Argentina!

I think I'd better start with some important news. I'm going to Germany! I received the email on Thursday letting me know that I've won the scholarship so I will be heading over there in September for 9 months. While it is super exciting it's also a little daunting to know that I'm facing another extended period of time away from home. But, I'm sure it's all part of God's plan for me and that it will be a whole new learning experience too.

This past week marked half-way and therefore time to renew my visa. This meant I got to have holidays in Argentina! Whoop whoop! I left for the south of Chile last Wednesday and survived the 9 hours in the bus to Temuco. The lovely Nia and her family were kind enough to let me stay with them and it was great to be looked after for the week. On Friday morning Nia and I took the bus through the mountains to Argentina and the beautiful little town of San Martin de los Andes. Unfortunately the weather wasn't great and we didn't see much on the way over. Still, seeing these jagged mountain peaks appearing through the mist was pretty dramatic. I was surprised at how much like NZ the landscape looked but it made me feel very at home.

I must say I was very glad I had Nia with me because the Argentinian accents were very tricky for me to understand. We stayed at a wonderful hostel where the breakfast was yummy, the beds were comfy, it was warm and the manager very friendly and helpful. On Friday night we headed into the town to have a look around and find some food and found ourselves caught in a thunder storm - without raincoats. Needless to say we looked like drowned rats by the time we got back to the hostel! Thankfully the weather had cleared up a little by Saturday morning and we hired bicycles from the hostel and went down to the lake. Beautiful views and good exercise although my knee complained a bit. We had arranged to go horse-riding in the afternoon and had instructions on how to get there on the bikes. An hour later we finally arrived at this cluster of houses out in the wop-wops only to find they weren't ready for us and we had to wait an hour. We didn't mind too much and wandered down to a pretty stream and enjoyed the autumn colours.

Horse-riding was amazing. The sun came out and we meandered our way up into the hills. My horse Guapo (means handsome) was very content to just plod along but God forbid that another horse get in front of him! We had some interesting little bursts of speed whenever Nia's horse decided that Guapo was too slow and attempted to overtake. We ended up at the top of a hill where we had an incredible view of the mountains and I was super happy. Very refreshing for the soul after three months in dirty Santiago! Arriving back after 2 hours on horseback and facing the ride back into town on the bikes was not so great and we ended up walking - too sore!
On Sunday we bought chocolate which is what the town is famous for and wandered along the lake (in the sunshine this time). Thankfully there was a lot more to see on the bus back including volcanoes! All in all it was a fantastic trip and I'm all ready to face the next three months.

The lake at San Martin on Saturday

Looking up the lake

Waiting to go horse-riding

Nia biking (well, having a rest actually!)

The view from the top of the hill

Dulce de leche cake (it's kind of like caramel condensed milk)

At the lake Sunday morning - sunshine!

On the track around the lake

On the road home again

Volcano Lanin (border between Argentina and Chile)