Argentina part 2

---

Jan 10 
So today was the first day of my kayak course. The guys were late picking me up but so goes that in south America. Haha 
When we arrived at the base I was introduced to Fernado who was going to be my instructor. He unfortunately didn't speak much english, luckily there was an ecuadorian girl who worked there but was also taking the course she was able to translate he parts I didn't know.  
Anyway we took kayaks up to this small circular pool where we went over the basics of paddling and stability on the river. Then we went over how to do the roll when you flip the kayak. It's much harder than they make it look. Because you want to push down to flip you over but you need to push back and twist your hips to and lean back to get you to flip upright. There are many steps involved. We spent most of the morning trying to get this down just before we broke for lunch both Tifa the ecuadorian and I thought we had it down. 
After our long lunch and me napping a bit in the sun I realized I was getting super burnt mainly the tops of my hands I guess from holding the paddle. I had forgot to bring sun cream so I borrowed some before we headed to the river for the avo session.
We wanted to get a feel for the river and the rapids so we took what that called dookies basically big inflatable kayaks down the river. They are meant for 2 people so they were large and hard to steer. But the river was really on class 1 and maybe 2 but not really. So it wasn't very exciting aside for the fact I was doing it alone. Anyway we navigated the river just fine it's a short section of river we did so we were only on there form maybe an hour tops that's with many stops for the rafting people to play and hang out. 
Once we finished we went back to the base and awaited transfer back to Mendoza. I played ping pong against the waiter of the restaurant for a while to kill time. When I finally got back to town I made dinner argetina steak and some raviolis. Pretty solid. Then nicked off to bed. 

Jan 11 
 So I was ready at 9 for the guys to pick me up but no one showed 9:30 , 10:00 roll by I ask reception to call for me but she cannt. So I grabbed my phone and made a skype call to the office the girl said they would be there in 10 mins so around 10:45 a driver finally came to pick me up. When we arrived at the base Fernando said the guys forgot to pick me up. So we quickly gathered our gear and headed down to the river first session in an actual rover kayak. Tifa had to guide a raft so it was just me and Fernando. Started out well cursing down pulling into eddies. Then we tried ferrying across the river well I took a couple of paddles and then flipped over. Becaue when your on the river you want to stabilize yourself with the paddle but on the down side which I had forgot obviously. Plus it's opposite of skiing and other down hill sports where you want to be on the higher side. Anyway I flipped over but magically was able to rote my self quite quickly Fernando gave out a big hoot. I was stoked. However we later go to eddie/slow moving area and I treks it there but couldn't do it. I has to pull spray skirt release and swim to shore. The rest of the river time went well hit a few rapids fun and no dram Tifa and i went to the pool to practice the flips but couldn't get it down.  After lunch we headed out again this time Tifa came too. Everything went smooth aside from trying to flip back over even Tifa was having problems. So after that session Fernado took us up to the pool to show us again and practice. He said we both had it yesterday but completely forgot. We had to basically start over. Haha. I was pretty much getting it down though by the end of that pool session. I would have liked to pratice a bit more but the transport was heading back so I had to leave. 
When I got back I went and picked up more meet and raviolis for dinner. I found some chimichurri mix so the streaks were really delicious. 

Jan 12
The guys came relatively  on time today to pick me up. we headed straight for the river when we got there one of the other guides helped me out with the roll though. His explanation really helped. I was getting much more proficient at doing it. That rover session fernando and jose the guide that was helping me were surfing some small rapids so I took a stab at it. It also is not as easy as they make it seem. I was basically in and out luckily I didn't flip though. 
When we got back to base I practiced the roll slot more with both jose and Fernado giving me tips. I was finally getting it pretty well. They were then making do it rolling to the other side then lefty the flipping and finding the paddle under water and doing it. Then they made me do it with no paddle I couldn't at first but after Fernado demonstrated I did it a couple of times. I was super pumped. So then after lunch we headed back to the river I was hoping to learn how to surf better but we had a few rafts kayaks and a dookie with us. So fernado was busy with them especially the couple on the dookie they were terrible they floated down the wrong branch and had to get to shore and walk back up. He told me to practice the roll in the current because it's different than a pool. So when ever it looked deep enough I did. There was one time I couldn't donor though I don't know why the current wasn't to bad maybe didn't have the paddle in the right spot or something. The rest of the session went pretty well. We got back to base I thanked the guys and Fernado and headed back to the city. Again steak and raviolies for dinner. 

Jan 13
So I thought my meeting was tonight so I didn't book any excursion but it's tomorrow so I spent most of the day looking at surf spots in chile and trying to set up a time line. I also walked around to every outdoor store to find a mouth piece cover for my camel back but no one sells them. I did however buy a new nalogene as I left mine in moms car before I left. I also got the idea to make a cover out of a soda bottle. Which seems to work pretty well. After all that I went back to the hostel and chilled out i met this crazy young Ozzie chick who wanted to hick to Santiago. She had some wild travel stories and she's only 19. Way crazier I think than most of my stuff. Haha. We hung out a while before she ended up taking a bus to Santiago. I made dinner and nicked off to bed. 

Jan 14
I was going to try and get out of town to Dow little hiking but the buses didn't run regularly enough for me to get out and get back in time for my 6 pm predeparture meeting. So I asked the people at the information booth at the bus stop what I could do and they said really only go to the the vineyards. After some debate I decided to go maybe they would be very pretty and I CPUs just chill looking at them. Well the bus dropped me off in the center of the wine area most people rent bikes and ride to them all tasting them. But I didn't feel like spending 10 bucks on a bike for an hour or so so I walked to the wine museum and a olive farm and 1 vineyard. They weren't as pretty as I pictured they were on flat ground no rolling hills like you see in the movies. The museum had some neat looking things in it but it was all in Spanish and how interested could I be when I dot drink. So I decided to head back. I was gonna grab lunch from one place but the place I wantedto go was closed. So when I got back to Mendoza I found a cheap but good shwarma place. By this time I was getting near my meeting time so i went back to my hostel to chill a while. 5:50 rolls around and I head over to the hotel. 6pm passes I think hmm not even one of the other kids taking the course are here that's weird. 6:10 I ask the guy at reception if I was in the right place or if he knew about the meeting. I was in the right place but he didn't know. 6:20 rolls around I called the company and asked them the woman said it was at 6 and in the hotel she thought maybe I was in the wrong place. She gave me the name of the instructor to see if he checked in but no and there was a hotel attached and they diet have the instructor either. Anyway about7:30 I finally get an email saying the time and place of the meeting changed. So I went and found the new place and decided to have dinner across the street, pretty solid meal with a chillian guy taking to me in Spanish the entire time and I couldnt really understand him. Half way through the convo he asked menif I knew Spanish I said only s little bit he then carried on and on. Haha mental. 
Anyway after dinner I went to the hostel to have the meeting, at least the kids were there and one o the instructors this time. It was very informal and chill. Everyone seems pretty outdoorsy and cool I'm actually probably the least outdoorsy. We went though a gear check list and I had to go get my bag to sow John our guide what I had he had heard I wasn't going of have alot I did have a decent amount of top layers but none bottom. So hopefully won't be to bad. After the meetin I went back to my hostel called mom and dad then nicked off to bed. 

---