Bariloche! part 3

Last day of our Bariloche vacation. We had free time until 1pm, so we went through the civic center plaza and over to Mamuschka again.

On the way I finally got a picture with the Bambi alfajor shop =)

After chocolate shopping and rushing to get our belongings into the van for the last tours and drop off at the airport. We drove over towards Hotel Llao Llao and learned why it's called Llao Llao: it's named after a type of sweet forest mushroom, the llao llao, that the native mapuche people used to collect and eat. Before we got to the hotel though, we spontaneously decided to take the chair lift up this mountain for a view that was declared one of the top 5 or 10 most beautiful views in the world in the 1989 National Geographic magazine.

It is pretty beautiful. So much nature all at once, it's lakes and trees weaving in and out of each other. It was really amazing, and on such a perfect sunny day too!

After the chair lift experience, we hopped on over to a view of Hotel Llao Llao and the white mountain on the right. I do believe that is part of the Andes, and it is so tall and so far away, that's why it has snow on it. I imagine this is how Switzerland is... a German friend of mine that my dad and I ran into in San Junín de los Andes back in December even said that the 7 Lakes region reminded him a lot of Switzerland. I'd like to go to Switzerland someday, but first I gotta finish up with Argentina ;)

This is the last of the pictures for Bariloche. We went to the airport after seeing Hotel Llao Llao, and slept all the way there. I have to say that this was my favorite trip by far. I loved the Arrayán tree forest, the Chair Lift view (that I probably never would have chosen to do on my own), and the heavy dose of nature and break from the city. This city is starting to drive me a little bit crazy... I am getting quite homesick, and struggling in keeping myself in the present, living in the moment rather than thinking about the future and returning home to Alaska.

In other news, this Tuesday, May 25th, 2010 is the 200th Anniversary of Argentina's Countryhood!! How lucky am I to be here for this kind of celebration?? Tuesday is also the re-opening of the Teatro Colón! It's been closed for a year or more for remodeling and it is finally opening back up. On Monday there will be a free open-air festival outside of it, and they're going to project pictures and stuff on the entire wall of the Teatro Colón. Or so I hear. We'll see, and I'll let you all know how it was... ;)

So... last night I went to a friend's birthday bash at a bar. I'll tell that story next.
-Jenny