to see the little tikes carrying the boom poles and sails past us each afternoon after being out on the lake all day. I hope to give my kids the same opportunities they have and I can’t complain about my own childhood either. It’s exciting to think about these things now as they never really were thoughts until I had met Z.
Julia, Gray and Paul had gone fishing in the morning and got back at lunch time with a fish in hand for lunch. It was a trawler though, so nobody really ‘caught’ the fish as such, but it was a beauty all the same. We had decided to have lunch at the small restaurant on the lake, but I did taste the finished, cooked product and as usual Gray had done an amazing job and it was delicious! We are so lucky our bus driver…..um I mean glorified bus driver…..um I mean truck driver was a chef in his previous life, so our meals are way better than expected. But don’t tell him I said that.
So the rest of the afternoon rolled on with the computer switched off, it was a book reading time. Kate is on my case to finish the one I am currently reading as she wants it, so lucky it is actually a good, quick read, so I’ll have it finished in a day or two and then she can have it. The library on the truck is pretty comprehensive, so there is no shortage of good books to read with Mark doing some swaps with the hotels and camps sites along the way to keep it fresh and new books added.
As the trip continues we are starting to get to know each other and nicknames are starting to come out now we are ‘friends’. Kate found my initials quite entertaining BJ (use your imagination) so I stated using her initials KT, which she hates as her name is Katerina and KT sounds like Katie which she hates. As much as I want to use it to piss her off, I don’t like shortening people’s names if they don’t like it, so I am using her middle initial as well which =makes her a KWT, so this is what I have been calling her, but she kept throwing in the BJ with eyebrows raised and with us both know what she was talking about KWT sounds like KTM the motorbike brand, which I have then translated to motorboat (if you know what that is in a sexual reference, if not Google it) and we have done a full circle where I now have a noise I can add to her name, even though it makes perfect sense to me, is a stretch, but hell it’s funny. Paul has now joined the name brigade and loves calling me BJ (now SBJ after the sunburn) but he is PM to me and Kate has been calling him Fluff as his hair is starting to get a little long after being on tour for 2 months without a haircut. PM’s name for Kate is douchbag (yes look that one up) and the fun and names continue!
So that pretty much sums up my 2 days in Bariloche. Not very exciting and I think besides the cable cars and the view from the top I don’t think I missed too much. It’s not like I was in Paris and didn’t do the Eiffel Tower or Christ the Redeemer in Rio. So I am now feeling relaxed and recharged for the next 9 nights of camping before Kate and I head to BA for 10 nights! Bring on the great city lights!
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