A Bit Behind on the journal Oh well

---

HI, Well I think I left off about One week ago. Sharon and I arrived on the night bus. Sharon had a cold. And then we finally got grounded after the 22 hours bus ride. we checked in. Then went to sleep for a few hours. It was needed Sharon was feeling sick and I was not really feeling that much better.

When we woke up we went out and Got some food. We ran into The Calfornian at the same restuarant. It can be a small world. We talked a bit and then we ate. We enjoyed the warmth and the sun. We than left there said Farewell to the The Calfornian.

We went to get a cup of some where else. It was much warmer than it was in Bar. I was sitting there at the outdoor cafe and I ran into one of the students from school, Nina. She was supposed to be north but as with most things plans are subject to change. She was on her way to meet another one of the students from the school who decided to change schools and go to Mendenzo. I introduced her to Sharon. And Nina told me that she was having fun in argentina but she was finding that she was missing speaking to people in a language that she felt comfortable with. I could so totally relate. She had made arangements to travel to the Nertherlands early. She was missing her boyfriend as well. Both her and Cara were going to be leaving in the morning to the south one last time. We went with Nina and I spoke to Cara a bit about the issues with the school and the tranferring problems. I was facing the same problems. She informed that the nature of the problem as it was explained to us was not the truth. The school owed the other school lots of money so they cut them off. This gave me some information that actually helped me to get everything worked out for when I return to mendonza for school. We then said good bye.

I then showed sharon the park in mendonza which is actaully very pretty. It is interesting because on the weekends you notice that the city is dead. Well you soon discover that all of the people are living in this park It is a city park and you can even camp there over night there. No not in a bum sort of way like real camping. There are many things in this park. It is a very nice place. Sharon cold was catching up with her so who headed back had an early night.

The next day, Again Nina comes through again and she told us how to do the wine tour by local bus. That morning we headed out and it all worked as she said it would. Our first stop was the wine museum. We were late and fornatually for us there were some other spanish speakers who were late as well. So we Worked getting all of us to join in on the tour that was alrready in progress. It was as most places there old and very beautiful. We met a women from England with the group and she ended up joining us for the rest of the touring. We tasted the wine then tried to move on to the next winery. When we first arrived we tryed to get bikes but for some reason we missed the big sign. Why who knows? By the time we found it they were all out of bikes. So we took the bus to the end of the line and were told that we needed to walk the remaining 2 kms. It was a long 2 Kms, it seems that the Argentines like to drive like crazy fast and after a few tastes of wine it can get scarey walking in places where there are no sidewalks. I am not too sure that riding a bike would have made things any different but atl east the timewould have been less. We again arrived just as the tour started. It was a truly an interesteing winery. It was one of the oldest. Built in the 1650 or so. The winery was a small family owned bussiness and the grapes were picked by hand. Most of the stuff looked like a very small operation. The guide was actually the person who made the wine. He had a big grape strain on his shirt. It made the tour really cool, and like you were visiting someone{s home. The man was not slick at all. He was really a hands on sort of person.

The tour was interesting and he explained when you decide the grapes are ready to harvest. The inside of the building was simple and most all of the processing was done by hand very limited machinery. The whole tour was in spanish and I surprizingly got most of it. We were all really hoping that the wine was good. Well in the end it was ok. I actually br¿ought champiage and I drank with my host family later. It was the best thing that I tasted from there. The wine was ok but, we all felt that we wanted to buy something there because we enjoyed the tour so much.

We returned to the bus stop because for some reason the time went quickly. Only two wineries, the tours take a bit of time and so does getting to the places. The next day Sharon was leaving and I made arrangements for a tour to the mountians.

WEll I am very far behind on my writing more later. I should have plenty of time to catch up when I return to mendenza tomorrow, Till then Rebecca

---