San Martin Part 2

We had wanted to do a hike or something of the sort of Saturday, but instead had to stick around checking in with the bus station for Jess's backpack. We went there in the morning, as directed, and no bus had come in yet and they still weren't sure if they had recovered it. We decided to look around for a new hostel, one closer to downtown and with more guests. We found two that were promising and ended with one called the Puma. Clean, other guests, a big kitchen, the right price, and to our surprise after booking: a golden lab puppy called Violeta! We made the right choice!

Nothing better than puppy cuddle time

The fridges were covered in signs saying the same thing, but in every language that had come across it!

"Your mom doesn't live here! Please wash, dry, and put away your dishes right in their place!"

"Write your name on your food! Thanks!"

We decided to walk around San Martin: shopping, exploring, eating. I finally caved into my jewelry wants and bought two rings {one of the national stone of Chile: Lapiz Lazuli (dark blue) which is only found in Chile and Afghanistan and the other of the national stone of Argentina: Rhodochrosite Inca Rose (pink) } as well as a bracelet with serpentine stones in it (turquiose). All were hand-made by the owner of the stand in a little feria in one of the plazas. I also got a bombilla, one of the special straws to drink mate out of their cups, but didn't find a cup to my liking. We headed back to the bus station where we were told to again come back in an hour. We went to check out the lake nearby and eat some lunch.

Covered in ash, but still pretty

 Next, bus station again. The people at the counter in the office had no idea. Jessie went straight outside to take some sort of action and look for herself. It was there!!

Victory dance!!

After this wonderful turn of events, we continued walking around for the rest of the day. We discovered that the next day, Sunday, most of the town would be closed down so we ran around to the different tourism shops and fortunately, finally, we found a place with very nice bikes and a great route to try out the next day. After setting that up, we went back to our new hostel, napped, showered, had dinner (apples, bread, cheese, wine), and celebrated the boys' birthdays. Max's being on Sunday and Todd's being on Tuesday. The celebration involved more wine and some delicious birthday desserts complete with trick candles!

The evening was a crazy one. We headed back to the bars where we met some awesome people and also saw two guys from the old hostel that we tried to explain why we weren't staying there anymore..We ended the night with a little dancing and then headed back to our warm beds to get some sleep before the mountain biking adventure on Sunday!