Passions and Muscles I never knew I had

Bariloche is a beautiful place. The city sits in a valley surrounded by snow covered mountains and crystaline sparkling lakes. It is a nature buff's place on heaven, there is so much to do here in the outdoors.

On the first day we arrived, Hubby and I got to do some really neat hiking. We walked in the lovely forest of the Arrayales and along one of the many lovely lakes that border the area. We felt alone in the world surronded by nature and the feeling was so liberating that we didn't even hesitate to go skinny dipping in the lake when the noon sun was high and the heat scorching that the lake's sparkling waters literally called us to it.














The next day we decided to give horse back riding a try. I'd only once before in my life ridden a horse and that was about 10 years ago while visiting a friend's ranch in Chiapas. I remember a charro gave me this poor little old trembling horse to ride for half an hour and I never really got the hang of it, so I was a little nervous this time around. Still, the moment I got up on Betty (named after Betty La Fea, which is pretty unfair if you ask me because she was a lovely dark horse with a pretty peppered colored mane) I knew I was going to be fine. We were a small group of 6 and together we rode across a small valley, along a little river, up a mountain and along its ridge just in time to watch the sun go down behind the lovely mountains and tinkling lakes we had as a background. The entire time Betty and I got along great and I even felt comfortable enough to let her gallop a little, my body naturally adjusting to the bumps of the ride. When we got back to the Encomienda (the ranch from where we set out) for some good old home made asado grilled over an outdoor pit and eaten under the stars, the guide asked me how long I'd been riding. When I told him never, he said I'd done incredibly well for a first time. Hubby says he was probably just being nice, but I think I found my new calling in life. When we are finished trotting around this globe, we're going to settle down in a beat down rancho somewhere and raise horses. That's final.













Of course, the next day when we woke up, we discovered we had muscles in our backs and behinds that we didn't even knew existed. Still, neither of us regretted the pain and instead agreed that the best way to alleviate it was to go rafting! At least that way, the pain in our arms that would surely follow would makes us forget the pain in our lower bodies.

We found a group of Argentinian river buffs that ride down rapids for kicks who were organizing two boats to ride down the Manso river taking on rapids with names like "Intestino", "Extasis" and "Tobogán". We were game. It was incredibly fun and for two hours we rowed and rode the waves of different rapids that we encountered along the way. At one time the boat stood perfectly vertical in the wakes of one of the rapids with us hanging on to it for dear life. Hubby and another guy actually slipped and went under the boat and came out on the other side and when we met up with them a little down river and got them back on the boat, they looked at "Atu" (the guy that was steering the boat) with a goofy grin and yelled "let's do it again!". Of course, we all instantly agreed and Atu had us turn the boat around and take on that rapid all over again - talk about adrenaline spike!









So yeah, if you like outdoor activities (which I really wasn't sure I did but know I know I do!) Bariloche is definitely the place for you. There is so much to do here. We only got to do a small portion of it but there are so many lakes and forests to explore, fishing, hiking, rock-climbing.... to do and in the winter, when the mountains are covered with snow, you can add skiing, snowboard, sleighing etc to the list. Not to mention the incredibly beautiful landskape they've got here.

But, alas, we are leaving today..... taking a semi-cama bus up to Mendoza this evening. Wish us luck on that!!!

The bets are on, how many of you think we'll make it in the 20 hour time frame we've been told it takes???

Saludos,
Fned.

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