ΣΚ in BA

A few weeks before I left, some of my friends from school came to Buenos Aires with their Semester at Sea program. The first day they arrived, I met up with them between my classes at a park near my program building and their port. It was so nice getting to see Elon people since there aren't any in my program!

They stayed for 5 days and did a lot of touristy things around the city. We planned on getting dinner then going out their last night in the city. I told Hannah, Emily, Georgia and Erin to meet Chloe, Sam and I at Guido's which is an awesome Italian restaurant. I googled it quickly to email the address to Emily because they have very limited communication. They can only really use email on the boat and Wifi when they find it around the city.

I figured out the buses to take and went on my way. As I was waiting for the 118, Chloe texted me on my Argentine phone asking the address. Oh, Chloe, I thought. She is never prepared! So I sent her the address. She called me a minute later right when I got on the bus saying that's definitely not the address. I LOOKED UP AND TOLD MY OTHER FRIENDS THE WRONG GUIDO'S! I had no idea of the directions or where this place was and I couldn't even contact my Elon friends to tell them it was the wrong restaurant!

So I asked the bus driver and he said just to get off at the next stop and walk a few blocks toward Libertador. Damn it. So I did. I stopped at 3 kioskos (two of which gave me wrong directions) but 10 blocks or so later I found the restaurant! Chloe and Sam were sitting down and I quick grabbed Sam's iPhone (because I forgot my Droid) logged onto the wifi and messaged Emily to tell her the right address, praying she had wifi.

Right after I sent her the message, there they were! They went to the other Guido's, which was more of a cafe/bar type place and they said they didn't have any reservations. The bar told them that this Guido's (luckily only a few blocks away) had reservations and this was probably the place. So they came to the real Guido's and asked for a reservation for "Shelly" but there wasn't one (Sam actually made the reservation). So they walked back to the wrong Guido's and the workers started getting mad reassuring them that it was the wrong place. Then they came back to the right Guido's and the host figured that there was only one other group of Americans so it was probably what they were looking for. We were lucky!

So we had awesome pasta and wine and headed to my friend Dieuwke's apartment for a pregame. Ale and Juan Pablo showed up as well! The girls were super exhausted from all of their traveling so they decided to go home when we headed out for the boliche.

How fun it was to have them in my wonderful city! They're now traveling around Brazil then Cuba!

Let me tell you about the most fun night of my life

One of my crazy nights: a couple weeks ago BA had a Night of the Museums where all the awesome art and history museums reopened from 10-3am. So obviously we pregamed it. Mindee's parents were here so we were planning to pregame at their hotel room. Christina and I got a large pizza to go in Recoleta and headed to the Retiro area of town by bus. We got a text on the way from Jessie saying that the hotel yelled at them for having more than 2 people in the hotel room so we'd meet at Temple Bar Retiro... we have a full pizza! We can't just bring that in a bar!

So we went to the bar, the girls weren't there. With full pizza still in hand, Christina and I went to the hotel to try to casually walk by the man at the front desk... Didn't work. He as actually kind of a jerk  saying that he already told our friends that they can't have that many people in the room. So we said we'd just wait in the lobby and use the hotel's phone to call up to tell them we're here. 

We started eating the pizza and after we both finished a slice the front desk guy said we couldn't eat there either... Thanks dude.  So I asked him if we had to eat on the street and he just shrugged... Jerk.

So we were eating our pizza on the street outside of the hotel (right outside their huge glass doors where they could see us) when or friends came down with drinks for us. Picture in your mind this image: 5 girls on the streets of BA taking shots of gin, rum, and Vodka from plastic water bottles and chasing with a two liter coke... While eating a while pizza... the classiest. 

Then we got pretty drunk and took a cab to an awesome Latin American art museum called el MALBA.... Still taking shots from my flask in line. A few other friends met us with their super crazy hot Argentine boyfriends (lolz). Walking through the museum drunk was awesome because it was all really modern and trippy art.

Then some of us took a cab to a bar called Chupitos in Palermo SoHo where they have over 100 different kinds of shots from mild to on fire. When we got there, there was a line so I thought I'd go up to the bouncer and handle it. I went up to the bouncer explaining to him in drunk Spanish that the more the merrier and he should let everyone in. He asked me if I was alone and drunk Shelly thought I'd be a good idea to say yes so he let me in... I looked around the bar and knew no one! So... Time to make friends.

An hour later when my friends got in (apparently one of the boyfriends, Alejandro, went all around the block looking for me but they figured I just went inside) I already had a bunch of free shots in and was surrounded by 6 people all taking to me in Spanish with my back against the wall. One of the shots was called Harry Potter and it was on fire with sparks! I kissed anyone and everyone on the cheek and invited them to a boliche (club) called Terrazas.

Terrazas is the best club I've ever been to. It has so many different rooms with different types of music from house music (outside on the terrace on the river) to Latin music. The second we walked in, a guy pulled me aside and started talking to me... I just wanted to go dance with my friends so I politely said no, turned around, and Chloe, Ale, and everyone else were gone!!! It was fine, though, because I just wandered from room to room and danced all night. I also met some awesome Mexican girls who found me alone and said they'd dance with me until I found my friends. They were so amazing and their English was amazing! One of the girls lived in Miami and at least 5 times throughout the night raised her hand to hold mine so we could shout the pledge of allegiance together. Ok. That's cool.

'murica

We were out on the terrace where they were playing house music when all of a sudden Jessie and my eyes met.... We were both so happy!!! She actually started crying she was so happy to see me. We were just high on life. So happy to just dance and be together. Other IES people were there too which was fun!!

I lost my friends again... found my Mexican girl friends and went to the Latino music room. Uhhh I LOVE dancing to latin music. I'm gonna miss that part so much when I got to bars in the States :(

Jessie found me in the Latino room and said they were going to leave soon, I looked at my watch.. 6:30 AM??? Where did the time go???? Best night ever. 

The next morning my abdomen and legs were so sore from dancing. It was the best night out of my life. It's pretty hard, though, the next morning when you go to a boliche until 8am... which is what usually happens when you go to boliches. The time just doesn't even exist when you're in a good one. Being with your friends dancing (especially with Jessie) is the most fun things EVER. 

Patagonia: El Chalten

Yesterday we woke up early in Calafate to take a 3 hour bus to El Chalten.

We took a stop at a restaurant/souvenir place (that was unbelievably overpriced because it was in the middle of nowhere, Patagonia where the buses always have to stop) that had a pole out front with about 15 planks of wood pointing in the direction of the cities written on the wood from around the world. It also added the distance of those cities from that location.

Then we got to Chalten and stopped at a rangers station. They told us about the hikes we could do but they said the hike we wanted to do (Tres Lagos) was prohibited because it was windy and rainy. Boo!

So we went to our hostel, got our stuff together to hike and went for lunch to the cheapest place in town since most of the restaurants of the 28 year old town are extremely overpriced. I had a lentil and chorizo stew that was awesome! There we decided to take the Fitz Roy hike and just stop when the Tres Lagos part started.

Then we started our walk to the bottom of the mountain. It was TERRIBLE weather. It was incredibly windy and rainy in below freezing temperatures. But we were only in Chalten for one day so we were gonna do what we had to do!

There were some great pictures that came out of it too... Us all wrapped up in jackets, scarves on our heads and faces, and ponchos and rain jackets... It was actually so upsetting it was funny.

The walk took about 15 minutes to the bottom of the mountain to start our hike.

I got out my camera to take a picture of Sheridan and Sarah with the entrance sign and a miracle happened... The sun appeared out of nowhere! All of the clouds disappeared farther into the mountains! We were so happy!

The hike from then on was gorgeous! The snowy mountains and valley were awesome reflecting from the sun and the wind blew snow from the mountains to where we were on another mountain so it felt like it was snowing!

We felt like we were on top of the world.

It took us about 3 hours to do an hour and a half hike because we kept stopping, talking on the rock on the side of the mountain, looking at the views and taking pictures.

Then we got to a beautiful lake along the hike that started Tres Lagos. It was so sad because it was snowing so much in the mountains that there were too many clouds above them and we couldn't see Fitz Roy very well. But the rest of the mountains beyond the lake were beautiful.

We stayed there for a bit just relaxing when it started to snow on us! The amount of layer changes I did was crazy. I started the hike with three pairs of pants, three shirts, three pairs of socks, a flannel, a North Face fleece and a scarf. And I needed it all... at least for the walk to the base of the mountain.

I'd take off a pair of pants, scarf and my fleece, put my fleece back on, take off my fleece and flannel, and put those back on when the wind picked up or when we were sitting on the edge of the mountain, etc.

Layers were my friends!

Luckily Sheridan had an extra pair of gloves cause I sent mine (and most of my other winter clothes) home with Mommom.

After some relaxing time, we filled up our water bottles in the lake and headed back. The snow storm was pretty much above us so we didn't stop as much on the way home until it cleared up. Then of chose we would stop and take in the beautiful views.

There and back we had constant great conversation. We talked about politics, each of our near-death experiences, our friends with weird health problems, our scariest moments, and our families. I've had the best conversations during my hikes around Argentina. It's a way to really get to know the people with whom you're traveling.

Walking back through the tiny town of El Chalten, we stopped at a bakery to reward ourselves :)

Then we found a spa! We were kind of sore from hiking this weekend so we stopped in to look at prices. It was only $37 for an hour massage... We said we'd think about it.

We also stopped at a camping store that had Columbia, Timbaland and Patagonia advertised outside. We went in but with disappointment, we didn't see many Patagonia brand items... Lame.

We warmed back up at the hostel after we arrived around 4. We relaxed until dinner and had our leftover lunch. It was so weird because I guess we were so south that there's light from before 6am till after 9pm! It felt so early but we were all exhausted and finally forced ourselves to go to bed the second it got dark after dinner.

When I woke up this morning at 6:30 for the bus back to Calafate I looked outside and it was gorgeous! Not a cloud in the sky! And low and behold, there was Fitz Roy. At least he came out for us to see that beautiful morning.

Today were going back to Hostel America del Sur in Calafate to hang out a bit before our plane at 4 or 5.

I'm so happy I got to cross Patagonia of top things I want to see in this beautiful world. And what's funny? This weekend I was almost as close to Antarctica as you could get and last weekend I was in the northern jungle where I could see Brazil and Paraguay. 

All in one country.

I effing love Argentina.

Patagonia: Calafate

Since we had to be at the airport for our flight at 3:30am... I only got about two hours of sleep. We were exhausted by the time Sheridan, Sarah and I met at Las Heras y Pueyrredon to share a taxi to the domestic flights airport.

We got to the airport, drank a tea, befriended a kiosko worker (who then asked for our Facebook names...) and got to our gate.

This flight was actually terrible. The worst one yet.

I passed out right away, which I didn't even think was possible for me to fall asleep on a plane, with my neck in the worst position. Because I feel sleep I missed the food :( I was sitting in a window seat next to an older couple... Having to get out to pee was so annoying. Then like 30 min later I felt like I had to pee again; strenuously held that one in, though, until we landed.

Also, my ears hurt so bad from the altitude. Sheridan and Sarah said theirs hurt too so there was definitely something wrong with the airplane.

Another thing, it was so cold on the flight! I needed my long sleeve shirt, flannel and North Face and I was still cold.

Además, something was dripping on me from the ceiling... I was not impressed.

We landed 3 hours later in Calafate and took a booked van to our recommended hostel, America del Sur.

Our room wasn't ready yet but the receptionists told us to help ourselves with the breakfast that was still out.

The hostel is amazing. It has a compete view of the mountain range and a cool loft where I've if the receptionists came up to to explain the town and excursions. She was super nice and we could understand her Spanish perfectly.

We were thinking about doing the Mini Trekking excursion that cost 800 pesos but then she showed us pictures from an excursion called Big Ice. The pictures were so impressive we booked that one for 1,200 pesos.

We went to the super market after to get lunch and lunch for our excursion and explored town.

It was a beautiful tiny town with awesome views of snowy mountains everywhere. It was a little chilly but after walking around in the sun it warmed up.

We got back, made great pasta with sausage, lentils and peas and just talked.

By the time we were done chatting it was around 4:30 and we decided we needed a nap.

We set the alarm for 6 to watch the sunset behind the mountains though.... Jokes.

We slept right through that and vertically all the way until our 6am alarm. We got up once at 10 because my birth control alarm went off. We randomly got up, weirdly did some intense stretching, Sheridan showed, and a half hour later we got back into bed and slept till morning.... Great nights sleep.

Then we got up, got breakfast, and were picked up by our excursion van. We dove for probably 1.5-2 hours west toward Chile to a glacier called Perito Moreno.

On the way we stopped at an awesome viewpoint of a glacier that was 60 meters tall above the water and about 100 meters below sea. Our guide explained that the glacier was bigger than the city of Buenos Aires... Are you kidding me?? That's fucking enormous! Bigger than I could ever imagine. That was on the south side.

All of a sudden, I heard something like a gun fire then tons of loud rumbling. Turns out it was part of the glacier falling off. That kind of thing happened every 10 minutes or so.

So then went to the place where we were going to hike in the glacier (on the north side). We took a boat across the river and stopped at the "refugee" where we got our gives and into or groups.

We hiked for a bit, passing the Mini Trekking group to a right before we entered the glacier stop where we got our harnesses and crampons.

Then, we boarded the glacier. It was amazing. The Big Ice was a more intense hike on the glacier than Mini Trekking and I'm so glad we chose it. The views were beautiful and the delicate ice was such an experience to climb across.

We asked our two guides if there are accidents and they said not really. The ice is so thick even if there's water in top of it. There were lots of large cracks in the ice, some filled with water, some empty, that we had to cross over.

There were also rivers grooved into the ice with mini waterfalls. Also, we went through an ice cave! So cool!

Our total trek on the ice took about 3 hours and by that time, my feet and ankles were hurting me a bit because I was wearing running sneakers, not hiking shoes.

We hiked back to the boat with one of our guides, Luiz.

Once on the boat we each got a glass of whiskey and an alfajor! Such a nice end to the hike!

We went to Esquina Varela for dinner which is famous for their lamb so we had some yummy lamb stews and wine!

Tango tango

So with my extensive dance experience (lolz not really) I obviously signed up for  tango night with IES.

A bunch of chicas meet at IES and we went to Milonga en La Catedral del Tango. A milonga has a few different meanings:

1. It's a type of tango music
2. It's a type of tango dance
3. It's a tango dance party

My favorite definition, though, is tango dance party. Obviously!

Milongas originated in Buenos Aires.

During a milonga, three to five songs are played in a row followed by a short musical break to give dancers a chance to find new partners. Dancers who attend milongas are called milongueros or milongueras.

The term milonga also refers to a distinct style of tango. Milonga is a faster-paced and less complex form of tango. Milonga can also refer to a musical genre.

We took a bus there from IES to the Milonga in Villa Crespo and automatically went to the bar and got a few bottles of wine :) We needed to loosen up before our tango class!

In our class there were a lots of people on the dance floor of a dimly lot club and we learned simple, fundamental steps while rotating partners every few minutes.

It was so hard for me to allow my partners to lead 100% because in my dance experience I'm in total control of my body. But in tango, you have to let your body go and have your partner put it where it needs to go.

I danced with tons of partners from experienced to beginners, Brazilians to porteños, old to young, creepy pony trail to suave cuts. I was enjoying the diversity.

After the class you were able to dance around, changing partners during the breaks like I said above.

I had a great time but my back started hurting after a while from keeping the posture. It's very similar to ballet posture which made it not as bad because I was used to it.

I have to say, though, I definitely mastered the 8 step plus some... click here to check it out!

The IES group left but a handful of us stayed a bit longer to drink wine and dance. We all had such a great time and I can't wait to take more classes. Maybe samba next? Who knows :)

PS. The old people were freaking adorable. My husband better be down for some tango when we're 70.

Las Cataratas de Iguazu

17 hours.

Yes, 17 hours.

We bought a bus ticket from BA to Iguazu, packed up our supplies, and Jessie, Lean and I headed out on Thursday afternoon after class. The bus ride really wasn't bad. However, our bus was about 45 minutes late which worried us a little because usually the long distance buses are on time.

We met a girl from New York named Ola who is traveling around South America for a month. She got fired from her job, her boyfriend broke up with her and she got evicted from her apartment... all in less than a month!!!

So what did she do? She applied and go unemployment, booked a plane ticket and started traveling. Side note -- Ola knows maybe 5 words in Spanish. That's it!! That's a brave girl right there if you ask me.

Finally our bus came and we got on board. For this trip I only had two backpacks... on on my front and one on my back. Suitcases are too difficult to carry around when traveling like I do here.

We had dinner, a cold and hot meal with wine... lots of wine. The steward was kind of coming on to us... asking if, ya know, he could marry us and all. Instead of marriage, I just asked for tons of wine.

I slept pretty well but you can only sleep so well with cama (bed)... which isn't exactly a bed but more like an awesome recliner.

We arrived to Iguazu around noon. We got some milanesa for lunch then went to Tres Fronteras which is a viewpoint from Argentina where both Brazil and Paraguay are visible. We went right at sunset which was the most beautiful time to go!

Hey look! Brazil!

Monument at Tres Fronteras

 Viewpoint from Argentina; Paraguay on the left and Brazil on the right

We got snacks and food for Saturday's hike through the Iguazu park.

The park was amazing!!!! We took a cab, which our hostel booked for us, to the park. It was only 50 pesos each (Ola, Leah, Jessie and me).

Iguazu is also often compared with Southern Africa's Victoria Falls which separates Zambia and Zimbabwe Iguazu is wider, but because it is split into about 275 discrete falls and large islands, Victoria is the largest curtain of water in the world.

Iguazu currently has the second-greatest average annual flow of any waterfall in the world, after Niagara, with an average rate of 61,660 cu ft.

First we took a boat down the river and we got so close to the waterfalls that we were soaked! Luckily we wore our bathing suits! They gave us big waterproof bags to put our things in during the ride. We didn't go directly under the falls because that would have definitely crushed us with the power of the water. We got damn close though.

There are different hikes you can do including the lower sector, the upper sector and Devil's Throat.  

Lower sector

Upper sector

Devil's Throat

Long story short: Upon seeing Iguazu, the United States' First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt reportedly exclaimed "Poor Niagara!"(which, at 165 feet, the Niagara falls are a third shorter).

The park was amazing -- one of the most incredible things I've ever seen.

To get to Devil's Throat, we had to take a free in-park train up and walk along a massive bridge over the a large source of the waterfalls. 

The power from the falls was actually a bit scary. I couldn't imagine someone ever surviving a jump from Devil's Throat. The force was magnificent.

Instead of taking the train back down the falls, we took an ecological tour down the river. However, right when we got on the boat it started to rain... lame. There were three French guys on the boat with us all working in Brazil. They were good company for the ride.

We all had life vests and the guys and I also had ponchos. Leah made a funny saying that the Frenchies looked like the Hunchback of Notre Dame... LOLZ. Jokes on jokes.

Well, our backpacks, everything inside our backpacks and our sneakers got soaked... but we saw some awesome wildlife! We saw toucans (one I named Toucan Dan) and a monkey!

It was a great, great day :)

That night we went to a nice restaurant and got some free Brazillian drinks called Caipirinhas. They kinda tasted like Pisco Sours (the Peruvian national drink). Tons of lime in em! We all ordered all different things like fish, steak, gnocci, salad and rice and vegetables. Soo yummy!

That night we all sat outside and enjoyed (a lot) of fernet and cokes and wine... even yummier! Paul, a guy from France that we met, Misha, a guy from Montreal, Ola, and other people from IES that stayed in the same hostel as us all hung out outside drinking and having fun.

Paul was traveling around then ran out of money in Iguazu so he decided to volunteer at the hostel for 40 pesos a day... aka nothing. He knew some English but not much. He seemed super into me but I wasn't into it. He was cute... but that's about it. Steven is better :)

We got pretty drunk then most of us went to bed, it was just Ola, Paul, Misha, Mindee and me left so we took a walk around town... the town was literally deserted from elections that day. We had a whole dog pack following us though. They were awesome and so friendly.

Then we got back to the hostel and decided to jump in the pool... and play Marco Polo (ironic because we were staying in the Marco Polo hostel). It was a great time but it was so late so Mindee and I headed to bed.

The next day we were going to go to the animal reserve but we thought hanging out in the pool and drinking fernet and coke and beer sounded better... and that's exactly what we did. An Australian and two Argentines joined us which was fun.

Then our bus was at 3pm. We got back to BA around 8:30 and I showed up just in time for my 9am Spanish class... go me...

Iguazu was amazing... next weekend is my last traveling weekend and I'm heading to Calafate! Studying abroad is seriously the coolest thing ever :)

Weekend in and around Buenos Aires

It's Mommom's last few days in Buenos Aires so we had to make it special! My week was just so busy with work and school that I barely had time for her. This weekend made up for it though.

Friday I had work and a makeup class until 6, traveled to the other side of the city to the apartment, and started drinking wine. It was great!! Sheridan, Sam, Mindee and probably some other girls came over for a pasta and salad dinner and wine.

Having this apartment is actually so nice. We can have people over at our homestays but it's very, very rare. And we usually only have people stop by briefly. But this apartment is in the center of Palermo SoHo, the coolest, hippest part of Buenos Aires with tons of bars and restaurants. We can have people over whenever we want. We don't have to spend a fortune on a bar to hang out. And if we don't feel like going out, we don't have to and we can still hang at the apartment. Whenever I'm too tired to go out, it means a night alone for me. But I didn't go to any bars late this weekend but I was still always surrounded by friends in the apartment drinking wine and watching movies.

Basically, I wish I had this apartment for the rest of my stay here. It'd be pretty sick.

However, Mommom is leaving tomorrow evening, and I'm gonna have to go back to my homestay... I guess I'm a bit bitter about it. My host mom is cool and is a great cook but it sucks being alone all the time at home. It was so nice to be able to invite people over without feeling scowled.

Sorry, back to my awesome weekend.

The girls went out Friday night after our dinner, wine and Dirty Dancing: Havanna Nights sesh. I was exhausted from the week so I just went to bed.

Saturday we got up, had an awesome breakfast of scrambled eggs with rice, yogurt and granola, toast and tea. Then we found out there was going to be a big club rugby playoff match between Hindu and Sic in San Isidro... I've always wanted to go to a rugby game!!!

So we got ready and met Sam, Sheridan, Chloe, Jessie, Jenna and Juan P at the Retiro train station to take the train into the suburb of San Isidro.

The trains are weird here because you don't actually pay for them. I didn't even see a place to pay for the train! You just get on and off at your stop... I don't mind free transportation.

We walked a few blocks... Mommom practically crawled half of the way but not to worry, we got there.

The game cost AR$60 and it was awesome!! It was such a good match and I got to finally learn about the sport.

Poor Sheridan was a little sleepy.

Mommom and I!

Sheridan, Sam, Juan P and I watching the game!

Oh yeah, and a guy ripped his shorts and had to change 'em. Not complaining. I had fun taking pictures objectifying  men. Sorry not sorry.

There were some crazy fans there too!

That night we had another wine and girls night-- having our own apartment in Palermo SoHo, the collest part of BA, really had its perks. We walked around a few blocks until we found a restaurant we liked.

We found one and all sat down and automatically ordered 3 bottles of the house wine. All of a sudden, I looked up at the TV and it looked like the stadium we went to that day for rugby and the jerseys were also similar. All of a sudden, Jessie's face popped up on the TV!! We were all on TV and we didn't even know we were filmed!!

We also pretended it was Mommom's birthday so our mozo brought her a huge piece of tiramisu- like cake to share with us and we each got a glass of champagne! Great night with the ladies!

We went back to the apartment got into our jammies and had a sleepover. Sheridan and Sam with me in the bed, Mindee on the couch with Mommom and Carla on the floor with some cushions... lo siento, chica. Christina went out with hombre.

Sunday was a day for Buenos Aires Ciudad. We all got up and went to Magdalena's Party for the best brunch in Buenos Aires. We had omlettes and breakfast burritos with Mimosas and Bloody Marys! We sat outside on the patio and had a great time.

After a great, filling brunch, we were about to head out the door to take a taxi to the San Telmo fair (a market I haven't gotten to yet) when who other than Christina rang our intercom!! She told us she was going to come to brunch with us but we haven't heard from her since last night when she went to see hombre. 

And alas, when I went out to the balcony and called her name, she responded... wearing the same clothes as last night-- that's my girl!

So since we had 5 people and the taxi could only fit 4, Sam, Sheridan and Christina took the bus and said they'd meet us at the Starbucks there.

Now unfortunately I was too nervous to bring my smartphone out to a neighborhood I wasn't familiar so I have no pictures to show you. But honestly, Recoleta fair is better. The San Telmo fair had a lot of antique goods which were cool to look at, but I really wouldn't want to buy. 

It was a beautiful area but Mommom got tired quickly and I really wanted to show her Recoleta since it was her last day so we headed out. 

The taxi driver headed down Av. Libertador and dropped us right off at the fair. On the way we passed Casa Rosada (where Cristina, the president, works) and a few other big BA hot spots. 

Mommom LOVED the Recoleta fair. She was throwing pesos to the merchants like it was Monopoly money (which in reality, it basically is).

She got a really beautiful white blouse, a handmade South America map puzzle for Monkey (my cousin, her other grandaughter), a boomerang for Jay (her son, my uncle) to play with Monkey and a leather flower hair band for her friend. 

It was already after 6pm and we had to get home to pack our things. 

Mommom packed her things and luckily had a lot of extra room that I could send some of my gifts home with her. I got really excited the next day when she sent me an email while I was in class saying she got her suitcase closed-- SCORE!!

Christina came over to get her stuff and I was going to go back on the bus to Recoleta with her since we live so close to drop off my clothes and stuff. We were about to eat and ended up having a lot of extra food so she stayed for dinner. We even popped open one of the wine bottles that we got at the awesome bodega (winery) from Mendoza.

Sam stopped by a bit later to get her things but obviously had to have a glass of wine; that basically turned into a rule: if you step into the Young/Maxwell apartment, grab yourself a wine glass and start pouring... and fill up everyone else's glasses as well.

Sam left and I got the last of my things together. About 20 minutes later when we were about to head out for the bus to Recoleta, I got a message from Sam saying to be careful tonight because she almost got violently mugged four women on her way home... one was pregnant!

More on that on another post.

So Christina and I were really freaked out so decided to take a cab. Sam is fine, it was just a really scary experience for her.

Update: Mommom's flight landed saftely in Philadelphia and she's home safe and sound :)

Last day in Mendoza

Today we got up (with no hangovers!) and ate another awesome breakfast... This time with dulce de leche crepes!

Then we explored around Parque de San Martin. Which is like 10 blocks from our hostel next to Plaza Independencia so Mommom and I took a cab.

Mommom really can't walk far so she chilled on a park bench on this beautiful afternoon while we took a walk around the pond.

Then we stopped at a cafe and got some sandwiches. Now were at the hostel relaxing until our bus back to Buenos Aires at 8.

We all had a great long weekend in Mendoza :)

The Andes: Mendoza style

We got up early and had a bangin breakfast at the hostel... Best breakfast I've had in South America! There were hard boiled eggs, cereal, oranges, coffee, tea, orange juice, pastries and cut up tomatoes. They also had eggs you could fry up but we didn't have time before our 7:30am pickup.

We 5 and another 4 from our hostel got picked up in a van which then picked up a bunch of different people from other hostels... No Australian man today :(

We took a drive to the Andes and saw the Monumento Natural Puente del Inca. It is a natural bridge with beautiful colors from the minerals in the water that runs under it. There was tons of artisan tables but they weren't about to bargain with us so we didn't buy anything. Mommom was having trouble breathing at that attitude so didn't walk much.

We then stopped at a small cafe and had some café! We were dragging so it was definitely necessary.

We then saw the tallest Andes mountain, snowy mountain tops and a Volcano. Then we drove all the way to the Chilean border. We were so close! It was just over the mountain (or 3 kilometers through a tunnel under the mountain).

^^ CHILE ^^

Don't tell anyone but I'm still gonna scratch Chile off my scratch map... I was to close not to!

On the way back we stored at the same cafe we stopped at earlier and got empanadas! Yum yum!

We got back to the hostel, showered, and got ready for another wine hour. This time, our New Zealand roommates, Nina and Adeline, joined us! They're doing a gap year in Argentina teaching English. They taught at a bratty private primary school in BA last semester and are teaching high schoolers and adults this semester.

Mommom, Christina and I also met our new roommate to our 6 person room: a HUGE rugby player from the UK.

It was so funny. He was in the bunk above Mommom's bunk when we came in, Mommom sat down on her bunk pointed up to him without him seeing and asked, "normal?" Yes, Mommom, this is extremely normal in a hostel room of more than 3 people.

We made our pasta while the other girls got takeout pizza. We finished wine night and broke out our own bottle of wine. Then the girls got out a huge bottle of Gray Goose and this green melon flavored liquor called Midori. Now that was a hostel party.

We played never have I ever and let's just say I learned a lot about my grandma and she learned a lot about me... We were all just so open and so drunk and passing around hot pictures of men we've had sex with and objecting them... It was great. It was so fun swapping stories and taking pictures with Nina's Polaroid camera.

It was a perfect night with friends and alcohol... That's all I gotta say.

Wine and olive oil

We went on a wine and olive oil tour today! Obviously we had to since Mendoza is Argentina's best wine country! We went to two different wineries and a small olive oil factory.

The first winery was a very small family one. We did the tour of the factory and tried a Malbec and a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Syrah. They taught us about the colors of the wine (Malbec is ruby red while the others are more purple and the wine should never be brownish or orangey) and how to smell it.

Mommom and I really liked the Malbec and Carbernet so we those for ourselves and gifts. We couldn't find that wine anywhere else since the family doesn't export their wine.

We met a really hot Australian who was traveling around South America by himself... Mommom was into it and wanted me to go in for the attack. We made conversation but that was about it. His eyes were beautiful but honestly, Steve's are even bluer :)

Then we went to a bigger winery which I didn't like as much. It was holding a bunch of other tours and wasn't as family-oriented. The building was very modern looking with white walks, black trim, and tons of big windows. In this factory, they have great metal, temperature-controlled tubs for the wine to ferment in but the last winery had pools that were temperature controlled by pipes with cool water from the Mendoza river. The smaller winery also had their wine in barrels in a wine cellar gated off where the big winery had their barreled wine displayed behind glad for tourists.

There we tried a Malbec and a Cabernet Sauvignon. We liked the other place better so we didn't buy a bottle.

We then went to a small olive oil factory. The tour was brief but the taste testing was awesome!

We tried extra virgin, unfiltered extra virgin (more flavor but less clear because they don't filter out the olive pulp), garlic, bail, Rosemary and oregano olive oil and some olive pastes. They were all so good and we got those for gifts as well.

After we got home we ran our to get snacks, dinner and water for tomorrow from a grocery store. Then it was wine hour! Free wine for an hour at the hostel! We shared two bottles and had a great time swapping stories. We also ate the rest of our pizza we had for lunch and dulce de leche with banana on crackers for dinner. Oh! I forgot! While we were out for lunch, we stopped at a cool Indie/Bohemian store and Sam and I got awesome pants and wore them for wine tasting.

Bad news, when I was opening the door to put yogurt in the fridge for the next day, the fridge tipped and a half a handle of cheap Vodka shattered all over the floor at my feet and pants. It smelled terrible and I had to clean up all the glass and cheap Vodka with a mop...

I wrote a little note to the owner... RIP.