So, I got back this morning from a fantastic weekend in the province of Mendoza. I want to share lots about the trip, but I will aim to be brief enough as to not be a bore.
I met Flor at the assigned gas Shell station on Wednesday at 6.30p where we waited for quite a while for the bus to arrive. We were a little frustrated at the start of the trip with the lack of punctuality, we left the station a good hour later than scheduled. Our other complaint, that really was the only lasting issue was the volume of the music that was continually played in the bus. At times the music was great, for energy and a feeling of excitement, but there were many times when sleeping was difficult because of all the noise. The bus was fun, however, Flor and I sought to get the front seats on the top floor (double-decker) and we did so, with only one exception, every time. There we had lots of leg room and next to us were Carolina and Lucas two very friendly and quite hilarious people with whom we bonded over the trip.
The rest of the journey there was a bit of a blur, we drank mate that Flor had brough with her, an action that was repeated daily, stopped at a gas station for dinner, and I slept in and out of consciousness throughout the rest of the 13+ hour journey across the country.
Before arriving at our cabins, we stopped at a winery, a Bodega, called Eclipse where we got to observe different stages of the wine-making process. We also sampled grapes and of course different wines.
We continued on to the cabins that were situated in the foothills of the Andes mountains. The place was gorgeous; well kept vegetation in a very arid environment and cozy wooden cabins. I shared a cabin with 8 other people, including Flor, Carolina and Lucas. I hate to admit this, but there were 57 people on in the group and I failed miserably at learning names. Everyone immediately learned that the "yankee," pronounced shankee here, was called Dylan since the only other non-Argentineans were 3 French guys. I, however, was overwhelmed with foreign names all of which sounded too similar.
The next day we went rafting on the Rio Mendoza, a fast-paced river that was quite the ride. We occupied 8 rafts, and despite the very cold conditions I had a great time. There was a girl in my raft, called Paula (how confusing) who fell out not only once, but twice. The first time she fell out but was rescued as she swept by the stern end of the raft by the instructor. I grabbed her paddle as we moved past it. A short while later when we were going over a rough patch with another raft right alongside, she essentially bounced right from our raft onto the other! We all had a moment of shock, and then a good laugh. I sat in the bow of the raft and got many a smack in the face by the waves, but I did not lose a contact, so everything was fantastic. Afterwards we had some snacks and warmed up inside the little cafe at the rafting business.
The following morning a bunch of us walked down to the riverbed that is right behind our cabins and sat by the little amount of water that was moving through. In the afternoon we went to do trekking as they call it, a little hike up into the mountains in front of the cabins. We walked 12km (c7.5mi), 6km up and, naturally 6km down the mountainside. We had some gorgeous views and stopped to rest halfway next to a little stream that was flowing down by the path.
I opted not to go out partying that night, as was offered by the group. The Argentineans have a warped perspective of time and sleep and I knew that if I went out between 02.00a and 06.30a I would be smashed for a wake-up call at 9.00 the next morning. So, instead, Flor and I stayed and played (well, I learned how to play) the local and very popular game of Truco. Truco is played with a special deck of cards (which have the faces of 'cups,' 'gold,' 'clubs,' and 'swords' and the numbers 1-7 and 10-12) and involves lying, luck, skill, teamwork and a bottle of wine preferably with some cheese. There are a ton of rules and nuances that I think I now know, but I am sure that I do not, but the game has similarities to Poker, B.S., and even Go-Fish. I hope to buy a deck to bring home and continue playing. If anyone remembers my blog from a while back where I took pictures of men playing a game in the Parque Rivadavia, they were playing Truco.
The next morning, we all jumped into the van (the majority wearing sunglasses and wincing at loud noises, but not me...) and enjoyed the first music-less journey to the base of the highest peak in Mendoza, Aconcagua. The peak is some 6962m tall (c22,840ft) and is regarded as the Argentinean Mount Everest, requiring oxygen supplements for those who attempt to climb the full height. Needless to say we did not climb the entire mountain, rather we did a nice little loop at the base that was full of photo opportunities. There was some water there, and so the whole experience was a mind-blowingly beautiful (if you do not like the use of mind-blowingly as an adjective than that is just too bad). Again the wind was the only negative issue, blowing fiercely across the hills and freezing off our warm-blooded behinds.
Before heading home we stopped at a second location called El puente de incas where there was a little crafts market. There was a little canyon that had beautifully colored rock walls, ancient structures built into one side and a natural bridge spanning the gap. On the other side was a church that was the only remaining building after a disastrous landslide wiped away the rest of the structures. In the market there I picked out a gift of membrilla which is a gelatinous jam that is sold in square blocks and has a thin dusting of sugar all around for Betty. We had had some during breakfasts during February, and Mendoza has a bit of a legacy for the stuff.
That night was the costume party. Flor and I dressed up as tourists, since I had no 'normal' costume attire with me, and adopted brutal American accents for the evening. There were all sorts of costumes that night, from bunches of grapes, to a Gaucho (the Argentinean equivalent of a cowboy), to cowgirls, Little Red Riding Hoods (yes, there was more than one...) and one of my favorites was Lucas and Carolina's: Megabytes. They had printed out sheets of paper with binary code and covered themselves in the 1s and 0s. We had a great time dancing the night away to Cumbia music. I learned how to dance Cumbia, with Flor and Carolina as instructors, it is very fun and can be ridiculously fast and yet always remains relaxed and happy.
On our last day we visited a monument to San Martin before heading home. The monument commemorates General Martin who freed multiple South-American countries from the rule of the Spanish. The monument was set atop a giant hill and was appropriately large. We all took pictures and heard a little history and explanation as to what and who were represented. It was quite a significant stop for the Argentineans. However, not to ever remain too serious, we sang a song on the steps of the monument and made a little film of our choreographed dancing. There was this song called 'Y Apareciste Tu' by Los Reyes del Cuarteto that is crazily catchy song and it was played close to a million times during the bus trips. We all had it firmly in our heads, had learned the choreography to the chorus during the costume party, and so we filmed the whole group dancing along under the gaze of San Martin. I think he would have approved. I still have the song in my head, I have been singing it all day long. It is way past the point of ridiculous.
Today we arrived at about 7.00a back at the Shell station in central Buenos Aires and I took the subway home. It was weird to be moving about solo, not thinking about where everyone else was. It is also weird to be back in the city. I cannot believe I was only gone for 4 whole days. I had a super breakfast with Betty and Ana (the housecleaner who visits biweekly and much more of a friend than an employee). I took a nap today, read a little, and uploaded the 219 photos that I took onto my computer. Betty cooked a delicious meat dish with rice and we had some flan for desert.
I should mention that the food in Mendoza was also spectacular. The cook was a Chilean called Fernando who did a fantastic job of cooking fresh, flavorful food for all of us with hot meals for lunch and dinner. We all ate massive amounts.
As mentioned above, I have a large amount of photos that I have uploaded onto the website Facebook.com. I believe that the following two links should provide access to these photos:
This has the first 200 photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=404228&id=802990315&l=d414cf05f2
The other 19 that did not fit in that album are here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=404268&id=802990315&l=482a42cee8
I cannot possibly add all the photos to the blog, not only would that be a horror to load, but inconvenient to view. Leave a comment if the photos are not accessible and I will add a couple 'best of' pictures in my next post.
I am off to the hospital tomorrow morning, and I will be stopping by the Tango studio to arrange my schedule there as well. I am very excited for this new segment in my time abroad!
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