The stranger I slept next to...

...was not amused when he sat down next to me and I told him "this is my first time!" Perhaps it was my broken Spanish.  Perhaps he really didn't care and was hoping I wouln't say anything more on the 21 hour bus trip that awaited us from Buenos Aries to Bariloche.  I got over it and was not offended when he pulled the curtain between us for the rest of the journey.  I had enough to amuse me without talking to him:  a selection of 14 movies on the private TV screen, music, my own books and my iPhone selelction of movies, which I have been carefully rationing.  Who am I kidding? I can watch Finding Nemo again and again.

It was Thanksgiving and I had started the day with a tour of the Teatre Colòn, a beautiful European style building in Buenos Aires.  Yes, it was cool to see the architecture of the lobby areas but what I really wanted to walk around backstage and ask my arsenal of nerdy insider theatre quiestions.  But it wasn't meant to be.

A taxi ride in style and comfort to the bus station and I was on my way to Bariloche.  A 21 hour bus ride sounds daunting but, again, I paid for comfort and style.  I didn't go hungry with all the bready options. Didn't get terribly bored with all the movies options either.

Arrival to Bariloche was one hour early so I had to sit and wait (im)patiently for Michael to arrive.  He did, early, and all was well.

Today I would like to say that I hiked in the Andes Mountains but Michael says that's not quite correct.  But we did walk 30 minutes almost straight up a very steep mountain (Cerro Campanario) to the top where we could get a view of "one of the 6 most beautiful views of the world."  Quote not yet cited.  The second I started lamenting about not having seen any wildlife, a beautiful little hawk came flying by and tried to balance himself on top of a pine tree right in front of us.

I also spotted some peculiar scat on the way down but Michael guessed it was just horse manure.  It could have been a vegetariam puma.  You never know...

More pictures to follow tomorrow when I get on a better (faster) computer.