Via Bariloche

Via Bariloche is a great bus company, very recommended if your traveling long distance in

Argentina. It literally feels like a first class cabin on a plane, attendant & meal trays included. for safety, they alternate drivers every few hours, which is good to know since the interior of Argentina, the Pampas, is a huge grassy plain that can be very boring to drive through. The Pampas (fields in English) are were the Argentinian cowboys, Gauchos, once reigned.

Upon nearing Bariloche, the scenery starts to get a lot more interesting. The road winds up & down the Andes foothills & crystal clear blue lakes abound.

Bariloche has a decent modern bus station that is situated right near the gorgeous Nahuel Huapi (pronounced: nowel wapi) blue lake.

We found some basic hostel & immediately went looking for some good treks at the tourist hut.

At the grocery, & to our surprise there were a few big supermarkets in the town, I almost bought some innocent looking Oreo cookies until my friend pointed out that they use (non kosher) animal fat in the ingredients. Soon you realize that the Latinos put animal fat in almost everything that Americans put milk or butter in to.

It was a Monday & at the local Chabad house (Jewish traveler center) it was Shakshuka & chips night -Shakshuka is an Israeli delicacy of eggs cooked with tomatoes & hot peppers- & beer & storytelling. Its a great crowd getter. Like a home away from home.

I think the name of the trek we chose was Laguna Negra. Or maybe it was Laguna Verde. First thing in the morning I went frantically looking for a good sleeping bag & found one for about $95.

We then took a local bus to the bottom of the mountain & set out. First through the trees, then above the tree line, finally we passed a fairly decent size glob of ice & then we hit the summit.

The view was awesome! At least 3 volcanoes can be seen, on the border with Chile, towering peaks & many blue lakes. Then we headed down to a green valley for the night. The way down was along a steep mountainside covered in all sizes of rocks & had to be navigated slowly. I dont even think there was any path there.

When I arrived in Buenos Aires, I took a taxi straight to a hostel (i forgot its name & its now closed) frequented by Israeli backpackers in the Once neighborhood on La Rioja street. I had called the hostel when I was still home in the States to make sure it still existed & the address was right. I came to the right place. Within a few hours I had two partners with whom to set out on some adventures. I landed in Argentina with absolutely no clue where I was going aside from to a hostel. I didn't even know in which direction to head.
So i met this one guy from northern Israel who had the same name as me & had also just arrived on the continent. He had worked in a pizza shop with Mexicans, so his Spanish was decent, he also seemed to be focused on where his next destination would be in Argentina, so I stuck with him.
Then there was this really pretty dark Israeli girl sitting on the couch reading a book. I was sure she was of Yemenite descent & about my age, but it turned out she was Indian , her family was from Cochin, & I later found out that she was 35. There are two, to my knowledge, villages in Israel of Cochinni Jews.
She had already done her time on the continent & was supposed to be going home but she had some issues with her ticket expiring (after extending it a few times) & decided to go revisit some of the beautiful places she had been to.
So the three of us spent the next two days checking out downtown Buenos Aires, the Jewish district, & the HUGE Abasto shopping mall - with the only kosher McDonald's outside of Israel (in addition to the other two inside the mall) & had some great Dulce de leche ice cream.
We bought tickets with Via Bariloche, a long distance bus company offering seats that recline in to a full bed -cama; or almost fully -semi cama. I think we got semi cama for about $75, it is a 24 hour trip to Bariloche which is the gateway to the Andes & Argentina's skiing capital, it is also known for its chocolate shops & it has a distinct swiss alps feel to it.