Mendoza and farewell to Buenos Aires

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So last time we left off I had just arrived in Mendoza. My first day I explored the city a bit, it is really beautiful with nice parks and streets. The following day I signed up for an excursions to the foothills of the Andes mountains. We hiked in the blazing sun for around 2 hours to the highest point in that area, which had great views of the mountainous landscape. After that it was time to make our descend. It was really slippery on the rocky ground, and stupidly instead of wearing sensible walking boots I was wearing boat shoes with absolutely zero grip. This inevitably led to so scary moments sliding down a few feet and almost ending up flat on my back. Instead of walking all the way back down, we rappelled down a steep cliff face. The first one was about 12 metres. It was absolutely terrifying! I felt very aware of the fact it was me controlling the rope and if I let go my death would be entirely my fault. The instructor simply tells you to lean back until you are horizontal so you can walk backwards down the cliff, but plucking up the courage to do that is the most difficult part. I did it anyway and it was quite an adrenaline rush in the end. The second rappel was only 7 metres, a breeze compared to the first. However the final one was the real challenge, a whopping 40 metres! It was completely vertical, and with ridiculous footwear and I was struggling to maintain my position and when spinning into the rock face. I held tight to the rope though, and waited until I stabilised and then carried on, but it was pretty scary! It took around 10 minutes to get to the bottom, but it was definitely a relief to have my feet on the ground again! After working up a sweat in the heat it was time to relax for the afternoon, so we went to the natural springs. It was really nice, they had ones of all different temperatures, so after a circuit of the pools I found a nice spot to sunbathe with a view of the mountains.

The following day I did another excursions to explore the wineries and tasting some of the local wine (Mendoza is renowned for its fantastic array of wines). I spent the day with a girl from Denmark called Pil who was on the mountain tour the previous day with me and who I already made friends with. We went to three vineyards/wineries during the day, and sampled around 10 different wines in total. The wineries were beautiful, so traditional and family-run and others very big and modern. To get from one winery to the next we had to cycle in the hot sun (steadily getting tipsier as the tastings continued). In total I think we rode around 11 miles so adding on to the hike the day before I was aching by the end of the day! Luckily wine helps with these things!!

The following day me and Pil left Mendoza the capital and heading to San Rafael, a smaller town in the province of Buenos Aires. There we met a guy from England called Jack and a couple from Scotland, Sammi and Che, and we all signed up for an excursion the following day. We left the hostel in the morning and headed by bus into the famous Atuel valley (the main attraction of San Rafael). The tour guide spend the entire trip explaining rock formations and providing information about the history of Mendoza, which I was summarising for the rest of our party who didn't speak Spanish. The highlight however was arriving at the river, where we had the opportunity to do white water rafting. The instructor explained all the safety instructions in Spanish, and every now and again he would pause and give me a nod, allowing me translate to the others. I felt quite proud actually that I am proficient enough at Spanish to understand every word of the explanation and immediately translate to English. The rafting was so much fun, we got soaked by the rapids and travelled down the river for around an hour. It was another adrenaline rush I experienced in Mendoza alone and it was amazing. That evening we had some drinks in the hostel and then headed to a nearby bar (which bizarrely was based on Moe's bar from The Simpsons). After a few hours drinking and dancing we headed back. The following day we checked out and the spent a few hours relaxing by the hostel pool in the 35 degree heat, bliss. After that I said goodbye to the others and caught another long, overnight bus to Buenos Aires.

Thankfully I was in first class again, so it was really comfortable and I slept fairly well. There was a bit of drama in the last 45 minutes however. There was an elderly woman sat on the other side of the aisle from me with her granddaughter. I think she had Alzheimer's or something as she kept asking the girl the same questions over and over again throughout the journey. Anyway, in the morning she decides to go the bathroom. Afterwards I can see through the curtain that instead of coming back to her seat on the lower floor she had started climbing the stairs. I thought bless her, she has forgotten where she was sat, I'm sure she'll realise and come back down. Suddenly however, I see a body rolling down the steep staircase and landing smack on the floor of the bus. I gasped and we all ran to see if she was ok. I think I was the only one who actually saw the fall and it was a horrible thing to witness. Unbelievably she appeared unscathed but it was a traumatic end to the trip for all the passengers!

I arrived at the bus terminal in BA at around 10am and headed straight to the hostel. Ellie, my Bristol friend was there waiting for me which was nice. That day we didn't really do much, but in the evening we went to a open mic, folk music event at a nearby bar. Even better we were joined by lots of our co-workers and friends there so it was really great. During the gig a group of us decided that we could sing Christmas carols and definitely earn some money, so we arranged to rehearse later in the week. The following day me and Ellie went to the park to meet our friend Claire and relax in the sun. After a day in the park, me and Ellie went to a great Mexican restaurant. We had planned to meet our friend Antony but suddenly a crazy storm hit the city, and the torrential rain and flooded streets put us off the idea.

On the Wednesday we headed to Avenida Corrientes to take some funny photos with the statues, and then meet Claire again at The Tavern club (a copy of the famous Beatles joint in Liverpool). After that we went to our friends Annie's house for dinner and our first rehearsal, with fellow group members Scott and Josh. We came up with a medley of Christmas songs and decided that on Friday we would go busking on the subway. After a few bottles of wine and much singing we called it a night. The following day me and Ellie went to explore China Town. We went to a nice Chinese restaurant and it was so good to have a different type of cuisine after months of bland Argentinian food! Also, it was the fastest service I've ever experienced, the starter and main arrived before our drinks, totalling a wait time of arrived 3 minutes for everything! Crazy! After lunch we went to the Chinese supermarket and bought some tasty ingredients in order to make a stir fry the following day. That evening we all met at Josh's house for a homemade curry and another rehearsal. It is nice having a group of great friends and meeting up every day for dinner and laughs.

The big day had finally arrived. Me and Ellie cooked lunch in the hostel (a delicious prawn stir fry, SO GOOD) and then I left to meet the others. Me, Josh, Annie and Scott met in the park near China Town for a last minute practice as the sun set. We grabbed some street food in China Town, then we headed to Scott's flat to down some strong beverages before going to the subway stations. In a moment of Dutch courage we headed to the subway at around 10pm. Obviously at that time it was pretty empty. Scott suddenly burst into Silent Night and so our routine began! I can't believe we actually busked on an underground train, what a bizarre experience. The first two times we didn't ask for money, but we got a round of applause. The last time we asked for money and one person gave us 20 pesos (usually people only give max 5 pesos to these kind of things!), making a total earning of around 30 pesos in one carriage. On a high from our success we ended our subway show there (it was closing anyway). We met up with our friend Zach and headed to a bar to celebrate! The tequila shots were only 5 pesos so we enjoyed a few rounds as well as a pitcher of beer. After that we caught the bus to gatecrash a house party. I have no idea whose party it was but it was so cool. It was in the penthouse suite of this amazing apartment in the centre of town, and the roof terrace had amazing views. There was open bar and free food and it was amazing. Safe to say I was feeling pretty rough the following morning!

On Saturday we went to Recoleta to do some shopping in the markets, and on Sunday we went to the famous San Telmo markets to finish our souvenir shopping. We cooked a nice spaghetti Bolognese on Sunday evening, but in general a fairly relaxed weekend. On Monday we went by train to Tigre, an island town around an hour away from the capital. It was really beautiful and relaxing, it was nice to get out of the city and see something different. Unfortunately we weren't told that the main attractions of Tigre, the amusement park and art museum are closed on Mondays. But we had a nice day anyway! That evening we again met our friends at the folk music night which happens every Monday which was fun.

On Tuesday we slept in late and then went to explore La Boca. La Boca is one of the more old-fashioned area of Buenos Aires and is where the tango originated. It is famous for it's multi-coloured buildings (see attached pictures) and it was really interesting and completely different to the rest of Buenos Aires. We had a drink and there were people performing tango all around it was really cool. That evening we went a nice steak dinner with a group of friends and went for a casual drink afterwards which was nice. Today has been quite a lazy day for me. I went to the office around midday to collect my suitcase, I needed to bring it to the hostel so I could start packing. I ended up chatting with my employers in the office for an hour or so, and they filmed me talking about the programme so they can use it to advertise to new applicants. I managed to drag my suitcase around 10 blocks in order to catch the subway to the hostel, I was determined not to pay for a taxi! This afternoon I've spent chilling in the hostel and starting to organise my luggage. I'm pretty certain it is going to be over the weight limit! I went and got some incredible takeaway empanadas and since then have spent about 2 hours writing this mammoth blog entry!! Which luckily I am concluding now. Tomorrow is my last full day in Argentina. I've organised an all day party in the park, with music and food and drinks so should be a nice way to say goodbye to the amazing friends I've made here. Although, I think I've decided that I will be returning to Buenos Aires for the second half of my year abroad, I love it so much here and Spain had definitely lost it's appeal! In that case I will be returning in February to continue this adventure.

Until then readers,

D x

PS. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

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