So, on Friday Holly, Caty, Lindsey and I, hauled our stuff to our last class then flagged a taxi and headed for the Retiro bus terminal for our 22 hour bus ride to Bariloche! This..however..was not the best bus ride...apart from it being 22 hours long. On all of our previous trips we were on the second floor of the omnibus and this time we had the pleasure of being on the first floor. Next to the kitchen and the bathroom. Needless to say it felt like a very loonnngggg bus ride. But, totally worth it!
In Bariloche, we checked in at our hostel and went for our first activity of the week - ziplining! The scenery was beautiful, tall trees, snowcapped mountains, and Lake Nahuel Huapi, and it is even snowing on us. We were all having a great time until the "cankle incident." That is, 7 out of 9 platforms are completed...Holly is ahead of us already on the next platform, through the trees so we can't see her..and it's Caty's turn, she goes, and through the trees we hear a very loud bang. Lindsey and I laugh it off, knowing she had a rough landing but then feel bad for laughing when we make it to the next platform and see the pain on Caty's face. On that line, she had lost her glove with the brake on it and slammed into the platform. We make it back to the hostel, Caty gets out of her skinny jeans that are about to burst at the seams because of the swelling, and the bruising has already begun. Poor Caty, we weren't laughing then, but by the end of the trip we were all joking about her "cankle!" Her leg was swollen to twice the size of the other one from below her knee all the way to her foot. However, she was a trooper! The only activity she missed was horse riding the next day. Francisco picked us up at 10 on Sunday for a few hours of horseback riding through the mountains and an asada. Him and his dad, Chango, do horseback riding tours around the mountains next to their house. So, while Lindsey, Holly, and I rode horses with Chango, Caty hung out with Francisco while he cooked our lunch. This time my horse's name was Hidalgo! We had a good ride around the countryside and when we came back the food was amazing! I never like flan until now. See the pictures below :)
Holly and I ready for some zip-lining!
Group pic of all of us...right after Caty practically broke her leg...such a trooper!
Left to Right: Holly, Lindsey, Caty, and Me
Hidalgo and I :)
All of us with Francisco and Chango!
So after a whole 2 days in Bariloche, we head out on another overnight bus to Puerto Madryn! Aside from spending our days enjoying the seaside town, perusing through the shops, eating too much ice cream, and endulging in dinners out on the town, we kayaked with the sea lions in Punta Loma, and went on a tour of the Valdes Peninsula where we also did a whale watching tour...my personal favorite! Kayaking...my first time...was a challenge. But, nothing was going to stop me from getting as close as possible to the sea lions! Not even my kayaking partner, who the whole time that i am sweating and panting and paddling as hard as my rookie kayaker arms can paddle to get to the sea lions is sitting behind me back paddling. She was slightly afraid of them despite me telling her over and over again that they would not hurt her! If only I had had my dive certification then there wouldn't have been a kayak in between me and the sea lions...but, I guess I will save that for another day! It was still awesome. The next day was a tour of the Valdes Peninsula, which besides the coast and one tiny town was made up of field after field after field of sheep farms. Besides sheep, we saw wild alpacas, emus, elephant seals, and my favorite, the whales! One of the most amazing things I have ever done. We were on a boat for about 2 hours watching them and the entire time there wasn't a second that passed that somewhere around us there wasn't a whale. They were friendly and have more of a personality than you would think a whale would have. They would surface on one side of the boat, go under, and resurface on the other side. I could have stayed on that boat all day long. It was such a great experience getting to see all of the animals in their natural habitat...loved it! What a great week! :)
Sea Lions (lobos marinos) in Punta Loma, Puerto Madryn
We saw Southern Right Whales....I was amazed and in love :)
An elephant seal (elefante del mar)...more like a giant slug!
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