journey to the end of the night

twenty hours to patagonia, bariloche to be exact- at the foot of the andes mountains. solo. too much time to think, too much time spent thinking about old ghosts.

came rather unprepared. a fallacious weather report steered me to believe it was pretty decent, low 60s but as our double decker bus climed the mountains through the night, i felt it get colder and colder and awoke to what was snow all around.

it is now raining outside which means my plans of horseback riding our temporarily on hold, but sure makes for an absolutely picturesque view. staying at a hostel on the 10th floor of a building that overlooks one of the 7 lakes in this district (this area is also referred to as the seven lakes region) and feels rather campy and cozy. think ski resort meets san francisco in the colorful houses sprinkled atop hilltops way, set to a backdrop of snow-capped mountains surrounding a seemingly endless lake. im into it. nice change of pace from the heat and concreteness of the city.



met a few of the inhabitants at the hostel but not feeling that social... yet. hostels are such a weird thing. especially when you´re alone. you really have to be in the mood to talk. im not. i guess thats part of the appeal (or unappeal) of traveling, you constantly have to challenge yourself. half the time you depend on other people to steer you in the right direction which means having to speak and ask questions and go up to randoms and well, expose yourself to vulnerability.

fast forward a few hours: after some authentic tasting mexican food and a couple margaritas, im feeling rather social again. made it back to the hostel and joined in on an after dinner wine party which turned into drunken musical chairs (i was the runner up) followed by freeze dance. in all its silliness, it was rather fun! we then made our way to a costume party hosted by an irish wife and husband in a cute house on top of a lovely hill and partook in more of the same antics but slightly more ridiculous because people were actually dressed up in serious costumes. feeling rather out of place (we came as ourselves) we opted for another destination: club diversion. this was by far the best part of the night. all locals, all drinking and all dancing. while the place nearly came to a screeching halt when we walked in, most people were rather friendly which meant lots of nonstop dancing with young argentines. five a.m. seems to be my cut off point these days and therefore, called it a night just in time to catch some necessary zzzs.