Category: San Martín de los Andes

It’s a bit of a gloomy day, but rain is good and makes things green.

When I’m emailing with friends, many of them ask me things like, “What else is going on that’s not included on your blog?” So here’s some behind-the-scenes commentary.

On the non-gloomy side, we had a fun dinner last night with our hosts, Harry and Ivana — and their cute and energetic 2-year-old. Harry invited us to watch a presentation of his photography from around the world, which was really fantastic. I encourage you to check it out as well as read about their bike trip across the Americas. They’re really lovely people with interesting stories to share.

We’re using today’s rain as an excuse to curl up on the couch, work on our projects and do some reading. Holly is excited because Chris’s mom is bringing her some goodies when she comes to visit us in Buenos Aires. We haven’t been able to find the bones Holly likes since we were in Mexico City.

Switching gears so some heavier stuff, the other reason today is a bit gloomy (for me) is because sometimes I feel like I haven’t grown at all on our journey. Take yesterday’s blog post, for example. I still think the insights are true and reflect our overall experience over the past five months. But I hate that I’m even thinking about those things — both the good and the not-so-good. Constantly evaluating and sizing-up instead of experiencing and appreciating.

It makes me think about this commercial we saw online about Cadillac’s electric cars. If you haven’t seen it, give it a quick watch:

The reason this is marketing genius is because it taps into Americans’ deeply ingrained, subconscious value system. We can debate the many pros and cons of that value system, but I want to focus on one in particular: there’s no such thing as enough. While in small doses it can spur innovation and life-improving advances, in large doses it is soul-crushing and creates a total inability to recognize what one should appreciate and be grateful for. And I’ve realized that more often than not, I’m taking in the world and seeing where it’s lacking, rather than focusing first on what to appreciate.

If anyone has any tips on how to practice gratitude, I’m all ears. I guess the first thing is to be grateful for is I’ve recognized this about myself and want to change it. So maybe I’m growing after all.

This is the view from the hike we took the other day. It’s what Lago Lácar looks like once you get around the bend that makes it look small from San Martín de los Andes. Sometimes I think we take views like this for granted since we’ve seen a lot of beautiful landscapes in our travels.

Which got us thinking about other random things we often took for granted that are more obvious to us now:

• Customer service. It’s just different. Don’t get me wrong, there have been a lot of very friendly, helpful people in various businesses who we’ve come across. But on the whole, whether it’s buying bus tickets or paying for produce, the vibe is, “I’m doing you a favor by being here,” rather than, “How can I help you?”
• 911 and other simplified telecommunications. Not every country has a centralized number for emergencies. In Chile, there was a separate number for police, fire and medical. In addition, we’ve found that in both Chile and Argentina, calling phones is tricky! For example, if you’re calling a land line from a cell phone in Chile, you have to insert a 9 between the area code and phone number. Everyone just knows to do that. Or if you’re calling a cell phone in Argentina you have to drop the digits “15” and add the area code. (I think. We still haven’t figured it out.)
• Change. Back in La Paz, Mexico and here in Argentina, change is precious. ATMs dish out large bills, but very few places can reliably break them. Cashiers are often asking you for coins or small bills because the drawer literally won’t have any.
• Clean drinking water. So far, in South America, we’ve been close to the Andes which means clean tap water. In Mexico, we had to go bottled because, while the water may be OK in some places, the pipes weren’t.
• Maintenance. A sink barely hanging on to a wall. Walls in desperate need of fresh paint. Giant holes in sidewalks. There’s also a lot of trash on beaches and the side of the road. At first I thought it was laid-back and refreshingly imperfect. Now it just feels like no one cares. It’s probably a question of budget priorities, both for governments and individuals.

None of these are life-changingly problematic — except maybe 911 — just things you notice when they aren’t there. And in the spirit of balance, here are five other things we notice that we’d like to see more of in the US.

• No rushing people out of restaurants/cafes. You can take your time. Drink your coffee. If there’s a shift change, someone will politely ask you to pay, but otherwise no one shoves the check in your face.
• Reliable, comfortable bus systems. Although trains would be way better, the buses go everywhere and they’re cheap. And you just have to show up 15 minutes before it leaves — not 1.5 hours.
• Big, long lunches. There’s no rush. And it’s better to eat a big lunch than a huge, heavy dinner right before bed.
• Patience. I haven’t come across any impatient people. The only impatient people are us. I frequently find myself thinking, Why is everyone walking so slow? They are probably thinking, Why is this woman in such a rush?
• Entrepreneurship. Many people we meet have more than one job, including one they created for themselves. I find that inspirational. Yes, there are entrepreneurs in the US. But many of the people in my generation just think about what company to work for, not how they can build something themselves.

We’re all settled in San Martín de los Andes. I’ve already had a tweet favorited by their head of tourism, so we’re off to a good start.

SMA is small (less than 30k people) and situated on the eastern end of Lago Lácar, pictured above. The lake looks small, but it continues beyond the bend almost all the way to the Chilean border, which is roughly 130 kilometers away by car.

The main things to do here include:

• Hanging out in/by the lake
• Going on hikes or bike rides
• Eating chocolate from the stores on the main street

I think we’ll do just fine.

The couple we’re renting from did a 2.5 year bike trip from Alaska all the way down to Argentina. Amazing. The couple we rented from in Bariloche also did long-distance cycling in Switzerland and other parts of Europe. (We also bumped into them today; they’re in town for the long weekend.) And our roommate from Viña del Mar rode from Chile to California on his bike.

I wonder if the universe is trying to tell us something…