Established in Bariloche

Last Saturday John flew home (2/4), and this week we have gotten established here and familiar with close things and gained independence from our friends Oscar and Jovita. So, on 2/5 after sleeping in, we all went to Colonia Suisa and were entertained by a comedic performer, same humor as in the US, and shopped some. We tried to have the meat that is cooked in the ground, but they ran out due to a bigger crowd than expected. Then went to a beach area to practice skipping stones. Apparently they don´t have a verb for skipping, but use the verb hopping like a frog. Then on Monday I returned our rental car after doing some grocery shopping. The kids had gotten up and were doing math when I got back. We have a lovely panederia across the street and get fresh bread every day for sandwiches, Rachel´s breakfast, and general munching. They also make treats that we have been sampling daily this week, especially Ian who has the biggest sweet tooth of the family or is just in pure comsumption mode. Either way, he has found and sampled sweets, and some savories, within a 3 block radius. So, the kids have done math almost every day, practiced spanish verbally and with vocab. Plus they are keeping personal journals.
We bid our friends a farewell for a few days, then worked on finding a spanish school. Turns out all schools begin on Lunes, Mondays, so we will begin tomorrow-2/13. When we went investigating, we found a school mainly comprised of these 2 women friends who speak constantly and very clearly, during the initial meeting discussions, so I was able to understand quite clearly and they were so engaging that we have gone with them. The classes will be 4 hours from 9-1 then we will have assignments in the local community and a couple evenings we will go on outings. So, they invited us to go on their outing this past Friday. It was a hike to a waterfall and then up to a viewpoint up vertical mountain, think Mt. Si only probably shorter. At the base was a lake, so we sat at the lake and had mate and quince bar cookies and talked in mixed spanish and english. One of the teachers speaks almost no english, which is excellent for us, but she is very clear and understandable in her spanish. After all the talk, we were drained and headed to bed before midnight that Friday. Saturday we gotup early and took a city bus to a port then took an boat trip to Isle Victoria where we had 4 hours, then to the Bosque de Arrayanes, a special myrtle tree woods. Then the kids had been begging to get good chocolate, so after cena, dinner, we walked into town via chocolate stores=8. We each chose one type to compare, so we could find our favorite chocolateria. I was chocolated out, I know you think it is impossible, but this is really really rich stuff with a mint cream that is strong and almost medicinal. Plus, I would not even let the kids eat a whole chocolate, but just bite corners so we would truly sample them all and not over do it. So it was a science filled day, nature and chocolate.

So finally before signing out, I wanted to attach a photo of our hostel-home.

Today we took a gondola ride up to a viewpoint Cerra Otto and ate at a revolving restaurant like the Space Needle but this restaurant had regular food, not like Space Needle, so most everyone who came up ate lunch there.  Smaller interior than the Space Needle too.