Whale Watching and Bariloche

Today is my first day back from our week-long vacation. We drove 17 hours last night and got in at 3:00 in the morning. We spent a few days in Las Grutas, saw whales in Puerto Piramides, and skiied in Bariloche. The first picture is of me by the ocean near Las Grutas in San Antonia Este where we collected seashells and enjoyed the rolling waves!

Whale-watching was lots of fun. I loved being out on the water again, only it was much colder than Lake Erie. The water splashed up on the boat and I couldn´t figure out why I was tasteing salt...until I realized that we were on the ocean! Duh. We watched the whales for about two hours but it went much faster. They were not afraid of us but rather curious and swam right next to the boat and under it too. What surprised me is that they have callous like things on their faces...they are parasitic crustacions. There were lots of them too. Sometimes we would watch three all at once, swimming together. And they´re huge, like big gentle giants. They move slowly and majestically. It was awesome. On our way there we also so ¨guanacos¨ alongside the road. They are related to the llama but prance around like deer. I saw two or three of these birds that are like ostriches but smaller. The animals here are so different. Oh yeah, and we also saw six penguins bobbing around next to our boat when whale-watching. It´s weird to think of penguins in such a dry desert-like land.

Then we went off to Bariloched, a ski-village (more like city) that is super popular. Many famous people vacation there along with people from Brazil and Chile and ofcourse, Argentina. We went shopping a lot amond the many stores. There are a ton of chocolate shops with a variety of different chocolates to choose from. And then we rented snow pants and coats and went up into the mountains. Ago, Mani, and I took a ski class with a private instructor who was really nice. It was beginner for me but still cool to ski the Andes mountains! Then I lost my rented gloves...of course I had to lose something, it´s only natural!

Today is the Day of Friends in Argentina and so the last day at Bariloche we played their version of white elephant. We pulled names and bought gifts for our ¨invisible friend¨ and then guessed how bought our gifts. It was fun. We also took our picture with a saint bernard and its puppy who were in the center of town. I would definetly suggest Bariloche to tourists in Argentina!

So now I´m home for one week until I come back to the States. I have two days of community service at a girl´s orphanage and then my community service is over. Some AFS friends and I are going shopping after service today and I´m looking forward to bringing home some Argentine items!