Well. So, as you may have read below, we were kind of "stuck" in Mendoza.
**Disclaimer: There's only so much I can say about how beautiful Mendoza/Argentina is. I'll post pictures soon, but keep in mind that the pictures don't do it justice. I will do my best to describe it but without going on for pages about it... I can only do so much**
We got back from the bus terminal and checked back into our hostel - we had to change rooms (we decided to see if we could make it each room of the hostel... I can tell you right now that we didn't, but were pretty close!) So, we were pretty familiar with the process of checking in as we had done it just 2 days prior, so we did the usual, dropped our stuff off, and hung out for a bit.
Since we had time to kill we decided to sign up for a Sunset Horseback ride through the foothills of the Andes followed by a traditional Argentinean BBQ... I mean, if you're going to be stuck you might as well do something that's kind of cool... right???
So, we left for our horse back riding excursion. I LOVE horses and horse back riding so I was beside myself with excitement, one of my other travel mates was excited but had done something similar in the South of Chile, and my other travelmate had never ridden a horse before, so she was a little nervous. We had yet another incredible drive out to the horse ranch - we went through winding side streets in the wine country of Mendoza, then continued through the countryside - I would say it was like driving through a mix of Arizona/The Badlands/the foothills in Denver/ the Rockies... it was absurdly beautiful and breathtaking. I find it hard to come up with new adjectives to describe everything. Because it's winter everything is pretty dry, so we could watch the dried grasses blowing the wind, the cacti poking up every now and then, and the beautiful reddish sand/dirt that was everything.
As we were driving out there I had to stop and wonder (for the 100th time) what I had done in life to get here. To a place where I was driving through the Argentinean wine country to go horse back riding at sunset. I had expectations for this trip, but my trip has SO FAR exceeded my expectations that I just don't even know where to begin anymore. It's just kind of like an amazing dream that I actually get to live.
Anyways.
So, before we even arrived at the ranch I was overwhelmed with contentedness (always a good place to start.) We get there and find a beautiful little ranch, there's a little thatched roof thing covering some tables, a traditional Argentinean bbq spit thing, a fire pit, and a hitching post.
We unloaded and waited for our horses. Mine was a gigantic, beautiful black one whose name translates to "Black Soul" - reassuring. We were quite a good match as he wanted to stop every 20 feet to eat... but he was a very relaxed horse who just did his horse thing. We rode up and down and round through the countryside. At several points we were quite literally riding off into the sunset. There was a pack of about 10 dogs that ran along with us, it seemed that they wanted to herd the horses (however, the horses would give a cautionary stomp is they got too close)
We were lead by Guillermo - the perfect guide as every time he would gallop up a hill his hair would flow behind him - quite picturesque. Our other guide (whose name I never got) was straight off a Marlboro add, he consistently had a cigarette in his hand/mouth and he was outfitted like a true cowboy. There were about 15 of us in all, several from Australia, several from Colombia, and some from Buenos Aires - it was a very fun group!
After about an hour ride, we came back to the main area where we started and hung out and watched with drooling mouths as our guides started grilling for us. It was an open fire (again I have pictures I'll post) and it was delicious. I mean, totally delicious (this coming from the former vegetarian) I ate probably 1/2 a cow alone. We had simple sandwiches (bread, meat, and tomato) but then just cut out the middleman and had just hunks of the meat. I'm drooling just thinking about it. Our meal was accompanied by some fabulous Argentinean wine and a campfire. We all sat around, ate, drank and chatted while the sun sank behind the hills.
Then it became even more impressive. Nothing beats a campfire under the stars - I'm pretty sure I was able to find the Southern Cross (the star constellation, if not, it was something that really looked like it!) So, we spent the evening just chatting (in English and Spanish) and sitting around the campfire while all of Mendoza spread out in twinkling lights below us.
It was at this time where I was truly able to say that life was perfect. There was nothing I would have changed about that moment - even though it was getting rather cold, it was just complete perfection. Somehow I have gotten lucky enough to be here, and I am so thankful for that.
We then had a quiet drive back to the hostel, as we all reflected on how amazing our evening had been. I can say, without hyperbole, that it will go down as one of the top 5 best nights ever.
Monday morning we went down to the bus station with little hope of going home. We were right - we were in Mendoza another day! We went through the speedy process of changing our tickets, getting another taxi and heading back to the hostel. By now they knew us pretty well there and we always had a good laugh whenever we showed up again. We checked back into a new room and then went out to explore Mendoza.
In total, we walked for about 6 hours - up to a soccer stadium from the World Cup (that is now under renovations so we couldn't see much) through the park, then basically through the entirety of the downtown area of the city. We saw beautiful houses, beautiful churches, beautiful parks... beautiful everything. Kids playing soccer in the park, families strolling, and there was plenty of jumping in the leaves - mostly by me. It was a great way to see a wonderful city.
Monday night we had dinner at the hostel and hung out with some of the other guests, studied some Spanish, and hoped we'd get home to Santiago and school the next day.
Tuesday morning we headed back to the bus station where we waited hopefully for about an hour - but to no avail. We did the usual exchanging of tickets and taxied back to the hostel. We were told (correctly) that this would be the last time, as we'd be able to go home on Wednesday.
So, we made it back to the hostel, did the usual checking in routine, and decided to go on a 1/2 day winery tour. We were told that we would be seeing new wineries, but we also got to go to an Olive Oil factory, so that was neat. It ended up being 2 of the same wineries that we had been to already, but they were great the first time and they were just as fun the 2nd time! We had a group of very boisterous Brazilians with us on our tour, so that made for a different experience! The olive oil place was really interesting, and we got to sample some incredibly delicious breads/spreads/oils - so that was fabulous.
We did some more wandering through Mendoza prior to the tour, so we got our exercise in! Which was good because we consumed a lot of chocolate/wine/food on our trip! We ate plenty of Argentinean steak, pasta, salad, french fries, and goodness knows what else.
For our last supper in Mendoza, we tried to go to a place that had been recommended by a family friend - however, in true Mendoza fashion it didn't open until 10 and we were far too hungry to wait that late, so we found another great little place and had some beers, some steak, and lots of fun times!
Wednesday morning we set off for one last go at the bus station. We got there, waited a little while, then boarded our bus. We had another beautiful drive through the now snowy Andes, though we had a fun 4-hour wait at the boarder then another fun wait in traffic in Santiago, so after 11 hours we made it back! I had a very joyful reunion with my host family, a much needed dinner and shower, and a chat with some people from back home. Then I was off to bed to get ready for a day back at class!
We have our test tomorrow, eek - lots to study in order to make up for the 3 days of class that I missed!
I'm sure that I'm leaving out details about the trip - but, the most important thing to know is that Mendoza is beautiful, the wine is wonderful, and the mountains were breathtaking :)
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