a world of pretty things

un mundo de las cosas lindas.

i read that sign on some little gift shop up in the mountains in san carlos de bariloche, argentina. i liked it.

here i am, in a town that resembles a swiss village (think leavenworth, washington) in the middle of a continent. its sort of crazy. i am staying at "hostel 41 below," this sort of hardcore backpacker's hostel run by a bunch of australians. its all pine wood and snowboarding posters. reminds me of gwinn for some reason.

backing up a few days. i finally made it, alive and safe, to nicole's apartment. thursday the 20th was her last day in buenos aires before flying back to the US. we helped her pack up and we said our goodbyes. then susie, leana and i headed off to retiro to get on a bus to bariloche.

the buses here are a whole different world. do not think sketch greyhound buses. think plush, double-decker, multiple hot meals served. us three girls didn't have a clue as to how nice our 20 hour ride would be however. sitting in the crazy-busy bus station before we boarded, we chugged down a couple of bottles of quilmes, (the PBR of south america) thinking it would be our last chance for something cold to drink besides water.

the bus attendent (who turned out to be a creep. just wait, photos are coming soon) saw me classily chugging the last few drops of quilmes before boarding the bus and laughed. "quieres quilmes?" he asked. "siiiii, muy bien," i replied sarcastically.

on board the bus, we had the best possible seats. top deck, front row. immediately we settled down and food was brought to us. okay, lets get one thing straight. i love food. i adore airplane food. seriously. but plastic trays filled with piles of canned vegetables, a dry piece of bread and the nastiest egg, omelet, veggie thing ever (it was cold too) was too much. i couldn't eat anything. either could leana. but susie had no problem. she threw that egg delicacy down like it was the best meal she had ever eaten haha

lucky for us and our empty stomachs (except for susie), riding the bus in argentina means that you are served ultra classy little styrofoam cups full of wine. LOTS of wine. and remember those liters of quilmes served before? yep. and after you have lost count of the amount of cups of wine consumed, the attendant comes around with plastic champagne cups and insists that you celebrate with him. oh. my. gosh. dumb american girls double fisting wine and champagne on a 20 hour bus ride is out of control.

moving on. we arrived in bariloche on friday afternoon, after surviving lots of boring countryside and one creepy attendant. five minutes after arrival we met up with jen and joel, susie's old childhood friends (now married). after both groups checked in at their hostels we met up again for some sight-seeing. bariloche is the most touristy town i have ever seen. its exactly like leavenworth. surrounded by mountains and a lake, it is out of control beautiful. the five of us walked around the main square before heading to a little pizza place for food.

a few minutes after ordering our pizza and quilmes, disaster struck. jen looked down at the seat next to her where she had placed her purse and asked nervously, "did you guys move my purse?" we hadn't. fifteen minutes later, after jen and joel ran outside, looked up and down the street without success for someone running away with a small striped bag, they admitted defeat. jen's bag, containing all the young couple's money, credit cards, IDs, expensive cameras, flash cards AND their canadian passports, had been stolen. SO, so bad.

we asked for the pizza to be packed up, and we left for the police station. the rest of the night was a mixture of police reports, internet phone calls to banks, canadian embassies, etc. the couple is out of money and now unable to leave the country. they have to travel to the capital to go to the canadian embassy to apply for new passports.

while jen and joel figure out what to do, i have been quietly attempting to get over the initial culture shock and confusion of my own first four days in this country. there are pretty things here, and sometimes its so hectic its hard to see through everything. after walking to the bus station today to help jen and joel purchase tickets to go back to the capital, i sat outside on the street. a bunch of youth had set up a boombox playing reggae, and were painting beautiful murals on the graffiti filled walls. a few stray dogs panted about, and i called "ven aca, perritos" to them, to which they responded. it was hot and sunny and colorful, just like i thought it should be. i liked that a lot. other moments included walking through tall grass by the side of abandoned train tracks. little dark skinned children ran around with shrill voices, rolling their R's, which i envy. i can see mountains. the empnadas are good. i am learning spanish.

more to come. this trip will get better, i have faith. for now, i am staying in a dorm room with susie, leana, a small irish guy, a cocky australian, and a creepy, creepy old asian man who keeps food in his bed and sometimes (more like often) changes his clothes unashamedly in front of us. we'll see how that goes.

words / concepts of the day:

riding cama: the best way to travel on the bus here. you get huge plushy chairs, lots of weird meals, and all the drinks you can handle (or not handle).
empanadas: the most delicious little butter pasry things about the size of your hand, filled with either meat or possibly veggies.
mas vino, por favor.: "more wine, please." what not to say when you are on a 20 hour bus ride, are representing america and have had more than enough already.