San Carlos de Bariloche

We made it…

6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles), 4 countries, 12 cities, 10 buses, 1 flight, 85 hours on buses, 90 [something] days, and a whole lotta different foods.

In the end we changed some plans, skipped some stops, and beelined it down for Bariloche, Argentina as we wanna get some skiing in before the winters over down here.

(but skipping stops gives an excuse to come back)

Making the choice to come down here was absolutely the best choice, and now that we’re here I’m not sure I want to leave…

Locked in a cottage for a month on the outskirts of town.

It’s the Crack Shack 3.0 (and by far the nicest one out of the 3)

Even though we left without a defined destination or end spot.

San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina was the location my eyes were set on.

The Patagonia sounds like a cool spot, most of the travelers we met said it wouldn’t be good right now because it’s winter and we wouldn’t be able to do the hikes around here.

I guess we have different tastes.

We’ve embraced the cold and loved the weather, I still haven’t bought warm clothes but I’ve just layered. Thank god for my Misfit windbreaker though.

After spending a two days walking around in snow I thought I caught frost bite on my foot, since my vans have a few holes in them and my feet were absolutely soaked.

I was looking for shoes to buy and actually found Vans, they were one of the cheapest options in town which was a pleasant surprise!

Argentina has a lot of hoops to jump through to import goods, so any name brands are more expensive here than back in The States. (Yes, Patagucci is more expensive in Patagonia)

But there’s a beauty in this, because of the importation implications they produce so many goods in their own country and do an amazing job at it.

I think they make just about everything here, I’m astonished by it.

If you shop local (you always should, while traveling do whatever you can to help out the local economies) it’s very cheap, the US dollar is exchanging as the Doloré Blue Rate in certain areas. This is the blackmarket dollar. It’s something the government does to manipulate their economy. That being said it’s exchanging at $780 Argentinian Pesos(ARS) to the dollar instead of $340 ARS. So buying local is extremely affordable and the quality & flavor is amazing.

Mindful Thoughts

“Be mindful of your thoughts Anakin”

Ya know, Obi Wan Kenobi was always telling Anakin this.

It’s something we should all practice.

[Rewind 1 year]

I’m sitting in my room staring at my computer.

$680 a month, $8,160 a year is the average cost of live there.

Perfect, I’m moving to San Carlos de Bariloche.

I was doing a goal setting work sheet in my spot in Fort Collins, CO.

You can access it here:

https://www.notion.so/eliotkoe/My-Goal-Setting-Worksheet-Duplicate-it-de6002ae6ca64bd7aaff20fc0c3f59c0?pvs=4

Just click “Duplicate” and then fill it out. Get Detailed.

Alright, so I’m moving to Salt Lake City this winter, and I’ll move to Argentina next summer.

I said this when people asked how long I was gonna stay in Salt Lake.

“Just for the winter, then I’m moving to Argentina” I’d say.

The thing is, I had no plan for either. I knew I’d “make it work” because that’s what I always did, but that was the extent of the plan.

But I also knew that if I just said these things, and then never took action on them or pushed to make them work then I wouldn’t actually do any of them.

I haven’t moved here to live as my home base, but I have made it here to live for a bit, and I will come back to quite often because I’m loving it and it honestly feels like home deep down.

It’s known as “mini Switzerland” and feels like a town out of some fairy tale, or mystical land that has opportunity for adventure and exploration of places no one sees.

So always be weary of your thoughts, your mindset, how you talk to yourself, and how you talk to those around you.

Your sub conscious is always listening and following the directions you set for it.

If there’s something you want, it’s okay to put it out to the world before you have a direct plan to get there or achieve these goals. But you must start taking small actions in pursuit of this plan, and you’ll be surprised at how well it comes together.

A jump into the unknown is [one of] the scariest things we can do as humans, we’re programmed to like comfort, control, and knowing our outcomes. Rewind a few hundred years and a step into the unknown could mean certain death.

Nowadays it doesn’t mean the same thing, and there’s a lot that can go right for you.

If you’re meant for something and you feel that, there’s always gonna be a step into the unknown, it’s like a test from the [universe] to see how badly you actually want it. Once you make that leap the [universe] will have your back, you may fall but it will catch you. You’ll be surprised at how well everything will work out for you.

Set your goal, be determined, it’s okay to block outside voices. Talk to yourself positively through your inner monologue.

Pokemon In The City

Alright, Santiago turned out to be a really badass city.

The landing, cold, wetness quickly grew on us. (we got a space heater for our room 😉)

Across the bridge was the main part of the city (it’s a massive city)

They’ve got loads of rollerbladers, skaters, bikers, street performers, and art everywhere. (Straight outta the 90’s)

There’s a huge park along the river that we walked for awhile, filled with people, churro stands, venders selling Pokemon?! Stuffed Pokemon animals and action figures.

We looked around us and realized, there’s thousands of people throughout the park of all ages, families joined, all playing Pokemon Go, it was like the Metaverse meets the world and they’re all walking the line between. It was actually really cool to observe.

They had nice people walking through the park selling weed brownies (I guess to make the experience even more immersive, they were probably hired by Nintendo)

Everyone loves their weed in Santiago, you’d think it’s legal.

Every street you could find people smoking joints or selling brownies.

As we walked through the city we found free museums and historic lookout sites.

It turned out to be quite a rad city, I would add it to your list to visit. Just don’t go down any “lonely” streets.

Breathe…

We’ll be here for a month (maybe longer) before heading up to Mendoza and back north.

This one way trip will end up back in Colorado for winter actually, and I’m stoked to get back.

I’ll be back in time to spend Christmas with my family for the first time in 4 years and I couldn’t be more ready.

I’ve had a lot of time to think, think about my mindset, desires, goals, friends, life.

It’s been nice.

Always good to be able to zoom out and look at your life, and see what you want out of it.

Keep livin.

Cheers,

Eliot