A Gol in a Hole

2,000+ km into our road trip, and things couldn´t be better. We reached our first destination of Bariloche without any problems. Driving on the highways was easier than expected and small city driving is just as crazy as Buenos Aires driving - except a lot less traffic signals!


Our little VW Gol has had it´s work cut out for it, but it was a great choice. We have it´s trunk filled with camping gear and the back seat holds our packs and food. So far, it has had a couple of adventures and lots of off road driving. Driving down to a lake on a day trip yesterday, we were drove through a tunnel of trees, just big enough for our tiny little car. We have also had quite a few river and creek forgings, all executed perfectly (no oxen were lost!).


We enjoyed Bariloche very much. It is a fairly large town, that sits on a lake surrounded by snow-capped mountains. Today we are in a much smaller town called Villa La Angostura a little further north, staying at a hotel on the lake built in 1938. This whole region reminds us a lot of Lake Tahoe, but with more lakes and less people. Since it is fall right now, most of the mountains are covered in yellow and orange trees. It hasn´t been too cold, but when the wind kicks up then it does get a bit chilly.

For Grace's birthday we decided to stay a fancy hotel and spa instead of a cheap hostel. And oh, how we enjoyed that! It is a small hotel that sits right on the lake on the outskirts of Bariloche. Our room had a perfect view of the mountains and the lake. Since right now it is kind of the off season, we pretty much had the place to ourselves. We spent a lot of time in the pool, jacuzzi and sauna - which were always empty...our own private resort. Here is the link to their website, check out some of the pictures of this place! http://www.soldelnahuel.com.ar
On the 25th, we also celebrated another very important day… our half way point to our trip. It has been, 105 days, and nearly 105 bottles of wine since we left home. It has been such a wonderful adventure, we have made many new friends (see photo below), learned new things and had some amazing experiences. We´ve also had quite a lot of fun making sheep sounds on crowded buses and walking through interestingly shaped caves. We are very much looking forward to the next 105 days here. On a sentimental note, we want to say how much we appreciate the support and love from all of you. The emails, posts, phone calls and Pesach cards have kept the homesickness very far away, thank you.