well this is my first posting from patagonia. it is absolutely beautiful here, the mountians are unbelievable. right now it is snowing massive snowflakes outside, i am staying in a hostel called the tango inn. it is pretty nice and cozy, at least it is warm at night. tommorrow i am going trekking in the mountains, to a place called cerro catedral. i met two english women in a bus station a couple of days ago and they have "convinced" me to go trekking with them. so this should be nice, i am definately enjoying the company. but before i go to far into the mountains i am going to enjoy the plethora of chocolate shops in downtown bariloche today. although there are qute a few tourist in town it is pretty easy to avoid them since most of them are in large groups.

i cant post any pictures till i get back because i dont have the cable to connect my camera to the computer. but there are plenty of websites that have many pictures, just look up bariloche argentina.

man i will tell you what, the bus rides are really long and boring for the most part. i havent taken a bus ride less that six hours yet, fortunately the busses are nicer than anything that i have ever seen (the seats are practically beds, they serve coffee and lunch), so i cant complain too much. but now that i am in the Andes i think i am just going to hang out for a little while. it is nice to hang out with people from other countries as well, i think that we counted eight different nationalities at our dinner table last night, myself being the only american. thank god i speak spanish or i would feel like a real idiot among these travellers. but i guarentee you that none of them speak Bangla so ha to all those upity linguist, well not really because bangla is about the most impractical language one could know. anyways we had a massive barbeque last night, actually i have steak every night, it is the national food here. a massive filet cost about three dollars, i end up spending more on beer than i do on my steak (a liter of beer cost about a dollar fifty (in that case maybe i should cut back a little)). but none the less i am having a good time, of course there are those moments where i wished i could be in my comfort zone back home. but i guess that is what it is all about, leaving your comfort zone and experiencing something new (ha, my silly little philosophical quotes are riduculous sometimes), feel free to stop reading at anytime. anyways i will post more after my little trekking expedition, hopefully i wont fall into some crevase on the side of the mountain, but if i do you know i will be having a good time all the while (i live to say that when i know my mother is reading). enshallah i will make it.
until next time
allah hafez