As of recent, Pili received an amazing gift from her father.... a NEW CAR! Or, new to us anyway. There will be much less waiting for bus to come in snow or high frigid winds. We can visit places on the weekends... etc. It is a red Fiat Duna, a 2006 deisel. And so, since Pili is still practicing her driving for her test this coming Friday, I have been driving, as I have my international driver's license. We have been to two really ocol places so far: Villa Angustora, and El Bolson.
Angostura is about an hour away by car. As the crow flies, you can almoast see it from Bariloche across Lago Nahuel Huapi, but as the road heads east, then north, and curves back west, it is a windy circumnavigation of the lake. But, imagine... rural Wyoming, the foothiils before the Grand Tetons? That is the landscape east of Bariloche.
To the south? El Bolson, home of organic, local food movements, a full community recycling program, a hippy-fair every weekend the weather is good, where Pili bought some beautiful ear rings, and a bracelet of silver. Home of the local amazing icecream company: Jauja (pronounced: ''How- Ha.'' Simply amazing. The drive south? Imagine a combination of Western Washington State, meandering to the Kenai Peninsula in a matter of 4 hours. Breath taking.
I have begun volunteering at Colegio Del Sol, where Pili teaches 4th grade in the afternoon in English, and 2nd grade in the mornings in Spanish. Buenisimo! MY volunteering consists of preparing short lessons (30 min.) teaching students about the environment. We have started simple. With trash. For now, there are two programs going on in Bariloche: 1) at the Basurero (the dump) there are workers whose sole job is to separate organic refuse from reusable/recyclable materials. The recyclable materials are then sent to various locations around Argentina to be recycled. 2) The public is encouraged to separate their prganics from in-organic materials for waste so that the Basureros (workers at the dump) can have an easier time splitting things up.
I have been teachign kids at Colegio Del Sol why separating is helpful, how they can separate the trash in their house, and other little trash tips as well. The next few lessons wille explore a)where does our food come from? and b) what happens to our trash after we send it away to the basurero?
Also, Margarita continues to get bigger and bigger. I will be sure to include some photos of her in this post, as well as some photos I took just this morning of Bariloche. The photos are mostly of two distinct locations in Bariloche: Cerro Otto, named after one of the early German settlers who crafted some of the first nordic skis --Otto, it is his old house which is now a museum. Cerro Otto lingers in early morning clouds as a Shangri-La type feels sets in. Also, photos of Cerro Catedral, the local ski resort, as morning sun casts beautiful light on route 82, the road our house is on.
I think that's the general skinny for now..... Enjoy!
Kev
(1) Lago Guitierrez w- Cerro Ventana on the left in clouds, and a mountain ridge on the right leading to Frey and on to Tronador. This is literally a 5 minute walk from my house in Bariloche
(2) Margarita is SO BIG!
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