Move In Day

I really love this town.

We moved into our host family's house today. The house is quaint and beautiful. It is about a 10-minute walk from the center of town, so there are trees, etc. but still very close to restaurants, shops, and a park. There is an awesome panaderia (bakery)/convenience store across the street. Marta, our host mom, is very very nice and speaks a little English. Her son, Marriano, is 15 and we haven't met him yet. He was sleeping in because he had gone to his friend's 15th bday last night and stayed out until 7 a.m.

Things I have enjoyed about Bariloche:

* Obviously the view. I can´t wait to post photos.

* An awesome little park next to the Cathedral in town. It´s full of local folks: parents pushing kids on swings, families having picnics, people walking dogs, and teenagers making out. And it has an amazing view of the lake.

* A very welcoming Chabad House for Rosh Hashana services. I´ve never eaten so much food in my life--it just kept coming and coming! And the Rabbi drank Smirnoff during the seder. It was too drawn-out and entirely in Hebrew, but still a neat experience.

* The prospect of tons of hiking, camping, fishing, and exploring in the neighboring towns and national park.

* The mayonaise aisle at the grocery store cracks me up. Man, they love mayonaise here!

* Meeting other travellers from across the world (Israel, Canada, Ireland, England) who are generous with advice. It has been interesting that many of them are our age. The economy seems to be bad all over, and people have chosen to travel with their savings rather than fight for the few jobs out there. Many of the people we have met are on 6-month to 1-year trips across the entire world.

* The homeless dogs. They are everywhere, but seem to be happy and well-fed. I assume that people here just try to do their part to look after them. Their personalities are so funny! Most don´t really care about humans, but always hang out with a dog-friend or two. They sleep in building lobbies (even elevators) and chase pigeons through the square.

We also went skiing yesterday and I think I´ll wait and let Clint blog about that later.