Makin´ my way, just the way I know how...Cordoba & Mendoza

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Buenos noches from Mendoza, Argentina. Por favor nos trae de vino.... Malbec, muchos gracias. Ahhhh, now we're properly settled. Glass of wine in hand, a little time to do some reckoning and, well, everything is alright.
We've all heard, used, and probably can tell our own "it's a small world" tales and that's what i'm going to kick things off with. It was my last day in Buenos Aires when, through the powers of facebook, i received a message from an acquaintance i met in of all places, Juneau, AK. Her name is Belen and she worked in one of the jewelery stores up yonder and is from, of all places, Buenos Aires. Well, in the province (which is huge) but close enough. Through the grapevine she learned I was down here and a few facebook messages and a phone call with the hostel for directions and we had plans to meet up for a few hours before my night bus. A familiar face is always a warm welcome especially in a foreign land. Two of her friends accompanied her and we all went out for a few drinks, her friends becoming more brave with their English with each passing sip of beer. It was a nice evening and it sent me off with a good feeling about Buuenos Aires and my next adventures to come.
I arrived in Cordoba the next morning not sure of where I was going to stay. Armed with my trusty guide book I decided upon the Cordoba Backpackers hostel located near the central part of town . I stumbled and mumbled through some loose spanish with the tourist information booth and decided upon walking to the hostel. This turned out to be....just a perfectly fine idea. The hostel is nice, clean and has a super friendly staff so I would recommend it to anyone. I spent the day walking around town. Its nice there because even though Cordoba is the second largest city in Argentina, everything a touristbackpacker needs is centrally located. Cordoba is also a university town with 7 located there and believe it or not but all schooling is free. So the city has a nice, young feel to it and I passed my time strolling around town looking at the historic sites, picking on freshman and checking out all the college babes. I was 21 all over again 😉
The hostel has an activities director which is really great. Unfortunately, i missed the day trip out of town that day but did take advantage of the free city tour. Turned out I was the only one signed up so I got a one on one tour from my man Rodrigo. Rodrigo was born in Cordoba but went to an international school in Mozambique, Africa. He's fluent in English, Southpark, the Simpsons, and Robot Chicken so we got along just fine. I learned more about Argentinas history and why General San Martin is honored with statues, monuments, and plazas in every city I've been in so far (which is 4 and San Martin is equivalent to George Washington but just may trump GW due to his impecable mustache.) So Rodrigo and I buddied up and met later in the evening to go for dinner and drinks.
The next morning I decided to check out a small town, Alta Gracia, known for its impressive Jesuit estancia which is also apart of the UNESCO World Heritage list. (protected forever, fore-ev-er) The Jesuits played a big role in Argentina as upon getting the boot from Spain landed here and built their missions all across the land. So after blundering through numbers in spanish i managed the correct amount of pesos for the bus fare and was on my way. The town is quaint and the estancia interesting. I snapped some pics and walked around a bit more before heading back to the bus station. The highlight of my little trip was not the estancia, but me somehow understanding AND responding to a question in spanish from two old exacberated ladies looking for directions to the museum.
Which brings me to this weeks "Deep Moments with Travelin Laluke". In my first blog I mentioned that my friend passed along the bit of wisdom to me, "when we make plans, God laughs." You just never know whats going to happen and God laughs because, well, because he knows that ultimately everything is going to be alright . I'll take it further and venture to say that he's laughing all the time. Especially at me and especially when I'm trying to habla espanol. I can say all i want from my espanol phrasebook but the look on my face when whomever im speaking to responds at verbal lighting speed has got to be priceless. Definitely worth a laugh. And to be honest, the communication traffic jam which I get myself into is stressful, it's intimidating, daunting, and makes me feel like the burro I surely must look like. But, I make it work, I get through it and I find myself looking towards the sky, talking to my self and smiling, "surely God, you just got a kick out of that".
Have you ever met someone whose laugh is contagious or makes you smile even if you have no idea what they're lauughing at? I'm sure you do. Could you imagine what God's laughter must sound like? What it must make you feel like when you hear it? I like to think it's pure bliss, pure warmth, pure Love. What did you feel when you thought about that person or persons laughter? ....It's always been said that "laughter is the best medicine" and I find myself now, whenever I'm stressed, anxious, worrying, trying to understand a SpeedTalking Senor or Senorita, etc., I find myself taking a deep breath, thinking about God laughing and then I remind myself to relax and that everything is going to be alright.....a glass of the local vino can also do wonders.
So, back to Cordoba, well, back to the bus station really. I was back and forth on either another night with Rodrigo or continuing on towards Mendoza where my friends from Canadia (aye) were. I decided to move onwards and booked a night bus out of Dodge. I shared a beer with Rodrigo, bro-hugged and called a taxi, not walking this time.
As a traveler on the open road you should be prepared and open to everything. This has led me to some of my best memories and relationships, (a shout out to Jeff in Thailand). I had a seat in the very back of the bus and also next to a guy named Danny Vargas. Danny is about my age (31 going on 32 yikes,where did the twenties go!) and he could speak english well enough for us to communicate. It didnt hurt that at the first stop he got off and picked up a small bottle of Fernet Blanca which we mixed with coca~cola. For those of you who don't know about this uniquely tasting intoxicating wonder, Fernet is a strong liqueor with an even stronger tasting and smelling minty herbal quality to it. While quite popular over here I try and avoid it like the plague back home, well, at least these days I do. So Danny and I had a drink or two, swapped digital cameras and stories about family, friends, wife and children, listened to each others music (should be noted I did not impose any My Morning Jacket on him) and had some good laughs as he went through my phrase book, mainly the 'meeting people' section and let me know what was good vs the not good. (Not that I can remember any of it now). No surprise we were the last and only two up at 2:30 am before calling it a night. In the morning he walked with me to my hostel in town, we exchanged info, and said our ciao's; just another wonderful moment on the open road.
Why stop there? Upon squaring away a bunk bed in the Mendoza Backpackers hostel I headed upstairs to the patio/ bar/dining room to find the breakfast spread all laid out. Coffee, tea, biscuits, croissants, jams and spreads; not a bad deal. So I put a breakfast tray together and hit the open patio. There was one dude sitting out there so I sat down and started chatting him up. His name is Anton, he's from Holland and is a scientist working in Barcelona. No joke. He's a full on lab coat wearing, petrie dish using scientist who works with fruit flies! Ha. After breakfast and some chatting about the DNA expression patterns in embryonic fruit flies we walked the town of Mendoza together. Mendoza is a great little city located at the base of the Andes foothills. The Incas originally came up with the idea of irrigation channels to utilize the water from the Andes. As Mendoza grew and grew the locals did an amazing job of integrating irrigation channels from the Rio de Mendoza into the ever expanding city. Every street has a shallow trench running between the sidewalk and street. It is the reason why Mendoza, essentially located in a desert climate, is a beautifully green city. Trees line every street and there is a huge park on the west side of town. The irrigation system is also the reason for the delicious glass of red wine in my hand. Mendoza is wine country and visitors have many bodegas (wineries) to visit and sample from. All of the hostels offer some sort of half day bicycle tour to a couple wineries or you could take a bus. Or you could just buy a couple of the local bottles at the supermarket and conduct your own wine tasting which is what I ended up doing with some others in the hostel.
So upon arriving back in my dorm room I met my new bunk mate Martin. Martin is from Germany and is on a 11 month journey around the world. He made his way through the States already taking Greyhound busses across our great nation. He made his way through Mexico and Central America and has New Zealand up next. We ended up meeting up in the patio bar for a drink and not too long later I taught him the card game Gin. We played Gin for a bit and before long Anton was up with us as well as another new dude, Hendrick, who is from the States as well. 4 people now huh? Well, I put on my teacher hat again and introduced Euchre to them. A game and a drink or two later we had two more people join our group. Lars from Germany and Karin from Denmark. Our hostel provided a free pizza dinner that night so we stuffed ourselves, got to know one another, and then our merry group headed out for a night on the town. When in Argentina do as the Argentinians do which means everything starts late. We didnt head out until 11pm and didnt get back till 5am! Villanueva street in Mendoza is lined with hip bars and restaurants and we camped out at one for most of the evening before putting on some dancing shoes to end the night, er morning.
The following morning most of the gang took off on a booked excursion which ended at a thermal springs outside of town. I tried to meet up with them but missed the last bus by about 30 minutes. I opted to then do some reading, relaxing, and recovering. God bless those 3 R's. That evening our 'sister' hostel was providing the entertainment and our band took off for another night of card games, drinks, laughs and 5am bedtimes.
The next day I did indeed make a solo trip to the thermal springs and went back and forth from the hot spring to the cold pool before making my way back to Mendoza. That evening our hostel provided another free dinner for us and we casually sipped on wine and played some more cards before calling it a night at a reasonable Midnight hour.
It was also the beginning of the end for our group as we all had departure plans the next day. Anton and I had an excursion up into the Andes booked the next day and as we were going the same direction decided to travel together for a few more days. (he's also fairly fluent in espanol so i dont have to worry about that for a few days) . For the rest of us though, just as quickly as we came together we had to go apart. It's amazing the way friendships and trust come together on the road. "Like attracts like they" say and the easy going, friendly, and genuine energy I try to project was well recieved and returned this last week. So as we say our goodbyes, not knowing if our paths will ever cross again, a gratefulness for companionship and good memories is what we leave one another with.
The next day after Anton and I's scenic bus and walking tour of the majestic yet treacherous Andes I headed off for the bus station. Although traveling together we had to get separate tickets because his bus was full. Once again I hoisted my backpack and stepped away from familiarity and towards the next unknown. And once again as I headed towards the bus station the butterflies of uncertain anticipation and anxiety spread their wings and took flight. This time however, I took my deep breath, raised my gaze towards the sky, threw a wink, spread a smile and began humming a Bob Marley tune. "Singing don't worry.....about a thing.....because every little thing, gonna be alright."

till next time...

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Photos

A deceiving work of art, aren´t all women that way?
At the cultural center, a work of art initially deceives the eye. The picture does an okay job of capturing it.

Cordoba and the French Influence...wacky art
A normal looking building from the front,

The French Influence pt. 2
from the side, voila, only 6 meters deep! people do live and work in there oddly enough.

The Mendoza Gang
Me on the left followed by Lars from Germany, Hendrick from New York, Karin from Denmark and Martin from Germany. Anton didn´t make it out with us this evening but we´ll get a photo of him here soon enough

Hangin´in the High Andes
This mountain top is the highest outside the Himalayas