The first week

Wow!!!!
What a week. It´s crazy to think we have only been here a week, it seems much longer because we have done so much already. Bariloche is a ski and tourist town bordering an incredible mountain range with an fantastic view of an enormous lake and huge snow capped mountains. We were a little schocked by the cold, it´s spring here but still mostly in the 30´s and 40´s and on a sunny afternoon will get warmer, but it´s a fleece and jacket for now. Ashley and I went skiiing/snowboarding on Cerro Cathedral and had a great time. The view from the top was the best part, the snow was crappy and honestly a ski resort in America would not even be open because there was not that much snow. Thank god we had rental equipment because I know we hit a few rocks. We are staying with a host family with a mother, Marta and her son Mariano. We arrived at the house and she was so nice and spoke a little english to us, she told us her son was tall but I did not think much of it because he is only 15. The kid walked in the house and he must be 6´6. I don´t think i´ve ever seen someone so tall so young. He is skinny as a nail and kinda quiet an awkard like a lot of teenagers. Anyway they are great and she cooks us two meals a day. We have breakfast around 8 in the morning and then dinner at 9 in the evening, which is different for us. The culture here is to eat a big lunch, have a snack, eat dinner late and then go to bed. Argentina also has siesta, like in Spain. Most of the stores and restaraunts close from 1-4 and then stay open till 10 or 11. We started school on monday and found out we have so much to learn. We both thought we were decent at spanish but that is certainly not true. We didn´t realize how much we need to learn to speak the language. We already have some funny tranlastion stories. The most common is ¨meses¨ and ¨mesas¨ The first means months and the second means tables. We tried to tell people that we were traveling for three months, however we said mesas, so in reality we told them we were traveling for three tables. You can image the looks we got. Our school is kinda strange but our profesor is great. He is young, speaks good english, and is really patient with us. Right now Ashley and I are the only ones in class but that will probably change next week. We are excited to explore the park and do some more hiking. We haven´t had the chance to really get into Patagonia but should have some time this weekend. It´s been a great week and the best part is having fun with Ashley. We spent 41 hours traveling and we are together almost all day long and somehow not sick of each other. We miss you all but were having such a great time and you can always email either one of us.

Clint