Welcome to Wine Country!

Hola Todos!

I realize that I haven't written for quite some time...really, not that much has been going on here (until last weekend).  One quick note before I write about my latest adventure - I have had yet another small language blooper.  In Spanish (or Castellano as they call it here), the word "derecho" means two different things - when it is plural ("derechos") it means "rights," when it is singular ("derecho"), it means "law."  So I am in fact taking "International Law and International Organization," and not "International Right and International Organization"...oh well, it should still be very interesting :) 

So, other than that, nothing of great note happened until last weekend, which was Semana Santa (Holy Week...i.e. the three days before Easter).  It is one of the biggest travel weekends in Argentina, since everything is closed Thursday and Friday, so of course, I took advantage of it!  Lydia, Erica, and I went across the country to Mendoza - i.e. wine country.  It is a beautiful area - right at the base of the Andes.  And, as much as I like Buenos Aires, it was really lovely to get out of the city for a while.  Mendoza is a city, but it is much smaller, quieter, and cleaner than Buenos Aires.

I arrived on Thursday morning (after a lovely 6:30am flight...I wanted to be with my host family for Passover), got to the hostel and discovered that they had lost my reservation.  Thankfully, they could get all three of us in for all three nights, so all is well that ends well, correct?  We stayed at Hostel Alamo, which, if you are ever in Mendoza, I highly recommend - very clean with very friendly people, and a really nice back-yard area.  Erica and Lydia met me at the hostel once their bus got in, and we went back out to explore the city a bit, and book our activities for the following day.  We did some shopping at the artisan fair in Plaza de Independencia, had a really delicious dinner (with fantastic, cheap, wine), and then called it a night.  

The following day, Lydia went horse-back riding through the desert, and Erica and I went on an all day bus tour of Villavicencio (like the mineral water!), and the Andes "High Mountain."  As much as I love riding, I got to see so many incredible sights on the bus tour that I couldn't pass it up.  Villavicencio is BEAUTIFUL - it is tucked away in the mountains (I believe they are the foothills to the Andes).  There is an old hotel there that was once a summer home, and the most peaceful, beautiful, small church I have ever been to.  Here, and at every stop we had, we all got out and took 30 or 40 minutes to just walk around the area.  All in all, I took close to 300 pictures in Mendoza, so if you are interested, I have tons of albums - just let me know!

From Villavicencio, we continued through to the Andes.  We stopped at the top of the foothills to take in a view from above, and then continued to where we could see Aconcagua - the highest mountain in the Americas.  From where we were it didn't look that big - until you remembered that it was BEHIND all of the other mountains you were seeing, and was STILL taller then them.  Our journey continued and we had stops at Aconcagua Park, Cristo Redentor de los Andes, which at 4200m provides incredible views and lets you see what it is like to be at high altitude (you could feel that the air was thinner), and Puente del Inca.  It was a spectacular tour, and I have added yet another place to my list of "places to go back to."  

Saturday we did what all tourists who go to Mendoza do - a biking wine tasting tour.  Think about it Devra + bike + wine tasting. Needless to say, it was a ton of fun!!  We used a company called Mr. Hugo (again, I recommend it), who rented us bikes, gave us a map of the Bodegas we should visit, and then upon our return gave us as much red wine as we could drink.  We saw two bodegas, and an olive oil factory.  At all three, we did a tour of the facilities and a tasting.  The second bodega we saw is the oldest working winery in Argentina, and is a designated historical landmark for its old fermentation tanks.  All in all, it was a great day, and a really fun experience.  Just imagine - biking along a two-lane road (the only downside, the cars), and looking out onto vineyards that run straight into the base of snow-capped mountains...it is quite a sight.

I wish that I had had another few days in Mendoza to do some horse-back riding, hiking, and more exploring of the city.  All in all though, my time in Mendoza was a great escape.  I am now back in Buenos Aires, and trying very hard to settle back into school-mode.  With so many things to do here, places to see, and random streets to meander it is hard to force myself to study!  My classes are very interesting, but whoever said study abroad wasn't a lot of work, clearly did not come to Argentina!  On that note, I am off to a cafe to read...chau for now!