Bariloche! part 1

So I'm in a blog-writing kick. Only because I don't want to write 2 one page summaries of the in-depth grammar chapters for Friday... but I will get them done. I took a midterm this morning and I feel like I rocked it. I also found out I got an 8 (out of 10) on my History midterm, go me! That's an A in North American terms.

So here it goes.. BARILOCHE, Argentina! part 1 of 3.  I went there in December with my dad and had a great time, not to mention that we spent over 200 pesos on chocolate (that's about 45 USD), we got a lot of it too.

The night before I left I had packed for Bariloche and went to Kelly's place for a good time with good people. After everyone else left Kelly, Lentejas and I were left. We danced salsa and shared music all night. Then in the morning they made me pancakes and sent me on my way to Bariloche =)

The first thing we did was drop our stuff off at the Hotel and headed to the dock for a tour of Victoria Island!!!! I really wanted to go when my dad and I were here but we didn't have time, we also didn't know how to get to Victoria Island...

fantastic collage made at BigHugeLabs.com

Where we saw the Bambi Trees! These trees are called the Arrayanes, and they only grow South America, and the only place in the world where there is a group of them that can be called a forest is here on Victoria Island. They are this rich orange cinnamon color, really pretty. Of course the pictures do not bring out the full effect of their color. I touched one and it was unusually cold... The lack of rough bark leaving a smooth surface must make it susceptible to being really freakishly cold for a tree. I call them the Bambi trees because it's said that Walt Disney and his crew visited the island and got so inspired by the trees that they used them for the scenery in the movie Bambi. I watched it to see for myself... and I believe it.

After this side of la Isla Victoria we went to another part where they had artificial tree forests, with sequoias and other very tall trees.

 They were all so tall and straight, fighting for sunlight. The few that were leaning sideways and about to fall had numbers on them (there's one on the left). Death sentence numbers. The birds don't like these trees because they're foreign, and they know it. Therefore it is totally silent, not a sound can be heard there. It's rather creepy, but cool. 

On a lighter note, the entrance to the forest has a beautiful cut log tiling going on. I couldn't help but take a picture of it... We then went back to the hotel and decided on what to do for dinner. We went to a parrilla (grill house) down the road and stuffed ourselves with tender Argentine steak and french fries. It was delicious after such a long touristic day.

Fin Part 1.