Life out of school

We’re in the midst of a string of near perfect fall days: sunny. shorts- weather with no wind. A kayak rental place is a stone’s throw from the house and the rental is $4 US for a half hour, so we’ve taken the kids out a couple times. Today Zoë tried her own single and handled it quite confidently.

Friday morning started with a dense fog blanketing the area. By afternoon it remained settled on the water so we stopped at a local beach access to snap photos before it burned off. On the path we discovered a thick patch of blackberry brambles loaded with shiny berries. Having no containers we picked until our hands were full and splotched with deep purple with juice. Later we toured the local trout farm from small fry to the 10 kilo. The children loved feeding them –they were so close.

Our life here is slower, quieter and simpler. The kids try to press the buttons on the key to unlock the car door. (the locks are all manual) The grapes (one variety) have “crushy” things inside (seeds). Watermelon has seeds. The produce is filled with blemishes, but tastes amazing. We can “mostly” buy what we want, but it requires stops at multiple stores. For the most part businesses are owned by locals and few chains are in evidence. Rumour is that Walmart is building outside of town which would be horrible for the downtown.

Downtown Bariloche. Amazingly, I managed to get a picture with no people on the street. Bariloche seems to be the only 'city' for many miles around, so the downtown is very very busy most days.

Inside the Turista chocolate shop. One of the biggest. This shows about 1/4 of the total shop. It's a huge spread of great chocolate.

Zoe kayaking

Papa and JT. A rare calm day. Most days it's been blowing from the North or from the East.