Wine, Olive Oil, Andes Mountains & Paragliding!

Hola todos!

I thought I'd log on to to blog about my first big trip of my time here in Argentina. This wasn't included in the program so us 14 students had to arrange the hostel and activities by ourselves. I was so relieved that when we got to Mendoza, the hostel we stayed in was way nicer than I expected! They had free internet access, computers, included continental breakfast, and SO many options to hook us up with activities. I think that's what made the experience, otherwise we wouldn't have known what to do. The whole trip cost me about $400 including transportation, lodging and food. Given everything I was able to do and see, I consider that really cheap and well worth it!

Click to see Facebook album of Mendoza

Here's a breakdown of what we did each day:

Friday: Arrived early in the morning after the 13 hour bus ride and went straight to our hostel. We were able to roam around the city a little bit until check-in time. Once the afternoon rolled around, we basically dropped off our stuff in our rooms and were picked up for a wine/olive oil tasting bus ride! You'd think we'd had enough of busses at this point, but since our little adventure involved visiting 2 wineries and an olive oil factory, we were game! I've never done a wine/olive oil tasting before so I enjoyed that a lot, and I now feel like I know quite a bit more about the processes it takes to make both.

Later that night we went to an "asado" at a hostel about 5 minutes away. An asado is basically a big meat BBQ with sausage, steak and red wine. Very popular here in Argentina. We met some people from New Zealand and Chile which was fun too. We were told we'd get a free tequila shot after dinner which was a fun little bonus. This hostel was HUGE and essentially had a bar connected to it. We were all just chilling upstairs playing pool and talking when all the lights turned off, dance lights turned on, the music got super loud and a "siren" went off. We all went downstairs to the bar and they had 2 tequila bottles that they were pouring directly into mouths...so basically we got WAY more than just a shot! Then before I knew it my sweet and innocent friend Bianca was being boosted up on the bar and people were doing body shots off of her! Afterwards she told me that the bartenders said they'd give her a free drink if she did it. But she thought a body shot meant setting a shot glass on her stomach and someone taking the glass to drink...so she was quite surprised when they were pouring it on her and she put the lemon in her mouth! Then the bartenders whipped out some foam to turn it into a foam party...so most of us wanted to leave after that haha. It was quite the experience. Things got so crazy so fast, and all of us were content just hanging out before all the craziness started! I think overall it was all pretty funny though, and we now call Bianca "Body-shot B."

Saturday: An early wake-up call at 6am! We spent all day, from 7am-7:30pm going through the Andes Mountains (again, on a bus!) But on the ride we were able to take a lot of pictures and we made about 6 stops at scenic locations where we were able to roam around for a half hour or so. The longer stop was for about an hour and a half and it was through a national park where we could get a good view of the highest peak of the Andes Mountains. I knew when planning this trip we'd be near the Andes, but it didn't hit me until I actually saw them how amazing this opportunity was--I SAW AND WENT THROUGH THE ANDES!!! Craziness. Then that night at OUR hostel were more free drinks! Again, the schedule said we'd get 1 free drink, but the girl that works at the hostel and helped us plan all our activities, Jezibel, then said we could drink as much as we wanted until it was gone. Soo...5 mojitos later everyone was having a great time! We were just hanging out at the hostel and playing drinking games with a deck of cards. We met a girl from Holland and I also ran into 2 medical students that are from MN and go to the University of Minnesota..uhh what?! I'm amazed every day at how small of a world it actually is.

Sunday: 6 of us decided to paragliding! Definitely the biggest spur of the moment decision I've ever made, especially when I wasn't entirely sure what paragliding entailed! We were all picked up from the hostel and driven to a location sort of up in the mountains, and they took 3 people at a time. I was in the second group, so after waiting about 45 minutes, we saw 3 parachutes floating in the air in the distance up above the big mountains. So THAT'S what I was about to be doing. Floating up in the air relying only on the wind with no motor. Oh my god. Not sure being in the second group was the best idea!

When it was our turn, we rode up in a crappy old truck on the rockiest "road" ever (I'd call it a walking trail) The car stalled twice and we were at like a 45-degree angle the whole time going up a mountain with no guardrails or anything. So that already was scary! Then once we got up there, the guys set up the parachutes, I was strapped in, he gave me no other instructions except "run," and I jumped off the Andes Mountains and before I knew it was floating away! It was so insane and I was awestruck by the scenery. But still happy, enjoying the experience. Then another feeling took over...

Whether it was motion sickness or my first time having whole milk in my frosted flakes that morning or altitude sickness from such little oxygen, I do not know. Either way, I told my instructor man that spoke very little English that I didn't feel well and he was calm and said "over on this side, ok?" and up came my breakfast...twice. I couldn't do anything except laugh at myself, because honestly it was pretty funny. I try to do something fun and adventurous and then THAT happens. Oh well, what can ya do? I enjoyed the rest of my ride for the next 10 minutes, so it was okay! I think the guy was used to seeing that, and it's probably a downside of the job. But after that all happened, he told me in Spanish "If it happens in the sky, it's a secret!" which I thought was funny. Here's one of the happier moments of the ride:

After exploring the city a little bit later in the afternoon, we had to catch our bus back to Rosario, another 13 hour ride overnight. Then when we arrived Monday morning, we went straight from the bus station to the school without a dinner (the company jipped us on sandwiches! How dare they!) and no breakfast. Needless to say class was a struggle! Despite the exhaustion and nonstop action, overall I had the most wonderful time on this trip escaping from the big city for a long weekend. I got to know the people in my program even better too. All of our personalities mesh together quite well so far. Everyone was even cool with drawing names so we could sit by different people on the bus ride back. I think that just shows how open and easy going we are and how we value getting to know one another better. Most of the people in the program are from Oregon, so they are mostly very outdoorsy (I'm one of the few without one of those HUGE legit backpacker's backpacks) and laid-back. There's one other girl, Erin, who is from Ball State as well. I think it will be cool when we go back to school in the fall and will be able to talk about our shared experience together that no one else quite understands like we do.

Biggest positive of the experience: More of a small town feel with less people, friendlier people, less traffic and noise. We got to be close to nature again!
Biggest downer of the experience: I brought my travel debit card that I haven't had to use yet because I have been using up the cash I brought and exchanged for pesos (better exchange rate that way and avoiding ATM fees.) Naturally it wasn't functioning and said my pin # was wrong, so I had to borrow pesos from my friends. They were totally cool with it and told me not to worry about it, but I still felt bad having to do that. I think I need to contact my bank and set up a new pin and not the one that they automatically put on there right before my trip. Once I got back to Rosario I used my other debit card at an ATM and it worked so I paid everyone back already, but it was just frustrating and an unneeded stress on this trip.

Words of the week!

recordar/acordarse- to remember

rizado- curly

lacio- straight

sobrenombre- nickname

deshacer- to undo

estribillo- chorus (of a song)

alrededor- nearby, surroundings

faltar- to miss

marcharse- to leave (and never return)

el nieve/nevar- snow, to snow

incierto- uncertain

maletas/valija/equipaje- luggage, bags

disfraces- costumes

coser- to sew

aceite de olivas- olive oil

casamiento/matrimonio- wedding

aún- so far, still

consejos/sugerencias- advice, suggestions

ultimamente- lately

parapente- paragliding

durar- to last, duration

pertenecer- to belong

estadounidense- citizen of the U.S.A.

descrubimiento- discovery

bombacha- women's underwear

calzoncillo- men's underwear

calzones- undergarments (in general)

*The last 3 words are a prime example of how off-topic our classes can get with our professors. Learning fun words :)

The new words list keeps getting longer and longer! I'd like to think my Spanish has improved immensely up until this point. As much fun as I had this last weekend, I'm excited to explore some more of my new "home city" this weekend go with the flow for whatever other activities come my way. Til next time amigos!