Bariloche

Right now supposed to be in Chicago.. but i am in Bariloche! PATAGONIA!
It is so beautiful! Not at all what i expected. Nothing like europe. The town is on the edge of a giant Lake. The lake and the town are surrounded by beautiful snowcapped mountains. It is surprisingly warm here in barlioche. Not a drop of snow. I will have to take a bus upto the slopes which is about half an hour!
I hadnt booked any accomodation, so first went to the same place as the brazilian, but they had no space. Phoned around 5 places, nowhere had anywhere... so i was just told to walk around and try and find somewhere... finally managed to get somewhere not too far..but sharing with 3 boys i think.. will be funny. Havent met them yet... just seem their stuff in the dorm.. hopefully they are cool guys!
I have been for a walk around the town, and i think it is my heaven... but will also be the death of me! There are choclatiers EVRYWHERE! Every corner... and inbetween them are Bakeries. Also the activities on offer are skiing, paragliding, horseriding in the snow, rafting, biking.. you name it, they've got it! And the views are just unbeatable!
This morning on the bus though, had quite a scare. At the entrance to the province there was a drugs check.
The police came on with dogs and stuff. The guy sitting infront of me had his bag checked, and they found papers for smoking. The dog didnt seem to find anything in his bag, but the poilice were convinced that if he had paper he had marijana. They took him outside, took out his luggage, emptied it ALL! they looked all round his seat, in the cushions, everywhere,,.. in his shoes etc. The dog didnt seem bothered at all.. so i think they went a bit far with all this. But they eventually found nothing! Lucky guy... otherwise he probably would have been in a lot of trouble. But the police seemed pretty aggressive, and he was shaking.. and they kept accusing him more of guiltbecause he was shaking...
Anyway.. i am off to enjoy bariloche.. rent out some equipment etc...
I will let you know how the skiing is. But i am a bit worried, as i hear that it is very icy and very windy up there. Hopefully the weather will improvefor my next 3 days.
The prices here are pretty good. Only paying 50 pounds for 3day skipass.. i think thats quite decent. And 10ponds a day for the ski rental, and 3 pounds a day for clothes! Pretty cheap skiing i think! Lets just hope its good too!
Ciao!!
PS: dad... guess what hostal i am staying in... MARCO POLO! ha ha ha.. with free dinner and breakfast! - not bad for a trashy budget hostal eh?