March 9th, 2013
The Insurmountable Wall
Today we both officially hit, as our neighbor Pat termed it, the “vacation wall”
When we got up in the morning, it was full-on serious Milford Sound Sheets of Water raining. The first thing I said to Susanne was “I hope that French dude is enjoying his tent today.” It was a bit disheartening to have to pass up yet another awesome location and hike because of the weather. We packed up and headed out. We figured we would drive to Bariloche and then conjure up a plan from there. It was Milford Soundy almost the whole way.
Bariloche is supposed to be the Breckenridge of Argentina. There are several ski areas near by and it is located by a big gorgeous lake with surrounding mountains. As we came into Bariloche, it looked pretty dumpy. Lots of graffitti and run down houses. At this point, we had both thrown in the damp towel and had decided to get a hotel for a few nights. We thought maybe Bariloche would be a possible spot.
We made it to the main area where there are a plethora of chocolate shops and pickpockets; we were looking for a coffee shop where we could hop on the net and figure out a plan. It is a serious pain driving the Sprinter van around these crowded cities and even harder to park. After a few attempts, we both decided we didn’t like the feel of the place and should boogie on. On the way out I nearly got crushed by a YPF truck. I guess I shouldn’t complain about driving the Sprinter van since this dude had to do a whole big 18-wheeler. My navigator was as frustrated as I was by the whole scene.
We made it out of Bariloche and headed north to Villa la Angostura, which is a nice little village across the lake from Bariloche. The wind was blowing a billion miles an hour and every slow truck on the planet decide to pull out in front of me. Ugh, I was doing a poor job of being zen master. There was some big adventure race or marathon going on when we got to Villa la Angostura, so we go desvio’d. Ugh. The town reminds me of Frisco in Colorado; it had a really nice vibe. We had lunch and booked a nice hotel. Both of us were relieved. I was in serious crab mode and felt bad that my attitude had plunged so low, but the thought of a hotel for 3 nights really made us happy.
We tried to check in and the woman said she didn’t have any rooms. I nearly punched her. We managed to work through that snafu and got a room. In the room we were treated to a very nice view of the lake. We had some wine and chilled for a while. The room was ridiculously hot. The heater was blasting full on. We turned it off and opened the windows. That helped. We took some very long showers, played some cards and went to bed. I was very glad that we had settled on a 3 day relaxing plan.
Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow, which I’m sure it will be, because the lead that I now have on Susanne in Rummy would be described by most rational observers as “Insurmountable”.
Ciao for now
(Editorial comment from Susanne: negatory on the “insurmountable” bullshit.)
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