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Published: July 20th 2007
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Well, I think were ready to share a bit more of our vacation with everyone! Things have been going well, and we´re back on the road. I think that we left off when we were still working on the farm. Right?
Well, after another week or so, we decided to keep exploring Argentina. For our last night on the farm, all of the volunteers went into town for a proper goodbye and a happy birthday to our friend Eka. First, we ate Picados (picks) which is a huge plate of all different things, olives, cheese, salami, nuts, hummus and all different things, while we drank some of the local beer, which honestly isn´t that good. While we were ordering drinks, Mark accidently ordered one for himself and the waiter, instead of for me... no need to say we all had a good laugh. Next we went to a nice little resaurant where between the 10 of us, we went through another 8 bottles of wine! Itçs hard t o cut yourself off when delicious bottles of local wine cost 3 dollars! Anyway, it was a great night and a great way to say goodbye to all of the fabulous
people we met at Yacu Yura.
We left the farm with some friends, Matt and Amanda, who we had met there. We decided that Mendoza, the wine region, sounded like a good destination. We took the overnight bus together, and watched crappy movies along the way. For some reason, the movies that they play on the overnight buses here are the worst, unheard of American movies. But it´s a good way to fall alseep! Once we arrived in Mendoza, we realized that we had absolutly no plans. After standing in the lot for a few minutes, Matt had the great idea of going inside the bus station ( Thanks Matt!) We had been inside for maybe 30 seconds when a man named Raul came up to us a asked us to stay at his hostel, it was cheap and we got free transportation in his Jeep...so why not? His jeep is from WWII and was used by the British forces...he´s extremely proud of it!
Mendoza is a great city. It´s the capital city of the province, which is where a majority of the Argentine Wine is from. Everyone here drinks red wine and love to talk about it with us. The first day here we took it easy, which included a five hour nap!! It might go down in history as the worlds best. The next few days after that we spent wandering around Mendoza, there is a huge park which butts up right against the foothills of the Andes. They´re called foothills here, but I think they´re just about as high as anything we have on the east coast! There´s a great down town area that´s just for pedestrians, it has a bunch of cafes, shops and sometime live music.
One of the best nights here was spent with all of the guests at the hostel having an asado, or BBQ. We went to the store and bought about 8 lbs of beef and a few vegtables and came back to the hostel and drank wine while the owner grilled for us. We finished eating around 10:30, which all of the South Americans considered early!
Yesterday we went on a biking tour of the vineyars in a local town called Maupi. It´s about 30 inutes from the city and is the heart of Argentine wine country. We rented bikes, got a bottle of water and a map, and we were off. There is about 200 vineyards in the area, but we only hit about 6. Some of the ´bodegas´give you free samples, other give you samples only if you agree to buy a bottle of wine and other charge about $3 for a flight of 5 wines. We tried to stick to the free ones, because eventhough $3 isnt much back home, it´s a lot for poor travelers! Needless to say, we had a great time, drank great wine, and came home with sore legs and big appetites. We made a stir-fry, watched some corny movie and went to bed early! Red wine does that to you!
This morning we were picked up by two women who teach English here. We met them the other day, and they asked me if we would be interested in going out with them because the need to work on there pronunciations and things like that. They are both very nice, but for some reason, they decided to take us to the mall. As tourists, its the least cultural thing to do! It was just liek American malls...the gossiping teens and all! After that we went and got lunch and cofee and chatted about the usual things, it was really nice to get to know some Argentines, not just other travellers!
Well, I guess thats the update for now. I hope that you all enjoy reading this and it isn´t too long! We´re heading into the Andes tomorrow, so our next update will include pictures of mountains, and less wine...maybe! OK, lots of love to you all!! Halley and Mark
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Uncle Marco
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Good Times
It sounds like you're having a great time. I'm glad the guy who owns the hostel found you and offered you a place to stay. Mark and I just got back from a long weekend in Chicago and then we head to Boston and P'town in a few weeks. Not as adventureous as Argentina but fun for us. Keep writing, it's great to read about your travels. Love ya, Uncle Marco