BARILOCHE, Argentina

... here I am ... I left my beloved PATAGONIA ... and I got to the LAKE DISTRICT ... more precisely I am in BARILOCHE, Argentina ...... this is the last leg of my trip in Argentina ... I am spending here 1 and half day ... the initial idea was to go hiking ... but I ended up just chilling out in town ... it is a funny town Bariloche ... it is in a stunning location ... looks like a typical alpine village ... but apparently it is growing way too fast ... a taxi driver told me that in 30 years it grew from 20,00 to the actual 140,000 ... really a lot ... just to give an idea ... this is the hostel where I am staying ...... ehehe ... not all the building in an hostel ... it is just one of the apartmetns ... the hostel is called 1004 ... because it is in the apartment number 4 of the the top floor ... the 10th floor ... strange location ... but definitely nice ... with stunning views ... the best you can have in town ...... Damien ... my french friend suggested it to me ... anyways ... going back to to Bariloche ... it is a funny city ... full of tourists ... way too many for me ....with way too many touristic shops ... you can easily find even ... surfing shops ...... really strange ... if you think that we are here in the middle of the mountains. But Bariloche and the Lake district it is not just tourists ... the lake district is also the area where the MAPUCHE people were and still are living ... MAPUCHE were the most proud of the precolombian people living in Chile & Argentina ... or at least the one who did fight back the most ... the European injustices ... and this is what happens regularly to the statue of ROCA ... this was the statue yesterday atfer they cleaned just 3 months ago ...... ROCA was a general of the Argentian army who took on his shoulder and on his rifle the responsibility to bring here what we in Europe called civilization ... and here they called massacre ... invasion ... and injustices ... honently I can't blame the guys who painted the statue ... the red statue ... gives an idea of what probably this guy did ... simply killed innocent people ... who were living here ... I happen to know all these things chit chatting with some local people in the local Book Fair ... there I met also Carlotta, Patricia and Carlos ... we start speaking about travelling and Patagonia and Italy and solo travelling and local culture and Mapuche and borders with Argentina ... and we ended up drinking MATE ... the national drink ... the perfect way to consolidate a friendship ... even if short ... mmmm... I should make a post about MATE ... anyways ... here is the picture we took at the end ...... really nice to share with local people my thoughts ... and hear their ideas ... and not always seeing tourists with backpack around you ... and Carlotta was definitely the one who understood the most my SOLO travelling idea ... she had been travelling thru Europe ... SOLO ... almost 30 years ago ... back in the 70ies ... really an example ... mmm ... I think I took the right decision to chill out in town and not get in the tourists packed bus hiking to the mountains ... I loved to share the mate with them ... and hear their stories ... and share mine ...