Now I am writing to you from an internet cafe in Villa la Angostura in Patagonia. We got here a few days ago, after a 19 hour bus ride from Mendoza to get to Bariloche, and another 1 hour ride to get here. The landscape is incredible here, and we had our faces plastered to the windows for the last couple of hours of our trip here. It feels like we're in the middle of nowhere, as we drove through hundreds of small farms situated in front of snow-capped mountains and icy streams. Villa la Angostura is a very small town, with all the buildings made out of wood and definitely catered to tourists. Our hostel is awesome- the floors are heated and once again we have our own room with our own shower. We've been making our own dinners the past two nights- predominantly pasta of course due to the simplicity, but last night we also made a cake to celebrate Joel's birthday. As we lacked candles, we arranged a set of matches in a J in the middle of the cake, which made for an exciting chain-lighting spectacle after lighting the first match.
Joel, Brock, and I arranged to go skiing for three days while we're here, but I was feeling a little sore and tired today so I'm skipping the middle day so I can enjoy it more tomorrow. Ashley isn't really into skiing but she decided to come yesterday- she went up on the ski lift with us but then after getting to the top decided that she didn't want to do it anymore and took the ski lift back down. Joel, Brock, and I started off going down the easy slopes, which were probably about my level, and that was a lot of fun. Then we started going down some of the harder ones, and I was trying to learn how to ski the correct way going back and forth instead of my usual technique of going straight and trying not to fall. I must say I am getting better, but I took a few spills into some 4 foot snow banks, which took a little effort to free myself from. After a few hours of that, I decided to hang out with Ashley for the rest of the day at the bottom of the slopes, where we made a snow man over 6 feet tall and a snow dog companion. A few families stopped by and wanted to have their pictures taken with it, and who can blame them, it was a sexy looking snow man. He was equipped with a top hat (the brim was difficult), an evergreen-striped tie, and a rock-studded belt. Any self-respecting snow-woman would have thrown herself at his majesty. The dog was a different story, but luckily it retained its resemblance to a four-legged creature, so I think it was safe to assume it was a dog.
Speaking of four legged creatures, when Joel and I finished going down the easy trail the first time down (Brock switched to a harder trail about halfway) we encountered something a bit peculiar in the middle of the ski trail. I was in front and had just turned a sharp left when all of a sudden there's this cow standing in the middle of a patch of snow just looking around and chewing on something. I'm not too sure what it was chewing given the lack of anything around it other than snow, but there was definitely some excessive mastication. Anyway, upon seeing the cow, I burst out laughing uncontrollably and ended up in a snow bank on the right side of the trail. Joel, who had no idea what was going on, heard me laughing and wondered what was going on, but then he too rounded the corner and spotted said bovine and couldn't help but join in my hysterics. It pretty much made my day, and was definitely worth me crashing into the side of the trail. I went back later to see if the cow was still there, but it had mysteriously disappeared back from whence it came, replaced a dozen small children sledding on small, thin plastic circles. Don't ask me how it got there... there were fences on both sides of the trail, and since the trail was at the bottom, there was only a parking lot after that. Phantom cow I guess...
I bought another Harry Potter book today, since I enjoyed the last one in Spanish so much, plus a Spanish dictionary so I could look up definitions in Spanish. I'll probably do that the rest of the afternoon, and by tomorrow I'll be all rested up for another fun day of skiing. Weeeee! Then its back to Buenos Aires until the 16th of August. I'll post again after I get back to Buenos Aires to let everybody know what I'm up to. I hope everybody is doing well. Later.
Joel, Brock, and I arranged to go skiing for three days while we're here, but I was feeling a little sore and tired today so I'm skipping the middle day so I can enjoy it more tomorrow. Ashley isn't really into skiing but she decided to come yesterday- she went up on the ski lift with us but then after getting to the top decided that she didn't want to do it anymore and took the ski lift back down. Joel, Brock, and I started off going down the easy slopes, which were probably about my level, and that was a lot of fun. Then we started going down some of the harder ones, and I was trying to learn how to ski the correct way going back and forth instead of my usual technique of going straight and trying not to fall. I must say I am getting better, but I took a few spills into some 4 foot snow banks, which took a little effort to free myself from. After a few hours of that, I decided to hang out with Ashley for the rest of the day at the bottom of the slopes, where we made a snow man over 6 feet tall and a snow dog companion. A few families stopped by and wanted to have their pictures taken with it, and who can blame them, it was a sexy looking snow man. He was equipped with a top hat (the brim was difficult), an evergreen-striped tie, and a rock-studded belt. Any self-respecting snow-woman would have thrown herself at his majesty. The dog was a different story, but luckily it retained its resemblance to a four-legged creature, so I think it was safe to assume it was a dog.
Speaking of four legged creatures, when Joel and I finished going down the easy trail the first time down (Brock switched to a harder trail about halfway) we encountered something a bit peculiar in the middle of the ski trail. I was in front and had just turned a sharp left when all of a sudden there's this cow standing in the middle of a patch of snow just looking around and chewing on something. I'm not too sure what it was chewing given the lack of anything around it other than snow, but there was definitely some excessive mastication. Anyway, upon seeing the cow, I burst out laughing uncontrollably and ended up in a snow bank on the right side of the trail. Joel, who had no idea what was going on, heard me laughing and wondered what was going on, but then he too rounded the corner and spotted said bovine and couldn't help but join in my hysterics. It pretty much made my day, and was definitely worth me crashing into the side of the trail. I went back later to see if the cow was still there, but it had mysteriously disappeared back from whence it came, replaced a dozen small children sledding on small, thin plastic circles. Don't ask me how it got there... there were fences on both sides of the trail, and since the trail was at the bottom, there was only a parking lot after that. Phantom cow I guess...
I bought another Harry Potter book today, since I enjoyed the last one in Spanish so much, plus a Spanish dictionary so I could look up definitions in Spanish. I'll probably do that the rest of the afternoon, and by tomorrow I'll be all rested up for another fun day of skiing. Weeeee! Then its back to Buenos Aires until the 16th of August. I'll post again after I get back to Buenos Aires to let everybody know what I'm up to. I hope everybody is doing well. Later.
posted by Kevin at 9:02 AM
6 Comments:
Sounds like you are combining about 3 summer vacations into one. Glad to hear you are enjoying yourself. Did you pack enough warm clothes? I sure would not care for the long bus rides you have been on this past month. I am in Utah again this week and will get home Friday night at 11:30 p.m. Kristin is coming home this weekend I think. I won't have to come back to Utah until September 16. I go to Oklahoma next week and Iowa the week after. I am keeping pretty busy and sales are good. Looking forward to having you home soon. Love ya. Dad
Love your postings as don't hear from you otherwise. I think you must have been hallucinating the cow and the sleds. Too long bus rides are affecting you. Glad you are having a great time. Stay safe and don't injure yourself. I hope you have some fabulouse pictures to show us when you return. You could email us some shots now though.
Love ya much
Mom
Hi Kevin,
Nice and exciting times to say the least. Now you do know that the cow was chewing it's cud. You know, ungulate, four chambered stomach, regurgitates it's food (cud) and rechews it so that along with bacterial activity it gets as much nutrition as possible.
OK, so we are both back at the same point, none of us know for sure where it had been and what it had tucked away for it's later dining pleasure.
Actually, of the options available, I'm sure glad you decided on the snow bank and not the cow. It is probably well adapted to survival up there and you might not have faired as well. You might even have shared in some of it's food in various stages of processing, maybe even the end product ;-)
Love - U Bob
Hi Kevin,
Sorry, I hit publish before I noticed that I spelled ruminate as ungulate ;-)
Love - U Bob
Souldn't type without my glasses, spell ceckers don't know you mean ruminant.
'Phantom' cows and a sexy snowman. I really wish I could have seen those! Sounds like a heck of a trip, Kev, and I hope the rest of it went as well. It's great that you were able to stay in such nice accommodations for so cheap too. Man, just try getting away with that in Europe! I agree with your mom. Post some pics if you have time. Blogspot lets you post 5 per entry, though depending on your connection and the size of the pics, they may take some time to load. Check out my blog for some inspiration. Say hi to everyone for me and my wishes that they are all having an absolutely lovely time. Take care!
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