We had a nice surprise in our 'quiet cabin in the woods' on Christmas night! The teenage daughter of the household threw a party while mom and dad were out at friends! Ahhh...nothing like the serenity of nature! When they talk of the sound of silence, I didn't realize that they meant techno-dance music until 2 in the morning! I did go and talk to the owner the next day about what time to check out and all and mentioned the music (daughter was in the room) and turns out my revenge was ratting her out to her parents!

On the 26th we went on a river rafting trip and had a great time, but it was another humorous example of what we do and don't understand. (Duncan is doing very well with his Spanish and is doing all our travel arrangements--I am able to ask basic questions and understand less!) For the rafting, we understood that we'd put on drysuits over our clothes, and as the day was quite cool and cloudy, we were dressed in quite a few layers. When our driver picked us up, fortunately he noticed our tennis shoes and said something which Duncan understood to be about needing sandels. Whew--we ran back in and got those. We then made a stop to get the raft and our guide, who did speak English well. As we were driving the hour or so to the river, he began explaining to us what we would be doing. Turns out, we were to be wearing wetsuits, not drysuits. None of us had swimsuits on and all our layers were cotton, therefore, we were going to have to be in our skivies! Brrr! Of course, they were all layered up in polypro as well as the wetsuits! It turned out to be okay as they gave us jackets and liftjackets so we were warmer than I thought. (the whole ensemble is quite attractive, as the picture attests!) We did get cold the last bit as that is where the bigger rapids were and when the rain began, but we finished at a warming hut where they served us hot chocolate and coffee. Some beautiful landscapes around here and a lot of fun rafting!

Bariloche and that area has been experiencing a cold spring and summer so far. They had a lot of late snow and instead of the temperatures being in the 80's and 90's, they were in the low 60's with a cold North wind. They say it is "la nina" this year. Not quite what we were hoping for!

The day of the 27th was spent looking around Bariloche one last time and buying a few more pieces of chocolate and then we headed for the bus station for our overnight ride. We left Bariloche and headed south on 40 (the road that takes you to the end of the earth) before turning east and crossing the country to Puerto Madryn. The buses are great here and run on time (actually left 5 minutes early, so glad we were not late!). We were in a semi cama, which means the seat recline most of the way and are quite wide. They also show movies (had to cover the girls eyes a few times) and serve a dinner (10:30pm) of sandwiches. We all fell asleep and did pretty well, all things considered. We left the Andes and awoke to the flat, flat scrub of the eastern coast. A man from our hostel was at the bus station with a sign and brought us to our room of bunk beds, but at least there is a private bath!

And then there was sun! We walked out to the beach, across the street, and looked at the blue Atlantic ocean and felt the warmth of the sun on our bodies! Ahhh--no more cold! We were all sun screened up (something that everyone keeps telling us--wear sunscreen in the south as we are near the hole in the ozone and the damaging rays are so much stronger here) and ready to play on the beach. The beaches were empty in the morning and then from 1-4, all the stores in town close and the beaches fill with tons of people. Business resumes around 5pm. Cailin's question of the day was, "Why are all the girls wearing wedgie swimsuits?" The only answer Duncan had, was that many of them shouldn't be! Pretty funny though. Some tan buns around this town!

We walked a ways down the beach to the Ecocentre and had science class. This interactive museum is all about the sea life in the area (baleen whales, sea lions, seals, penguins, orcas). Most of the info was in English as well so Cailin had to read everything, and Alia was quizzed on certain areas of interest.

It was an early night as we were all tired from the bus ride. We now need to figure how long to stay here (we need to see the penguins before we go) and where to go next. Takes a little more planning with kids--we cannot jsut show up in a new town with no where to go. We have to figure out New Years and how to avoid the crowds! We will see.

For now,

Ciao, ciao!

Hi to all my friends!!!!!!!!!!!,Love Alia Jewell