Weekend excursion: George Bailey

Junio 17-20

The hustle of the first week awarded us with a four day vacation. On Thursday evening, Buenos Aires seemed to be relieved from its arduous routine. On Friday and Monday, Argentina commemorated Martin Guemes and Manuel Belgrano, heroes from the revolutionary war with Spain. On Friday afternoon, Andrea, Javier, Nico, and I boarded an Aerolineas Argentinas flight to San Carlos de Bariloche, a small city in the region of Patagonia. So far, this is the southern most destination in the entire world that I have ever traveled to. I was taken aback by the beauty of the mountains, glacial lakes, and natural landscape. After the extremely stressful Junior year I endured, I had finally found peace. On Saturday, adventure awaited. Our destination: San Martin de los Andes, a sleepy town tucked away in the mountains 3 hours north of Bariloche. The first road we traveled was the famous Argentina route 40, which begins at the Avenida Nueve de Julio in Buenos Aires and extends thousands of miles across multiple Argentine provinces to the region of Patagonia. We stopped various times to view the breathtaking scenery. There were no sounds at all- just the silence of nature. This was the peace I was looking for. I was away from the clamor of Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester, the influence of report cards and standardized tests, and the looming college application process. When I encounter stressful issues in the coming months, I have Patagonia to return to in my memory. The landscape is very similar to that of North America, but the shape of the mountains, the plants, and the juxtaposition of dense forest and desert plains cannot be found anywhere else in the world. We reached San Martin de los Andes five hours after departing from Bariloche and stopped for lunch. Javier is quite the driver- he conquered the treacherous mountain roads as if it was Morrissey Boulevard.