Pascua.

Easter is celebrated from Thursday to Sunday here so all is back to normal today. The children in the Grade One class were sharing what they did for the break. Some had been to Bariloche but most spoke of visiting grandparents or friends for an asado.

I took the bus down to Esquel on Friday afternoon. The buses are fantastic here and they are well used. I was sitting upstairs in the front seat so I had a great view. Much appreciated when you are travelling a route for the first time. I am amazed how far some of the people travelled. Maria's daughter travelled from Buenos Aires, a twenty four hour bus ride and many people seemed to be going that distance. It is such an enormous country that I guess the buses are the easiest way for the people to travel. Of course there would also be many who would fly. The main cities are well serviced by all forms of transport.

The trip to Esquel took about two hours, the scenery reminded me of the Desert Road, but there were more mountains and hills in the background. Beautiful in its own way! Esquel is a larger town, the population is about 50,000. The mountains are beautiful down there but the town is quite barren, you miss the trees of El Bolson.

I was staying with friends so enjoyed being able to see them again, although the limitations of language does limit conversation. I often feel as though I'm in First Grade!! There are sign posts every two kilometers giving the distance to the bottom of Argentina. From Esquel it is still over 1700 kilometers to the bottom of the country.