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History class paseo!
Tomas, myself and Michelle proudly representing our 19th Century Chile history class... Siglo XIX!! (Century XIX). Note the great headphones on TurBus One of the most exciting parts about this semester, I think, is that it's really easy to decide in the middle of the week if you want to travel that weekend. This being the case last week, the idea of going to Argentina came up on Monday and on Thursday, I was going to buy 5 bus tickets to MENDOZA, Argentina for myself, Tomas, Michelle, Matt and Josue. Because it was a 3 day weekend (Monday was Labor Day), much of Santiago was also going to Mendoza, Argentina's wine capital, which is about an 8 hour bus ride east through the Andes into Argentina.
On Saturday night, after finding several hotels and hostels filled, we settled upon the Mariana Real Hotel, relatively close to the center of town and for about US$10 a night. Def. more than we've been spending on hostels, but the cheap prices in Argentina compensated for the extra hotel cost, so I got over it. Plus, breakfast was included. We set out on the town, to meet our other friends but it was way past the time we were supposed to meet up with them, so we checked out some tourist agencies for things to do
Scenery
On the way to Mendoza, Argentina the next 2 days. We were soon lined up for a wine tour the next day at 8:20am (... yes, a wine tour, and yes, at 8:20am...) and paragliding at 2pm! After that was worked out it was 8:15pm and half the group was dying of hunger from the long bus ride and little food, so we went to find Las Tiranjas, a "tenedor libre" or open buffet, that people had recommended to Matt. When we got there at 8:25pm there was a line (note: in Chile this line would've consisted of a huge mass of people trying to get to the front), waiting for it to open at 8:30. Obviously the place to be! When it opened we were one of the first ppl in and seated, ordered some wine, and went to experience all the wonderful food we could- a HUGE grill with a TON of meat being grilled, fruits, salads, beans, pastas, rice and chinese food, seafood, desserts, cheese, crackers, potatoes, quiche things... etc etc. Oh 2 girls we had met at the beach party awhile ago from U Michigan were there too and joined us for dinner. Anyway, it was amazingly delicious, especially the wine and
meat, and in the end only cost 25 Argentinian pesos, about US$8.00. Even more beautiful!
That night we went to one of Mendoza's casinos, Michelle, Matt and I playing the slots. Well playing would prob. be an exaggeration..I lost about $3 decided slots aren't all that exciting. Josue and Tomas stuck to the craps table but didn't come out with winnings either. It was definitely worth it though, if only just to see Josue's excitement of going to a casino. He had even brought a blazer and cufflinks for the occasion 😊. He and another girl in our group, Teresa, are our token business majors and play the part perfectly. Anyway, around 1:45am, Michelle, Tomas and I went to a discoteca. Of course,that was way too early to expect anything to be going on and we had to watch this old couple dance for awhile.. until Ice Ice Baby came on, then we couldn't wait any longer! It was fun, though we decided we need to know a LOT more songs so that we could sing along to more. Left around 4am, when the good music was just starting up. Oh well, us gringos had a big day coming
Made it to Argentina!
Me, Michelle, and Matt jumping for joy on the border after we got our passports stamped up. Paco joined us at our hotel at 6am after catching a late bus from Santiago.
On Sunday I learned more about wine than I have in my entire life after visiting 2 vineyards. We saw an older, smaller winery where they used more traditional methods and a large, international winery with all new technology and wine-processing techniques. I learned how you're supposed to swirl your wine around to get the aroma, make sure to smell the wine deeply, take a sip and don't swish it around or hold it in your mouth, but make sure it gets under your tongue and back in your mouth to make the taste stronger. After swirling, look at the "tears" or "legs" on the glass to see if it's a heavy or light wine. Hold white wine not by the glass but by the stem so as not to warm it from the warmth of your hand... etc. All that for $10.
We didn't have much time before we had to go paragliding, so... confession- we went to McDonald's because they were the quickest. Second confession- I really really enjoyed my junior mcchicken, mayonnaise and all...
So, PARAGLIDING! We had
to go with guides of course, and it really wasn't "hard" or scary or anything, as you just sit in this little seat with the guide behind you. To start off we drove up this mountain for about 40 minutes, and they strapped up Michelle, Matt and Josue first. The guide stands behind you and you have to run off the cliff, basically, and the paraglide just lifts you up in the air. I flew over Mendoza and the mountains for about 15-20 minutes maybe, and coming down we did all these turns which left some feeling a little queasy. It was def. worth doing, but I prob. wouldn't do it again for awhile. Maybe over a more outdoorsy area instead of city next time. For dinner we joined up with Emelina, Jacob and Theresa and the 9 of us had another lovely and delicious streak and wine dinner. mmm
Monday, May 1, was their equivalent of Labor Day (which is why we had a longer weekend), and parts of Mendoza were closed off for protests as the governor of the area was coming that day. The people were asking for a higher minimum wage. Anyway, we left in the afternoon, and got home 8-9 hrs later by bus (Andesmar) after waiting at the border for 2 hours. (side note- we had to watch Ghost Ship on the bus-- never ever watch it, it's the worst movie i've ever seen in my life). So that was just a taste of Argentina... and it makes me even more excited to go to Buenos Aires!
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