Mendoza!!!

This last weekend I went to Mendoza, Argentina with four of the girls from the CIEE program that I occasionally hang out with and we all had a great time. It is such a beautiful city, and once you get about twenty minutes out of the city I found the country-side appeal that I feel like I've been looking for ever since I got here. But it's one of those sensations that you don't realize what was missing until you stumble upon it. Anyway, our night started on the bus where we sat in the lower deck with the full-bed sleepers. We sat with three girls from France who were in back, and in the middle of all of us was an Argentinian soccer coach for a Chilean boys soccer team (all of whom were housed in the upper-deck of the bus with the semi-beds). We spent the first hour of the bus ride talking to him and got to know him a little bit, he was very nice and helpful to the extent that he paid for our two taxi's that took us to our hostel once we arrived in Mendoza at about eight or nine o'clock in the morning. He had given us an open invitation to come to lunch or dinner with the soccer team where we would get deeply discounted meals because the group was so big with the soccer team, however his phone number didn't work with Skype, and after two hours of searching for their hotel/hostel we never found it. But he was very understanding when we met up with him and the team again on the bus ride back to Santiago and said good-bye to us once we got there.

Friday was our first day in Mendoza and after we cleaned up a little bit at the hostel and got our room squared away and ready to check in to later on in the day we walked around the city to do a little exploring, figure out the money exchange and a little shopping. The girls were very interested in finding some nice boots there as their host-mom's here have been raging about boots in Argentina, but it seems like we didn't find anything all too special. Afterwards we took a walk to the biggest park in the city too meet up with Hannah's best friend who is studying at one of the Universities there and a couple of her other friends. There we just relaxed and enjoyed the warm weather and talked about the differences between the two countries and their cultures. We stayed with them for a couple of hours and then decided to head back to the hostel to check into our room and get ready to go out for dinner. On the way back to the hostel we walked by a small artisan fair that we decided to walk down and found a really interesting wire jewelry maker who made some beautiful pieces. I wish I had felt comfortable taking a picture of it to show you all but, that didn't happen. We got sidetracked there for awhile but finally made it back to the hostel and then to dinner where the workers at the front desk had suggested a pizza place around the corner and we got coerced by the hostess at the restaurant next door to come to their restaurant because it was cheaper. Didn't turn out to be such a bad thing as we found that they made some amazingly good french fries, so good that we went there for dinner every night just for the fries.



Saturday we did what I primarily went to Mendoza for, biking wine tour. We woke up a little bit later than we had planned, but the four places we stopped at were more than enough for us, and enough to pique my interest to go again someday down the line (hopefully plane tickets from the U.S. to South America will drop sometime in the next twenty years). Our first stop wasn't a winery, but an olive oil, chocolate, liquor and olive product maker. There was a short tour of the place and then the tastings. First was the oil that they make which was then paired with their balsamic vinegar - which was the best balsamic I ever had. For those of you that know me well, you know that I'm not the biggest fan of balsamic although I do use it. So if I like it enough that I actually buy a bottle of it, you know it's pretty darn good. We then tried the olive pastes, and spreadables that they had for sale in their shop and we ended with a tasting of their alcohol where I had my first shot and taste of absinthe. For a 150 proof liquor, I think I'll stay with the Bacardi 151, but it was still worth the experience and may try it again another point in time. Our second stop was a winery where we received a free tour of the vineyards and the places where everything happens. Nothing hugely exciting to note, although it was a nice experience. We then decided that it was near time to bike to the next place for lunch since we were hungry, and when we got to the place that the bike renter had suggested the owner told us that he was out of the meat for the meal - so stop number three was a bust. We were pretty bummed about that, until we reached the little winery that we did eat at and had the most amazing meal. It was pretty unanimous that it has made the top five meals of the entire semester so far. I had a traditional Argentinian lamb and potato meal that was very rich, hopefully I'll get the photo to show. After that we had dessert which we all ordered and shared some brownies with ice cream and tiramisu.

Once we finished dinner we headed back to the house where we rented the bikes to turn them in and had a final glass of wine before heading back to the hostel. Later on I went to a big artisanal fair at one of the larger plazas a couple blocks away from where we were staying with Kariesha and Maddie to get a quick look at what they had there, so that we could return the following day with Courtnie and Hannah (who had stayed behind to rest/have dinner with her friend). The main thing of note for the artisan fair was the basket of kitten's that one of the vendors had with him that he was giving away. Cutest little things ever - and I wanted so bad to take them home with me, but I don't think that would work very well with customs or my host family... :(



Sunday was our last day there and was another lazy day. We had made plans to go to the hot springs, but decided upon waking up that it would be to difficult to do with three of us not having any bathing suits. Then we thought to go ziplining but we couldn't find the company to go there. So we just ended up buying some cheeses and bread and went to the park from Friday again to hang out, rest and enjoy the Argentinian air. After a few hours there we returned to the the large artisan fair and made our final purchases that we had looked at the night before or found that day and finished the day at our favorite restaurant in Argentina and had our french fries.



All in all the trip was pretty amazing, Argentinian's seem like the nicest, most helpful people in the world (just a little exaggeration for ya'll). Some things about the trip made me reflect on whether or not I chose the right place to study but I have come to the conclusion that both places have their pros and cons and that if anything I'll just have to do a summer study program in Argentina for grad school. Shouldn't be too hard of a deal for me, I'm definitely enjoying South America and want to explore it all throughout my lifetime so I'm going to keep all my options open for that and take any chance that I get.