Driving on the moon

As I should have realized a long time ago, the United States is not the only country to celebrate Colombus day and in fact he did discover all of the Americas so it makes sense that they have a holiday down here as well. That being said the South Americans do little more to "celebrate" than the North Americans, but we do get the day off from school so that gave the cinco gringos the perfect opportunity to cross the Andes and spend a weekend in the wine country of Mendoza, Argentina. The trip started with an all night bus ride (with the quick midnight stop at customs) from Santiago Chile to Mendoza. Crossing the Andes at night was absolutely amazing. These mountains make the Rockies look like foothills. It looked like we were literally on the moon. We arrived around 6 am and walked over to our hostel. A couple hours later our friends from Buenos Aires arrived and we planned out our first day. Around 11am we packed up and headed to Mr. Hugo's the rental shop for our biking wine tour. For about 8 dollars we got to rent bikes and enjoy a couple of glasses of wine at the bike shop. Then we set out on the road and traveled for about a half our to our first vineyard. We got to take a really cool tour of the winery including the outdated fermentation tanks. Really cool. Then we got a wine tasting and lunch all for about 15 bucks. Afterwards we hopped back on the bikes and made our way to the next winery. Because we got a late start we didnt make the whole circuit which includes 9 wineries a distillery and a brewery. The group split up and Gabe Anna and I chose to go to the distillery, which also happened to be a chocolate factory and a marmalade factory. We got a tour and then we were able to try the liquors, chocolate and spreads. I've never been much of an after dinner liquor type person but these drinks were absolutely delicious. We headed back to return the bikes and enjoyed a couple more glasses of free wine before getting the bus back to town. We got back but unfortunately couldnt find a place to eat for the longest time. Finally Anna Gabe and I split from the group and found the best burgers I'd had since coming down here. We wandered back to the hostel via this giant plaza that was bustling with people and musicians and artisans at 1 am. The next day we decided to relax and wander around Mendoza. We walked to the second largest city park in south America and spent the day hanging out there. There were a ton of little shops and restaurants in the park as well as lakes and fields and of course many people out enjoying the beginning of spring. Inside the park is one of the Argentine national soccer stadiums built for the 1978 world cup so we decided to check it out. It was a really cool stadium and we were able to walk right in and down to the front row of seats. There was not a single person there and it was kind of eerily empty. Not until Anna stood on the railing in front of the stands did we realize there was even a security guard. Interesting note about Argentine soccer stadiums, they have moats around them so that the wild fans cannot jump onto the field. They also have both barbed wire and razor wire separating the cheap seats from the expensive seats in case anyone wants to start a riot, which is quite common at Argentine soccer games. After a quick nap in the park we headed back to the hostel stopping at a couple cool plazas along the way. That night we did some more exploring around the city and finally stopped for dinner at a traditional Argentine barbeque. This includes some amazing steak but also kidney and intestine...not so delicious. The following morning we woke up early to meet our guide for our day in the mountains but in traditional south american fashion they were 2 hours late. No worries we hung out and played cards until they showed up. But it was well worth the wait. We bussed into the mountains (45 minutes) then started trekking up around all over these hills. After a bit of hiking we made it to our first repelling site. I'd never repelled before but it was quite the cool experience. We also got to rock climb there and after a delicious lunch we capped of the trip with a visit to the hot springs. We just barely made it home as the guides lost our transport, however we made it back safely and they bought us a beer for the miscommunication. That night we went to a Iberian festival in the Spanish plaza. It was a wild little festival with everything from tapas to paella to spanish bagpipers. Who knew they had bagpipers in spain. The next morning we woke up and caught the bus home after another amazing and fun filled weekend. As I am writing this I am watching the rescue of the chilean miners who have been trapped undergroud for 69 days now, the exact time that I have been in this country. It is a truly amazing and inspiring show of bravery and patriotism. CHI CHI CHI LE LE LE VIVA CHILE!!!!