I thought now would be a good time to update on our last weekend to Mendoza, Argentina...because if i don't write now, I might never get to it.
We left for Mendoza on thursday evening, a quick turn around from when Adam and Michelle arrived around mid-day on Weds. I like to keep them traveling as much as possible. Our bus left at 10:30 and we got to the Argentinean boarder around 3am. FREEZING! Finally after a long bus ride of barely any sleep we arrived in Mendoza and headed towards our hostal around 8am. Luckily they let us right into the room and we were able to sleep for a couple of hours, just enough to give us energy for the day.
Day 1- (Friday)
We started off around 11 and got a nice talk from Aldo, the owner of the hostal. He showed us where to go, what to do, and helped us plan our activities. The goal for day one. walk around, figure out the city and head to the main park to walk up a hill *cerro* for a look out over the city.
this is Benny, or Penny. Not sure on the name, but it was so cute! Adam played with the puppy while Michelle and I got the low down on the city.
So we set off on our travels and walked around the city. It wasn't anything special really. The side walks were literally a hodge-podge of anything they could find to put down. Sometimes it was bricks, other times just slabs of cement, and if you were lucky, a nice little design of white bricks. We walked everywhere, since we were unsure of how the public transportation worked. Finally after walking for about an hour, and stopping for lunch, we came across the park. It was beautiful and clearly used for exercise and making out (they do it in Argentina too, just like in Chile). Everyone making out everywhere.
We came across a fountain.
We walked around this park searching for this cerro that we wanted to find. and we walked for hours, and basically walked a loop around the park, and couldn't find it.
checking the map. obviously i was a little concerned.
So we went to the bus stop to wait for the number 3 bus just like Aldo said. And we waited, and waited. The thing about the buses is that there were plenty of 3's, but to get us to where we needed to go, we had to take a bus with a certain destination number, which was located in the bottom left of the bus, written SUPER SMALL, so you couldn't see it until it was close. And the number that we needed, never came....and finally we just took a taxi home to the hostal. I guess it's a good thing because we learned later that you pay in this little machine with either a card, or coins...and we had neither. so i guess it was for the best.
Day 2- Biking Wine Tour (Saturday)
What a lovely day to go drink wine and bike around to different wineries *bodegas*. We went to Senor Hugo, a lovely man who offered us wine before we even got our bikes. It was a little bit chilly, so i didn't mind having some wine to help warm me up.
Michelle and Adam at Senor Hugo's bike home.
Michelle loving the biking!
Adam showing us his no hands bike riding. I'm pretty sure he rode like this for the majority of the way.
We were able to stop off at a olive oil place that had chocolate, a beer factory, and a winery. This tour showed us a little bit of everything and it was perfect!
Adam even got to try a shot of absinthe. Crazy.
so strong you have to melt sugar in it. it looked really cool!
So the biking wine tour was lovely, and we even picked up a friend Lucy. She was traveling alone so we invited her to join us along the biking tour and we ended up spending the whole day with her.
Day 3- Horses! (Sunday)
What a crazy start to this day. Since the time change in Chile, our clocks were set for one hour behind Argentina time, so when we set our alarms for 830 to wake up and be ready by 930, well...that's what time we really had to be ready to go. We woke up to Aldo knocking on our door telling us that the man was here to come get us to ride horses. We rushed to get everything together and set out for a day of horse riding with no breakfast and a mix match of clothes on.
We got to the barn and quickly got settled on our horses.
this is the view of what we were walking in
We were all saddled up and we headed out. I had no clue this was going to be as intense as it was. We were going up steep inclines and headed down near cliffs. It was a little bit scary not going to lie. Our tour guides were Ignacio (Nacho) and Ezekial. I was in back mostly with Ezekial helping him with his english. It was great to talk to him and teach him the difference of being ON a horse and IN a horse(this gets a little confusing because in spanish it is the same verb used).
After 4 hours of treking around on horse, we headed back to the stable where we were welcomed with wine and a BBQ. This meat had been slow roasting for a while and the doggie that followed us around knew it. He was very eager to get some food.
doggie wanting some food. he got some at the end, not to worry!
then we found the most adorable puppies in the barn!
adorable right! we wanted to take them home!!
We headed home after the long day, and just relaxed that night. My back was killing me, oh and my butt.
Day 4- Attempt to find cerro again. (Monday)
So we set off again for this hill. This time we took the bus to the park so we weren't dead tired by the time we got there. Finally we got off at the right stop, and headed up the cerro gloria. It was a pretty nice day with a strong sun. Perfect for catching everything we missed the first day of walking around.
view from the top of the hill
Michelle and I in front of the monument of liberty and freedom on Cerro Gloria (we finally found it!)
We made it back to the hostal, relaxed for a bit and then headed to the bus stop to make our 10:15 home to Vina del Mar. I lost my Chilean Carnet, a pretty important document on the bus. So i was pretty much a wreck, on the floor of the bus looking for this thing. It was literally 30 seconds that i lost this thing. I cannot even begin to tell you how much this bugged me. I could barely sleep the whole bus ride home. This bus took shorter at the boarder, which put us home around 4:30am. We got in our beds and didn't wake up until 11. Perfect weekend! (minus my loss)
WOAH, and there you go. Much more to update from our daily travels around Vina and Valpo, but that will be a different post.
The days are flying by, and soon they will be leaving. But we still have some pretty great things planned before they head back home!
Chao for now :)
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