The Brel Chronicles

 

By The Numbers

• Number of Purchases:
  • Leather purses: 7
  • Leather jackets: 5
  • Shoes and boots: 7
• Number of animals who gave their lives for our purchases (including a guanaco): uh, not really sure we want to know this
• Number of days the Toronto weather forecast was better than the Argentina forecast: at least 9
• Bottles of wine consumed: ok, we don’t really want to go here either
• Number of consecutive days of beef consumption (Mel): 13
• Percentage of days we went to the gym: 0%

Moments We’d Rather Forget

• Living beef-free our first week in BA
• Trying to escape the smoke caused by the burning fields
• Mel’s desperation for a taste from home: it’s amazing the lengths some people will go to for romaine lettuce, bacon and cheddar cheese
• Fighting with our internet connection on an hourly basis
• Mel’s repeated altitude problems at 1,100 metres
• Too many Andean markets in Salta
• Actually reaching the limit and not being able to consume prosciutto or wine (just for a few days)

Highlights

• Living a semi-normal existence in an apartment and not having to pack/unpack all the time
• Riding horses and staying at a ranch in Salta
• The food: filet mignon, home-made ravioli, empanadas and thin-crust pizza
• Finding some non-Argentinian restaurants for a break from all that beef: thanks Green Bamboo, Moishi Moishi and Kansas
• Soaring high in the sky in La Cumbre
• The Malbec wines: Fond de Cave, La Linda, Luigi Bosca and the $3 Norton Classic
• Mel correcting Brendan on his Spanish pronunciation - and actually learning how to form sentences in Spanish
• Finally understanding Brendan’s obsession with llamas
• The views, the chocolate, the beer in Bariloche
• Actually coming in $25 under budget after a month of good living

Memorable Quotes

• “All the ugly girls go home after the third beer. “(Peter)
• “It wouldn´t be Brel if there weren´t some homicidal thoughts every now and again.” (Leith)
• “Do they sell ferrets at the ferreteria?”  (Sam)
• “I have found out that there ain´t no surer way to find out whether or not you like people or hate them than to travel with them.” (Brel quoting Mark Twain)
• “Chile is the skinniest country in the whole world!” (Jack Kirwan, 4 yrs. old)

 

Bariloche, in northern Patagonia, Argentina, is home to more than 50 artesan chocolate shops and over a dozen microbreweries.

How do you spell Brel heaven? B-A-R-I-L-O-C-H-E.

Set amidst the Andes, Bariloche is also a world-reknowned ski destination. Though it isn´t ski season yet, the mountains are snow-capped and it´s -2 degrees Celsius. We´ve clearly left our bikinis and Havaianas behind, and for the first time in a long time, are longing for Canadian weather. Is the Foggy Dew patio open yet?

Bariloche is a great town with a great vibe, and deserves a much longer visit than we have planned. The chocolate shops provide free samples, the micro-brew is $2, and fondue is served everywhere. We love fondue. And chocolate. And beer, of course.

And for those of you who caught the Homer Simpson quote in this blog´s title, here´s the link to that famous scene where Homer visits the Land of Chocolate…an inspiration to us all…

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