A few people have been asking exactly where I am...

I am in San Carlos de Bariloche......

Birds and a walk by the lake

Try and guess which country I'm in ... A little, elegant humming bird props up at the balcony while I'm having breakfast.

The funny cartoon dude again close up.

I should really look up the names of these before I publish this ....

In the summer these lake beaches are packed full of bathers, although the locals tell me glacier lakes are absolutely chilling to swim in.

View of Bariloche, with its modest cathedral, from further down the lake.

No it's not the carribean, it's patagonia in winter.

Beautiful, fiery pine needles line the lake's coast.

This day when I went for a walk along the lake, it was so windy, walking back against the wind was almost impossible. These windsurfers took full advatage!

Human life at last!

I met this Argentine singer who invited us to watch him perform at a hotel in Bariloche. They were brilliant! He sang tango and Argentinian folk. All introduced with tales and short stories of life in the patagonian mountains. Apparently the old guy playing the guitar is relatively famous and has played with some Argentine legends. (I hadn't heard of any of them personally) This is Kira who also teaches English here. Lucas, our source of local knowledge

It snowed a lot this day... me with the roses by the snow.

More mountains, but this time with more snow. the skiers are getting itchy feet ...

In the distance here, is a very exclusive hotel called Llao Llao.

Me and Erica, who is a friend of Mara's (the woman I am staying with) at the entrance to the hotel. They let us in for a cup of tea because I asked them nicely in my best English accent.

Me and Cristina, who is Mara's cousin. Snowy, sunny clouds in the background.

A change in the weather...

Tibu is naked! but still keeps me company from the other side of the door ... These two are my breakfast buddies. Jasmin and Omero

For those of you who have asked me what I'm up to... I am spending a month here in Patagonia teaching English and doing some community social work before going to Big Bad Buenos Aires to work as a editor again at Macmillan Argentina for a year at least.

I work at the local hospital twice a week, which is tough, as conditions are pretty poor. One of the days I work in the childrens ward, it's very emotional but imcredibly rewarding too.

The two schools I teach at are in humble, mountain villages. The children are full of energy and craving love and attention from anyone. This day I was half way through a lesson when all they all ran outside because it started snowing ... slightly disruptive, but I was dying to run outside too. The snow flakes were huge!

Crazy clouds in a Bariloche sunset.

A few more photos of the mountain view from the lake.

Hike up Cerro Otto

One more photo of the view from the living room of the house where I'm staying .... This is a view of Bariloche from Cerro Otto. Cerro Otto has an altitude of 1405m. It is a short but slightly tiring 8km hike up from the town.

Bariloche used to be one big forest. Now they're cutting them all down to build nice hotels for the tourists .... Luckily, there are still some beautiful forests left to be explored

This is Mount Tronador. A volcano that rumbles... hence the name. It is like a powerful force watching over Bariloche.

These are the berries that are all over the place here. they make tea with them, make oils, cosmetics... there's even a berry festival in May which I sadly just missed.

In the middle of the forest, up the mountain, is a place where the Germans got to and built this amazing hostel. Refugio Bergof:

Lone ranger ...

I would love to show you pictures of vibrant, green trees...but it's winter here. I dont know if it's me that feels very small in these landscapes, or if these trees are actually enormous?

These are more photos from the top of Cerro Otto. The views are pretty breath-taking. A little man did tell me the name of all these islands but I cant remember them.

I walked around the top of the mountain and discovered a cable car on the other side, so I took this down as the sun was beginning to set, honest ... a man that jumped into my car said he'd take a picture of me with the view in the background. err?

Horse Vs Kids from the barrio

One last view from Cerro Otto. The mountains almost look soft to touch.