BARILOCHE!!

I don't even know where to begin. Bariloche was AMAZING! Simply beautiful and definitely the most amazing place I've been to in Argentina so far. Lucy, Kendra, April, Brandon, and I left Tuesday afternoon  and got on our 20 hour bus ride that arrived in Bariloche on Wednesday afternoon. My padres gave me something to give to my abuelo who lives in Bariloche, so when we got to the bus terminal he was there waiting for me. He asked me where we were staying and how many people I was with, and then he offered to drive us up to our hostel! It was so kind of him and he also gave me his phone number and said, "Si necesitas algo, me llama a cualquier hora, no importa si esta tarde," ("If you need anything, call me anytime, no matter how late.") So we got to our hostel, settled in, and hung out with the other group that was there too.

view from our hostel

On Thursday, we woke up early and headed into the mountains to go horseback riding. I had been riding many times before, but this was a completely different experience. Not only were we trotting and galloping, we were basically scaling mountains. Needless to say I was a bit scared, but the views and the AMAZING asado at the end made it totally worth it. 

 delicious asado

 incredible

my horse, Betty

On Friday, we woke up early again and went white water rafting with our group and the other group from Pepperdine that was in our hostel. I was literally TERRIFIED because I had never gone before and all I could think about was falling out of the raft and dying. Dramatic, I know. We squeezed into a van and drove about an hour and a half down Route 40 (which is breathtaking, by the way). We got to the river, put on wet suits, and got in our rafts! Rafting down that river was so incredible. The water was crystal clear and so blue and the trees and mountains surrounding us were beautiful. Despite my fears, the rapids weren't too bad and we even jumped out of the raft at one point and floated in the freezing water. After about 2 hours of rafting, we got out of the raft and our guide, Julian, said "Bienvenidos a Chile!" I couldn't believe that we had rafted all the way to the border! Now I can say that I've been to Chile :) 

Then we changed clothes, hopped back into the van, and headed back to a little cabin where another amazing asado was waiting for us. 

 please notice the expression on my face.

 Rafting!

 We're in CHILE!

ASADO. 

The rafting excursion lasted from 9am until 7pm so when we got back to our hostel, we were exhausted. Saturday, a few of us went into town and bought some amazing chocolate that Bariloche is famous for.

 The best chocolate store.

amazing helado

Saturday afternoon, we got on another 20 hour bus and headed back to BA. 

This long weekend was truly incredible, not only because of the amazing experiences that we had, but also because this was a place were we could really see the beauty that God created. Everywhere we went I just stared in awe at how beautiful everything was and how much fun God must have had creating it! It was so great to get out of the city and appreciate His creation.

One more week of classes and then our EFT! We are so spoiled :)

Besos xoxo