MENDOZA

I can finally cross off "Visiting the Andes Mountains" off my bucket list. I have wanted to go since that stupid 6th grade country project in Ms. Buckley's class. This weekend I went to Mendoza with my girl friends, Anneliese, Julie, Olivia, Lauren and Emma. We had an amazing time. A lot of laughs.

Needless to say, this princess learned very quickly that hostel living was not as cool as everyone made it out to be. Gross, gross, gross. But hey, it is all apart of the experience right? We all got a good laugh in about it. My friend Olivia found hairs in her bed, so we shared a bottom twin sized bunk. Meanwhile the lock on the door did not work. My dear friend Anneliese, who has a touch of OCD stayed up many hours worrying about people stumbling in. Needless to say, there were two ocassions my little 115 pound, 5'3 friend nearly attacked some lost drunk guys who waltzed in to our room.

We toured two "bodegas" or vineyards. Mendoza is famous for their Malbec, which is fabulous. We also toured a small olive farm where they make olive oil, and olive oil based cosmetic products. The next day we went on a high Andes tour. We did not anticipate exactly what was going to happen that day. Not only did we not anticipate how cold it would be in the city of Mendoza, we deffinantly did not foresee being stuck in a blizzard. The tour took us through the Andes, all the way to the Chilean border.  Aconagua is the tallest mountain in the Americas. We hiked to the base, which was pretty spectacular. It was a blizzard there, with a good 8 inches of snow on the ground. Luckily we stopped at the Incan ruins on the way. The locals were selling Alpaca sweaters. We layered them on. Our final day we spent walking around the city and taking in the warmth (we were still chilled from the day before). Emma's friends from her school in Buenos Aires are from New Zealand. We all decided to have a picnic lunch in a local plaza. Then we boarded the bus and spent the next 14 hours traveling across Argentina, back to Buenos Aires. School is starting to pick up. I handed in my first  paper in complete Spanish the other day. I am going to Colonia, Uruguay this weekend and I booked a trip to Buzios, Brazil for October.

Everything is going well. I cant believe it is almost September. Time is flying by. Ivette and I have been okay lately. She taught me a new word tonight, quilimbroso. It means pain in the ass. She was bubbly because I think my absence this weekend, allowed her to rekindle an old flame with her ex boyfriend. Her daughter, who lives in Costa Rica is coming next week. She speaks English, along with her 4 year old son. I am excited to meet them. That is all for now folks. Chau.