Back from Mendoza

Hi All! This update is going to be more newsy, the next one is going to be my reflections on Mendoza :-)

I'm back from Mendoza after a lovely weekend. Mendoza, fyi, is in western Argentina, about 20 minutes from the Andes. The views are completely breathtaking. Thursday night we left and took an uneventful 12 hour busride. We once again got the supercomfy seats, and I had a better than decent night's sleep. I was travelling with one girl, and we met up with a group of 3 others in Mendoza. We got into Mendoza at 9 AM, and by 1:30 we were on a bus, going out to the wine country! We did a program called "bikes and wines," where you ride a bike from one vineyard to the next, where you take tours and learn about the wine making process. Seeing as we got their late we decided to only go to one vineyard and a chocolate factory. It was a lot of fun, and I definitely learned a lot! We explained to the guy in charge that we had done wine tasting before, and he guided us through it - swirl, smell, taste, etc. It was really interesting to have the list of adjectives that he had used and assign them to the different wines as we tasted them. I'm still no big fan of wine, but I definitely see what there is to appreciate.

Saturday two of our friends went to go skiing, so the other three of us went horseback riding! We went to a national park that had some spectacular views. As someone who had never ridden before I was a bit nervous, but my horse was very gentle and the guide was very helpful. Mostly, my horse did whatever the guide's horse did. Speaking of our guide, we actually had two guides - a normal guide, and a 10 year old boy who came along who was PHENOMENAL on a horse. Besides that, he was also dressed in full gaucho clothing! Afterwards, they made an asado, a traditional Argentine bbq. The best part was that it was completely authentic - this is what they do on the weekends, and we just happened to be included (we were also the only women there, so we got out food served to us and such). It was a great way to experience another aspect of Argentine culture, and talk to some local people.

Sunday we had the most exciting day - hiking and rappelling! We went hiking in the Precordilleros, the oldest part of the Andes and then went rappelling down a small part of it. SO much fun! The views were again stunning - these mountains are incredible! After so much activity, we decided to spend the last day at the hot springs. It was nice to soak our tired muscles and relax in the hot water. We made friends with a group of adults who were traveling for their 30th high school reunion - they had made the same trip after graduating. They were really friendly and gave us some other travelling suggestions. Then we went back to the hostel, showered, and got on a bus back to BA.

Tomorrow night Rosh Hashana begins. I hope that everyone has a Shana Tovah, a happy New Year. It should definitely be an interesting way to bring in the new year down here!

Besos,
Becca
The girls wine tasting. Swirl, smell, taste, etc.

Yes, I am really going down this rock! It was incredible.

A view of the Andes. So beautiful!