Helado Helado and more Helado

We had our first day of school today. One of my classmates was born the year I bought my first Cure album, and I'm very rusty, but I think I'll survive. My teacher Laura is, like so many of the women here, absolutely stunning. The women in Bariloche manage to appear down-to-earth and very feminine all at once. Plus they all have the perfect rear-ends travelers in the know had warned us about.

Ila had her first full day at school (five hours) and she's tired too. Earlier, afraid he might wake Ila, Peter was whispering and tiptoeing around our room, wincing every time he made a sound. But at this moment, Miguel the electrician is dragging a shovel across a stone path immediately outside her window and she's snoring away. I closed the window, so now the noise can only enter through the knotholes in the window frame. Much better.

We decided to stay out nice and late on our first school night and went to what we thought was a pasta restaurant but turned out to be a steak joint owned by the pasta restaurant guy. So, more meat. I've had more meat in the past week than I've had in months. Afterwards of course we had to have helado. My mother mentioned that it sure seemed as if we were always having ice cream. We are, but it's hard not to! Heladerias are two to a block, at least. It's sort of like Starbucks except not a chain, and without the coffee or the world take over mentality. Anyway, the ice cream is good, and everywhere and everyone is eating it. So, maybe if we join them we'll have nice butts too. Ila had purple ice cream and gave herself a lovely moustache. Everyone we encountered, from the joyful old ladies in the heladeria to the mariachi players on the sidewalk commented on her bigote.

We were expecting Liz but she got tied up with work and wouldn't get into Bariloche until very late so we went on with out her and instead met for pastries in her van for 15 minutes after dropping Ila at school in the morning. Her plane left before we finished school, so we missed our much anticipated visit, but we're keeping our fingers crossed that we'll get a crack at her when she comes back through in a week or so.

Sunday Peter said our neighborhood smelled like it was on fire but it was just asado - barbecue Argentina style. All day long. We took a gondola ride up Cerro Otto to get a birds-eye view of the area and had lunch in an awesome revolving restaurant. The ONLY ONE in the area! I'm sure the restaurant, which did in fact provide great views, looks just lovely from the surrounding mountains. We've also been to a couple of lake beaches where we collected rocks and put our feet in the cold water.

Things continue to go well. We're learning lots and getting into our Bariloche routine. Time is starting to pass more quickly now that we're a little busier and I'm sure we'll be surprised when our time here is up.