I found out that Christy was studying in Mendoza, and she invited me out to come spend a few days with her, and Alex's mom invited me to Mendoza with them, (for a few days later) so timing just worked out perfectly... I would fly in Saturday morning, spend Sat, Sun and part of Monday with Christy, then spend Mon, Tue and part of Wed with Alex, then fly to BsAs on Wed afternoon (just in time for our trip to Jujuy with our program.) It was a flawless plan and a good time was going to be had by all....
But being in Latin america, there were flaws. I got to the airport at 4:15, exausted, and the line for my airlines was LONG LONG LONG, ridiculously long. Note: the day before, Alex had told me that my airline had gone on strike, so I called the airlines, and they said that there was no strike, and that there would be no issues... WRONG. So I'm standing in line at the airport, and look up at the screen, and see that my flight was CANCELLED. Of course it was!!
I walked over to the booth for another airlines, which had NO LINE, and asked them if their 6:30 am flight had any room on it. It did, and I paid for my ticket. I texted Alex to let her know what was going on, I mean it was 4:30, she was still out partying! She informed me that her mom had fallen, broken her arm...and she was with her mom in the hospital. She was glad I got my new flight, and she'd see me in a few days (or so she thought).
The 2 hr plane ride went by real quick, cause I slept through the whole thing. When I turned my phone on in Mendoza, I had a text saying that Alex's mom couldn't fly for a week, and they wouldn't be coming to Mendoza. Great. Oh well, I was in Mendoza and I was going to enjoy it. I walked out of the airport and saw mountains, and NO buidings. It was one of the best feelings ever. The air was clean and it was quiet. I took in a good deep breath and headed out to go see Christy.
I found out later that her mom wasn´t able to travel for a week and that they wouldn´t be coming to Mendoza. Well fuck. Then I found out a little later that day that they would ALL be going home, to the US. So nobody would be coming, and I was stuck in Mendoza for a few days alone. Todo bien... almost.
The rest of the day was really relaxing... I found a hostel to stay in, then Christy and I walked around Mendoza for hours, talking, and seeing the sights. There is a huge park, with a huge lake and rowers and runners, and rollerbladers with fanny packs. I swear, this country LOVES the 80s and 90s. We went out for Middle eastern food, and had great conversation over a great bottle of wine. It was a lot of fun to catch up with my old friend!!
Then on Sunday, we rented a car (I just love to do that in Latin American countries) and we went on our self-guided tour through the Andes. IT WAS SO SO SO BEAUTIFUL. I had read everywhere that it was a beautiful loop, so we did it. We saw some huge peaks, and beautiful lakes. It was like driving over trail ridge road, with even better views... (a lot of it reminded me of driving in CO) about 1/2 of the drive consisted of winding, dirt roads. We got to see the water place (think of El Dorado or Deep rock) but it was nestled in the Andes. Absolutely amazing. We had lunch and more good wine and returned to Mendoza.
Monday was even better. We had the car for another 1/2 day, so we decided to tour the vineyards. I mean, we wer at the home of Malbec, how could I resist? We dressed up for the occasion, in our sun dresses, though you could tell Christy was from the south, and I clearly wasn´t. It´s all good. We started our day at Chandon, who´s Argentine branch was the the first branch out of France. There we took an English tour and learned all about how to make chapagne... absolutely amazing. After the tour, we had a wine tasting where we got to try a few varities of champagne and wine, accompanied by cheese. YUM!
Next on our agenda was Bodega Familia Zuccardi. This bodega was starred in both our guide books, so we had to go. However, despite Christy and my map reading and navigational skills, it still took us over an hour and a half to get there! The roads weren´t labeled (at all) and the map wasn´t even close to being to scale... recipie for failure. Although we arrived at the bodega about an hour late, our reservation for lunch was still valid. We walked down a small dirt road, through the vineyards to a beautiful restaurant, where we were served a 4 course lunch, all you can eat, from the parilla (grill) with (all you can drink) wine to go with each course. It was absolutely amazing. Needless to say, we were both very buzzed/drunk for the wine tour. It was in spanish and a little less exciting. I got to try wine at its different stages, straight out of the barrels, COOL!
We had to rush home so I wouldn´t miss my bus (that I was now taking, because I was going home early because Alex and her mom weren´t coming, so my flight would have been 2 days later). I dropped Christy off at home, then went to go return the rental car. The rental guy (a cute old man) asked how I was goign to get to the bus station, "taxi" I replied...
"No, Te llevo" (No, I´ll take you!) So I ran to the hostel to pick up my suitcase, ran back, and he was waiting with my stuff loaded in the car, and a bottle of wine for me, as a gift. So cute, (I had bought wine at the wineries too, so I had A LOT of wine with me). So I BARELY made my bus, like it was starting to pull out (THE ONE THING THAT LEFT ON TIME) but I made it.
My 14 hour bus ride didn´t seem that bad, thanks to my reclining seat, 2 meals, and 2 movies.
Overall, it was an amazing trip and although it didn´t all go according to plan, my time there was perfect. It was nice to get out of the city and have a change of pace (and weather) that reminded me so so so much of being back in Colorado.
I leave tonight for Jujuy, which is a province in Northwest Argentina, with my program. It should be a very fun trip, although I´ll be traveling with about 50 americans!!
Besos a todos!
1 comment:
Well that made we want wine. I think I'll buy some tomorrow. Sorry things didn't quite go as planned but I'm glad you had fun anyway. Traveling in foreign countries is always an adventure.
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