Wed. Night- There was a stressful start at the omnibus station: turns out that the day before independence day is the like traveling during thanksgiving... and with a group of 16 looking for the right bus loading station 5 minutes before it was leaving was enough to give anyone gray hairs. We filled most of the top of the bus... except there were 5 Argentines, and I felt very sorry for them, because they were subjected to the party bus mentality of 16 young adults. Most of us brought another bottle of wine for the ride, just in the spirit of the trip to wine country. Destination: Mendoza.Thursday: Booking 16 peoples activities and hostel rooms at the same time was a headache waiting to happen. But we were able to divide up into smaller groups and things went so well after that.I was kind of physically and mentally tired from the 15 hour bus ride, so 5 of us just explored the city.
It is so different from Buenos Aires: there were huge parks that were filled with people doing all types of things (futbol, volleyball, frisbee, markets ect). It is a very beautiful town.I met so many people on this trip to: Belen (Argentine), Mark (Australian), Josey (French/Dutch), Roberta (Italian), Chip (Californian), Kevin (Texan). The list goes on, but lets just say that after all the different conversations we had about life, traveling, cultures ect. I really felt that I was removed from the shell of ethnocentrism that is so prevelant in our country. As the Argentine put it, we think we are the belly button of the world. It was very interesting to hear her opinion about out country, and her country, we talked about 4 or 5 hours. It turns out her father owns an architecture firm in Cordoba, with 10 architects and about 100 employees....and she does the interviewing...A longer trip next summer?Friday: One of the girls traveling with us knew the owner of Argentina's Adventures, so we had a hookup for the day. It was an hour ride into the Andes mountains. The scenery was beautiful. The first activity of the day really woke us right up: White water rafting. Ive never been before, it was amazing! We saw a lama and the condor (king of the mountains). After the rafting we had a nice hot shower, then back to action. We hiked to various locations and went ziplining through the amazing scenery. It was pretty surreal that I was flying through the air over a lake in the Andes. It was all so affordable, for the whole day it only cost $60! Im still blown away by the price of things. That night the hostel put together a dinner for about 50 people. It cost $6 and was an all you can eat BBQ, and all you can drink tequilla...
Saturday: It was pretty unfortunate that the all you can drink tequila was the day before our wine tasting, but we managed to wake up in a timely manner. We took a bus to Mr. Hugo's, the nicest and happiest guy Ive ever met. He runs a bike business for the wine tours. Unfortunatly, Sarah, a girl from Harvard, never learned how to ride a bike...Everyone didnt want to deal with her and left right away. I felt bad and tried to teach her how to ride...Failed. Luckily for her, they had a tandum bike, which was a struggle because she still couldnt balance that well.
The group of 16 was hectic again of course, but I split into a smaller group of 6. We had lunch at one of the wineries and while we waited we did some wine tasting. and some more wine tasting. Lets just say that riding the bikes to the other wineries was a little harder. I bought a 2004 bottle of a special Malbec that I can age up to 12 years. It will be nice to have a bottle on reserve for a special occation. It was nearing sunset and Mr. Hugo was nice enough to come and check all our air pressure AND called a police export for our safety. That night was very chill-had the long talk with the Argentine about architecture in Cordoba.
Sunday: Our bus didnt leave until 6pm. So what better to do then find a nice sunny field, drink wine and play some frisbee. Seriously we had an amazing group of people and a very relaxing time. Getting to the bus on time was a little hectic, but we managed.
Internship: I have kind of given up on actually building houses, but I am helping with their graphic designs and marketing of the NPO. I get to see pictures of all the amazing things they do, and design different handouts. So I am somewhat exposed to the things they do. I just wish that I could have built with them...Heres a picture of the bricks we moved the other weekend. I kept my shirt on so the camera was not blinded by my pasty white skin.
I only have 8 days left. But a lot of people in the Road house are leaving at the end of the month. Itll be sad, after this weekend I feel like Ive known some of them for years. Itll be nice to have people to call up if I ever travel.
Im ready to head home actually. This next week will mostly be spent going to all the places in BA that ive been meaning to since I got here. Sorry I have not posted as often as I would have liked, but I hope you have all enjoyed it.
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