badweatheriloche
those hoping that argentina would be the promised land providing salvation from the high prices of chile may find bariloche to be closer to gomorrah. it has an enviable location on the banks of a fairytale lake, postcard peaks looming over the other shore, but the price to be paid for such a setting is evident on restaurant menus and hotel walls, especially as the seasons roll round and the allure of the nearby ski slopes come into play.it was these very slopes that had drawn us to bariloche, as we hoped to lose our snowsports virginities without disappointment or bloody mess. As such, we committed to a week in an apartment, or rather large room, in what looked very much like the only council estate in bariloche, a ten storey concrete edifice leering over the pretty wooden chalets dwarfed beneath it. despite the external grotesquerie of its building, however, our studio was actually clean and blessed with the double bonuses of a massive seventh floor window lake views and a little kitchenette where vicki was able to utilise her considerable expertise to cook up delights all week. plus, it was cheaper than extortionate hostel rooms. this, and in particular the kitchen, was all welcome for more than just financial reasons; there isn´t really an equivalent to cheap and sensibly sized asian portions of fried rice in south america, and eating out every night, the deliberating over various bland cuisines, blanching at prices and wearily chomping down on leviathan hunks of meat was actually becoming quite tiring.
with all domesticities dealt with on, then, to the snowboarding. it was with some trepidation, and frankly ridiculous trousers, that we began our first lesson on saturday. after two hours we could gingerly slide down a shallow slope, albeit not always on the boards. after two hours the next day we could handle a bigger slope, vicki with more competence than i, and despite the slight depression caused by watching numerous four and five year olds casually gliding around, snowboarding was looking like a winner. and then it fell. well actually first vicki fell, receiving a ski to the behind that left a bruise so impressive it actually managed to convey some impression of how much it must have hurt. than i, bored with trying to go down slowly sideways, tried to go down quickly frontways and, as always with those who try to run before they can walk, or even crawl, came an impressive cropper as my board, finding the snow too resistant to its attempts at rotation, chose instead to pirouette with my more obliging knee. still, we resolved to lick our wounds for a day or two and get back onto the snow later in the week.
how naively optimistic well laid plans seem in hindsight. first came two days of absolutely torrential rain. then, as the sun started its fightback, vicki caught a virus from nowhere and was laid low. and yet, despite the fact that there was nothing to keep us in bariloche, we were unable to leave as the one bus to el calafate a week leaves on a sunday. so our ten nights, a frankly ludicrous amount of time to spend in one place, in bariloche will have nothing to show for it but four or five hours trying to snowboard, depleted bank balances and days and days of watching the rain bounce off our window.
i am glad i tried snowboarding, and it seemed fun enough, but i don´t know that i am sold enough to ever go again. in a world where i had infinite holidays and money it would be a welcome distraction, but given how sorely limited i am in both these commodities there are just many, many other things that i would prefer to expend them on.
on sunday we keep heading south into deepest and, if not darkest, certainly windiest and wettest patagonia in the hope that argentina begins to redeem itself: until then, there is nothing but frustration, cable tv and cake.
posted by bicrom @ 4:21 pm
