Our initial arrival started out being very stressful – a few of us were/are having lots of trouble with LAN airlines trying to get our flight changes sorted out (another purpose of our trip to the south at the end of the main chunk of the program is so that those doing their ISP down here can just stay and change their return flight to a later date). About 5 weeks ago we were given the name of a woman who works for LAN whom we were to contact if we needed to change the date of our return flight. All of us who needed to contact her did so weeks ago, but only a few received a confirmation email or response of any sort. Even after repeated emails, no response – which was fine until it came to be a few days before the original date of the return flight (tomorrow/Monday). Somebody finally got a hold of her by phone and she said was “we’re slowly confirming all the flight changes.” When told that it’s very time sensitive because the flights are Monday she just responded saying, “Well if you don’t receive confirmation you’ll have to either use your original flight or buy a new ticket.” Which obviously is absolutely ridiculous since we all contacted her multiple weeks in advance. Anyways, Friday it was all very stressful because it was the last business day before the return flight back to Arica and a handful of us (including myself) never received a confirmation email. Rossana (our academic director) finally got a hold of her by phone and it looks like (fingers crossed) that we should be okay – they’re technically just cancelling our original tickets, refunding Rossana/SIT, and booking new ones for our requested dates. The woman was supposedly going to go into her office yesterday (Saturday, which she made seems like was a huge deal) to complete the changes but I have yet to get any email from her. It’s super stressful and frustrating just because it’s so unprofessional and ridiculous (I sent a very nasty email to her and so did a few others). Once again, it made me realize how easily and efficient things usually work in the US.
Besides that initial stress, our time in Bariloche is wonderful. It’s a beautiful city located in northern Argentine Patagonia; a touristy ski town nestled next to a magnificent lake and volcano. As I mentioned in my last post, Bariloche is known for it’s chocolate, and this became apparent right away. Our hotel was located on the main street and right away we could see that just about every other store was a chocolatería or chocolate store. We got in pretty late Friday night so not too much exploring was done, we just walked through the streets in anticipation for the next day.
Saturday we had the entire morning until 4:00 free (which was great, I was definitely needing some free time). After a great breakfast of sweet croissants and yogurt in the hotel we headed out to get to know the city. We did lots of window-shopping (Bariloche was full of lots of modern boutiques similar to any you’d find in a city in the US) and finally entered Rapa Nui, our first chocolate experience of the day. Walking in you’re instantly taken back by the incredible smell. We spent probably 45 minutes drooling over the display cases filled with delicacies and picking out boxes and bags of things to bring home.
The day continued with that same routine of window-shopping and chocolate sampling and souvenir buying. We ran into a really neat artesianal market with lots of great jewelry. We also learned the reason for all of the duendes around the city. A duende is a goblin or fairy-like creature, and various depictions of them fill the city. It may not be noticeable at first, but after we saw one we realized they're ever. Anyways, we asked a vendor in the market and he told us that the Europeans (Bariloche is full of European influence, mostly German) brought the duendes with them to Argentina from Europe, because that's where they originally lived and were cared for, and now they're all over the city. It sounded like a pretty unclear explanation to me, but it was better than nothing. My friend Alina (who's coming to Valdivia with Elyse and I) purchased one and we named him Hans. He's going to be the mascot for our ISP month... it's quite funny.
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| cathedral in Bariloche |
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| glass products at the artesianal market |
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| duendes |
That afternoon we loaded the bus to go do some touristy things, which included driving to see the infamous Hotel Llao Llao. It's a beautiful hotel nestled next to a mountain about 30 kilometers away from the city. Many famous people have stayed there, including Bill Clinton. We joked about how we wish we could have stayed there instead of our other hotel, and our tour guide told us it would cost approximately $650 per night. Crazy! But, it looks beautiful. On the way back to the city we were going up a steep hill and after a loud crunching noise our bus slowly started slowing down and eventually started smoking. I don't know what actually happened (I think they said it was something with the gears), but we all had to get out and wait for a few hours for a different bus to come pick us up. During this time, somebody accidentally dropped Hans (everybody was quite sad) and broke his arm. Luckily, after we made it back to Bariloche we ran back to the market to ask the duende vendor what we could use to fix him, and the man actually let us trade the broken figurine in for a new one. He was so sweet. So now Hans is Günter, and he has dark brown hair instead of white. He's become pretty famous within the group, and we're going to make him his own Facebook page and write a story of "Günter y las tres gringas", or "Günter and the Three Gringas" during our ISP month. Be excited!
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| Hotel Llao Llao |
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| Hans |
That night we had our farewell dinner for the program (which didn't feel nearly as sad as the farewell dinner with our families) and went to bed. Yesterday (Sunday) was entirely spent traveling (literally from 10am to 9pm. We spent the last night in Temuco as a whole group and just a few hours ago the 5 of us staying in the far south bid farewell to all those returning north. It was such a strange feeling! We've spent 2 months as a unified whole, and now we're all separating to do our own things. I has all gone by so incredibly fast, I seriously cannot believe that our ISP month starts tomorrow.
In a half hour or so Elyse and I are going to head to the bus station to catch a bus to Valdivia. I am so, SO excited to finally get there and get settled in our hostel. We're staying in a beautiful hostel called Hostal Bosque Nativo (Hostel Native Forest, they do a lot of work in sustainability and environmentalism; click on the name for a link to their website/pictures). Wednesday we'll meet with our advisor in the clinic for the first time to begin our research. Today and tomorrow are feriado (holidays), so we get a few days to explore without any responsibilities. Then Saturday morning Alina will meet us in Valdivia (she's going to Santiago for a few days first), and our adventures will begin!
Chao!
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