Fuego de Invierno

Signs that winter is heating up: They seem to have erected some sort of stage in the town square to parade around this winter´s Queen of Bariloche and the Snow Queen respectively, a barrage of fire works lit up the sky last night welcoming winter, the streets are packed with tourists and locals alike ready for a season in the snow, and the woman´s house across the street from our hostel went up in flames and nearly burned to the ground amidst all the festivities.

Jair and I were just sitting down to a nice steak sandwich take away meal at the hostel when one of our fellow residents (who sports a badass stache I might add) burst through the front door with a massively concerned expression on his face blurting out something about a fire. Before I had time to comprehend exactly what he was saying, I found myself rushing out the door with 4 other amigos to check out the scene. And it was a fire indeed. This woman's entire kitchen had gone up in flames and she was frantically trying to get as much of her stuff as possible out of the house before it all burned to the ground. We were the first people at the scene so we helped out as much as possible forcing a couch through the door along with her stereo and computer before the first fire extinguisher show up. It helped out a bit, but the stove had been disconnected from the gas line, so even the smallest hint of a flame would reignite the entire room. Soon enough we had gone through 6 different extinguishers from any neighbor who was around in an effort to slow down the inferno that was brewing. With the Snow Queen festivities goin on the the town square, most of the public officials were tied up so the firefighters were well delayed. The woman who owned the place was insistent on returning back into her house to recover anything and everything she could. We continually tried to persuade her to stop as the smoke was nearly crippling. It was this deathly black color that would both suffocate and blind you if you got close, even so you couldn't stand around idly as an old woman frantically tries to force a love seat through the front door. Just as the flames reached the roof the first set of fire fighters finally showed up. Within 10 minutes of their arrival the flames had been convincingly extinguished and the house was secure. We returned to our dinner and recounted the crazy scene that had just unfolded before us. I suppose an ole fashion house fire is one way to get your heart pumping on a lazy Sunday evening...