Spring break in July!

Where oh where to begin?? I'll start off by saying that last week was one of the coolest weeks ever!!!

Last Saturday night (the 24th) we left from BA to head to Mendoza. For those of you who don't know (which I'm assuming is a lot), Mendoza is one of the provinces in western Argentina. Mendoza is also a city in the center of this region. We were headed to the city (which I later found out did not exactly have the appearance of a city, but that is besides the point). We were on the bus overnight, and surprisingly it wasn't too bad. It was only a 13 hour trip. That's nothing right?


We arrived in Mendoza around 11 am and we took a taxi to our hostel. This was my first experience staying in a hostel, so I didn't really know what to expect. Well, needless to say, they are cheap for a reason! No but seriously, it wasn't too terrible. It was similar to living dorm style, except the bathroom was a little iffy. Coupled with the fact that we had a propane death heater (aka old-school heating similar to a bunsen burner from chem class; we later named it the propane death heater because none of us could breathe after waking up in a sauna), it was a pretty funny situation. I was in a room with 6 of my friends, and it was like a flashback to going away to camp. Oh wait... I never did that. If I had gone away to camp when I was younger, it would have been like that. But nonetheless,  we had a great time, and we also met a few interesting characters also staying in the hostel.

We were pretty lame the first day we arrived in Mendoza. I say it was a combination of not knowing what to do slash being really exhausted when we arrived. We went to a really great lunch, walked around a bit, hung out at the hostel (acting like Americans and playing kings), went out to dinner (all-you-can-eat pizza, score!), and went out for drinks after. We weren't much of a party because we were all so tired, and therefore the whole night-scene didn't last too long for us.

The next day (Monday) was pretty cool. We took a private tour of 2 wineries, and also did some wine tasting (my favorite!). Naturally, I bought a really good bottle of wine that I am hoping to take home in November. It's not typical wine either because it tastes like soda with a peach flavor. Delish, and I can't wait to share it! We also drove to a point near the Andes mountains and we were able to get out and have a fun photoshoot. Typical tourists, and proud of it! After this point (and a little napski in the van) we stopped at the bus station where 3 girls parted ways and the rest of us (myself, Rachel, Bri, and David) bought bus tickets to Santiago. Exciting! We were actually going to Chile!!!

At the crack of dawn (literally, the sun wasn't going to come out for another hour) we took off for Chile. We just so happened to get four seats in the front row of a double decker bus (which was probably the best decision made so far on our trip). It was almost as if we were driving the bus. I have so many cool pictures and videos that I will be sure to put on the internet soon, but considering the quantity of pictures I have from this trip, it may take me awhile to do so. Anyway, we were driving through the Andes mountains pretty much the entire time, and being that I NEVER see mountains (with the exception of a few vacations of course), it was really cool driving through them! In the middle of the bus trip, we had to get out and go through customs. One stamp from Chile later, we crossed the border. FYI- it is my goal to get as many stamps possible while I am down here :-) Anyway, I have really cool videos of people skiiing over us while we were coming down the mountain. We were also getting WAYYY close to the edge while driving, of which I also have videos. No te preocupes (don't worry), they are coming soon!

We arrived on that afternoon (Tuesday), in Santiago. We took a city tour with a small group, and we were able to see most of the city. This tour also included a trip up one of the mountains to get a panoramic view of the city. The tour was fun because a) our tour guide was this little, crazy tri-lingual man that referred to David as "Mr. David" and b) at one point, a large group of chilenos in the main square pointed at us saying "extranjeros" aka foreigners. There's always a first time for everything right? We capped off the night with a GREAT dinner. We went to La Vaca Gorda (the fat cow) and it was incredible. If you couldn't figure it out by now, we went to a chileno steakhouse. I obviously ordered chicken (surprise?), but I tried some of David's steak, and it was delicious. The picture above is a picture of Bri, David, and myself in front of one of the governmental buildings in Santiago.

The next morning we went to Valparaiso!! One of my favorite places during the trip! Valpo (what the cool kids call Valparaiso) is located right on the Pacific Ocean, and hence seafood plays a big role here. We first went to La Sebastiana (Pablo Neruda's house) and took a tour. Hats off to us for doing the tour in Spanish! Booya! It was really cool because every which way you went in the house, there was a fantastic view of most of the city (yes, I think there were more windows than walls). This picture was taken on the balcony of La Sebastiana! Beautiful no? And yes I was referring to me (haha jk)!

After this tour, we went to walk around in the city. Valpo is filled with vibrant colors, and it was cool seeing all of the houses painted with different colors of the rainbow! For example.... see the picture on the left! We then went up on an ascensor. This was pretty much similar to a lift that puts you up at a higher level of the city to get a better view! Because of the amount of money we had spent thus far, we decided to go to a grocery store and buy dinner to cook at the hostel. The chileno mercado (food store) had a moving sidewalk (those things in the airport that's moving and that you can walk on). Anyway, this was what connected the first and second floor of the store (a grocery store with 2 floors, what?) and we thought it was the oddest/coolest thing. And yes we took a picture on it! We went back to the hostel and cooked dinner. We attempted to talk to the chilenos, but they speak so fast! It's like a giant slur with slang. Not like it was a shot at our confidence level of understanding or anything.... But nonetheless, it was cool to see the differences between Chile and Argentina!

I am currently running out of time slash have other things to do, but the rest of my week and more pictures will come tomorrow!!! Chau chicos!!!