Okay, yes I have been bad about blogging, I am sorry. I have a lot of draft blogs that are piling up and I need to sit down and finish them. Don't worry they will be coming soon. In the mean time, I have new pictures that are being downloaded on to the flickr site. Again, you can access these pictures from this link or from the slideshow on the right section of the blog, or the link that says "flickr" on the right side of the blog.
Have a great week!
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Trekking El Morado National Monument
Well, I did it! I bought a new tent here in Chile. It is a backpacking tent that is about 5.5 pounds and can be put up in just about 5-10 minutes. It hold two people. It was a pretty exciting purchase!
So, when one makes a purchase such as this one, what does it mean. Well, you have to go backpacking of course. That is exactly what me and Will Lessard (from Virginia) did this past weekend.
We did our planning on Friday and then went to the grocery store to buy our food. We bought stuff to make sandwiches and of course lots of snacks. After the store, I got into contact with Amy who earlier had called me asking if I wanted to go to a movie and get pizza with her. I thought this was a great idea. We ended up going to a movie called La Buena Vida.
It was a fantastic movie and most importantly it was the first all Spanish movie that I understood really, really well (which is very exciting). The movie basically goes with the premise that we are all much more interconnected then we think we are. It is a Chilean movie. I learned that Chilean films are subsidized by the government because otherwise the movies wouldn't be competitive here or in other places in the world. While this at first was strange to me, I think the truth is there could be better movies because of the subsidies. Instead of having just lots of sex, drugs, violence, and other stuff in movies, they can really attack important issues of the day.
After the movie Amy and I went to Pizza Hut (yeah not very Chilean) and ate pizza there that was SO good. I have missed pizza a lot since coming here. I have tried to fill the whole with empanadas, but the truth is, it just isn't the same.
After dinner and a long discussion of politics, I returned back to my apartment to pack for the big camping trip! I stayed up until almost 1:30 packing my stuff in my backpack for the trip, which made for a very short night.
The next morning I got and took a shower and headed out to the bus station where we would take a bus to Banos Morales in the mountains and Maipo Canyon region. We got there in time to buy our ticket and throw our bags in the back of the bus. Later we got on the bus and started our long (almost 3 hour) ride up to the little town. When we got there we walked up to the entrance to the El Morado National Monument and there was a big sign that read "No Camping in the Park unless you are climbing a mountain". So we didn't know what we were going to do. Normally, we would have just camped anyways, but to enter this park you have to pay an entrance fee and also explain your plan to the park ranger. We decided to try and convince the guy that we were going to do some practice mountain climbing. That didn't work he asked to see our gear. So we told him that we didn't have the required gear, so he told us we could only spend the day in the park. We paid the fee and started trekking in. The mountain "El Morado" was really cool looking. There are also glaciers in the national park, but we didn't get far enough to see them. We did get to spend some time hiking in the snow though and it was quite a bit of fun.
After a good hike in the park, we went back to the little hut with the park ranger to tell him we were out of the park. He informed us that we could either pay to pitch our tent in the little town or if we walked farther up the road we could find a place to pitch our tent for free. After paying for the tent, free sounded best to me. We walked up the road a little ways and found a decent place to pitch our tent. We got the tent put up (for the first time) and put all our stuff in. After that we ate our dinner we packed and after that we spent most of our time just chilling and going to bed. There ended up being a beautiful sunset that was projected on the mountains. We got some pretty good pictures of it. It had been a lot of hiking. We did play 20 questions for awhile until I lost so many times that I felt embarrassed. So, then I just went to bed.
The night was pretty cold and there was wind. Will had a HUGE sleeping bag that he said he sweat in all night. It is made for up to -40 degrees F. His sleeping bag cost 300 dollars, mine was 40 dollars from target. So, I got a little cold in the night.
In the morning we woke up, climbed a rock to eat breakfast and look at the mountains. It was pretty neat. Then we packed everything up and then started out for our trek. We trekked farther into the national park from the backside. We ended up turning back so that we could reach the little town for our bus ride back. There is only one bus up in the morning and one bus back in the evening, so if you miss it (especially on sunday) you are screwed. The bus only goes up to the banos morales on saturday and sunday.
We got back to the little town and it was time for lunch. We chilled in the town and met a cool kid who came up to the area to trek as well. He was from Tufts University in Boston. We talked about stuff with him. He was on a mountaineering group at Tufts and he, like Will, had come to Chile mainly for the access to the mountains.
The bus finally came, and taking the advice of a local, we got off sooner then we were expecting allowing us to take a closer and faster metro home.
Overall, the weekend was very successful. The tent worked well and I had a great time exploring some of the natural beauty Chile had to offer.
So, when one makes a purchase such as this one, what does it mean. Well, you have to go backpacking of course. That is exactly what me and Will Lessard (from Virginia) did this past weekend.
We did our planning on Friday and then went to the grocery store to buy our food. We bought stuff to make sandwiches and of course lots of snacks. After the store, I got into contact with Amy who earlier had called me asking if I wanted to go to a movie and get pizza with her. I thought this was a great idea. We ended up going to a movie called La Buena Vida.
It was a fantastic movie and most importantly it was the first all Spanish movie that I understood really, really well (which is very exciting). The movie basically goes with the premise that we are all much more interconnected then we think we are. It is a Chilean movie. I learned that Chilean films are subsidized by the government because otherwise the movies wouldn't be competitive here or in other places in the world. While this at first was strange to me, I think the truth is there could be better movies because of the subsidies. Instead of having just lots of sex, drugs, violence, and other stuff in movies, they can really attack important issues of the day.
After the movie Amy and I went to Pizza Hut (yeah not very Chilean) and ate pizza there that was SO good. I have missed pizza a lot since coming here. I have tried to fill the whole with empanadas, but the truth is, it just isn't the same.
After dinner and a long discussion of politics, I returned back to my apartment to pack for the big camping trip! I stayed up until almost 1:30 packing my stuff in my backpack for the trip, which made for a very short night.
The next morning I got and took a shower and headed out to the bus station where we would take a bus to Banos Morales in the mountains and Maipo Canyon region. We got there in time to buy our ticket and throw our bags in the back of the bus. Later we got on the bus and started our long (almost 3 hour) ride up to the little town. When we got there we walked up to the entrance to the El Morado National Monument and there was a big sign that read "No Camping in the Park unless you are climbing a mountain". So we didn't know what we were going to do. Normally, we would have just camped anyways, but to enter this park you have to pay an entrance fee and also explain your plan to the park ranger. We decided to try and convince the guy that we were going to do some practice mountain climbing. That didn't work he asked to see our gear. So we told him that we didn't have the required gear, so he told us we could only spend the day in the park. We paid the fee and started trekking in. The mountain "El Morado" was really cool looking. There are also glaciers in the national park, but we didn't get far enough to see them. We did get to spend some time hiking in the snow though and it was quite a bit of fun.
After a good hike in the park, we went back to the little hut with the park ranger to tell him we were out of the park. He informed us that we could either pay to pitch our tent in the little town or if we walked farther up the road we could find a place to pitch our tent for free. After paying for the tent, free sounded best to me. We walked up the road a little ways and found a decent place to pitch our tent. We got the tent put up (for the first time) and put all our stuff in. After that we ate our dinner we packed and after that we spent most of our time just chilling and going to bed. There ended up being a beautiful sunset that was projected on the mountains. We got some pretty good pictures of it. It had been a lot of hiking. We did play 20 questions for awhile until I lost so many times that I felt embarrassed. So, then I just went to bed.
The night was pretty cold and there was wind. Will had a HUGE sleeping bag that he said he sweat in all night. It is made for up to -40 degrees F. His sleeping bag cost 300 dollars, mine was 40 dollars from target. So, I got a little cold in the night.
In the morning we woke up, climbed a rock to eat breakfast and look at the mountains. It was pretty neat. Then we packed everything up and then started out for our trek. We trekked farther into the national park from the backside. We ended up turning back so that we could reach the little town for our bus ride back. There is only one bus up in the morning and one bus back in the evening, so if you miss it (especially on sunday) you are screwed. The bus only goes up to the banos morales on saturday and sunday.
We got back to the little town and it was time for lunch. We chilled in the town and met a cool kid who came up to the area to trek as well. He was from Tufts University in Boston. We talked about stuff with him. He was on a mountaineering group at Tufts and he, like Will, had come to Chile mainly for the access to the mountains.
The bus finally came, and taking the advice of a local, we got off sooner then we were expecting allowing us to take a closer and faster metro home.
Overall, the weekend was very successful. The tent worked well and I had a great time exploring some of the natural beauty Chile had to offer.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Back to Chile
We woke up at the hostel and all got ready for our long trip (during the day time) back to Santiago, Chile. After getting ready we sat down to eat breakfast and called our cab. After we got done with breakfast the cab came and we went to the bus terminal.
The bus terminal was quiet (as we all were since this weekend had exhausted us). We waited to get on the bus, got on the bus, and Emma fell asleep. I almost did a couple times as well. We purposely took the day time bus because the trip over the Andes Mountains is supposedly marvelous. I can be honest, it was. Leaving the Argentine highlands and going up and up into the mountains only to reach the border (where the same border crossing procedure as before went down). After the border you descend from the snow covered mountains into different ecosystems until finally reaching the central valley of Chile and Santiago. It really was a beautiful ride. Well worth the time we missed hanging out in either city. I highly recommend the trip to people in the region.
It is really odd how when you are abroad (especially a semester abroad) you really get to feel like there is a place you call home or "home away from home". Smog filled Santiago is that to me. When you can look out and see the apartment buildings, the foothills and Andes in the distance. There is something that every time I return makes me feel like I am at home.
The bus terminal was quiet (as we all were since this weekend had exhausted us). We waited to get on the bus, got on the bus, and Emma fell asleep. I almost did a couple times as well. We purposely took the day time bus because the trip over the Andes Mountains is supposedly marvelous. I can be honest, it was. Leaving the Argentine highlands and going up and up into the mountains only to reach the border (where the same border crossing procedure as before went down). After the border you descend from the snow covered mountains into different ecosystems until finally reaching the central valley of Chile and Santiago. It really was a beautiful ride. Well worth the time we missed hanging out in either city. I highly recommend the trip to people in the region.
It is really odd how when you are abroad (especially a semester abroad) you really get to feel like there is a place you call home or "home away from home". Smog filled Santiago is that to me. When you can look out and see the apartment buildings, the foothills and Andes in the distance. There is something that every time I return makes me feel like I am at home.
Mendoza Day 2
We had very good sleep because we were all so exhausted from the past day and a half. We had to get up though so we could get ready for our rafting and 'canopy' excursion. We all took showers and got ready to go. The bus picked us up from our hostel and we drove out to a little outpost on the Mendoza River. There we waited until our group got assembled. We were issued wet suits, helmets, life jackets, and paddles. After this we all had to go down to the boat house and get a tutorial on rafting.
After the tutorial we all got into the van that was going to take us up the river to the part where we would embark from. When we got to the place we got situated in our raft we were off. Rafting was such a neat experience. Sometimes it was relaxing and sometimes it was very exciting. Every few minutes it was different. The water was very, very cold because all of the rivers in Chile and Argentina (well the majority in Argentina) are from ice melt off in the mountains. Thus the water is literally cold as ice!The wet suits really do help you though from becoming too cold in the water. After the expedition we got off on the side of the river and we loaded the boats for our return trip to the area owned by the rafting company.
When we got back some of the groups loaded up to go home (their program was only half a day). We got to stick around because we had a canopy expedition before in the afternoon. The rafting company offered a well portioned lunch for about $10.00. so Emma, Devon and I for lunch ate and chilled out. It was a pretty great lunch just sitting by the river in the sun. Especially after being in the cold water of the Mendoza River the sun felt really nice on my cold body.
After lunch we got fitted for our canopy harness. Canopy is where you wear a belt feeling thing that has a little circular thing on it where you can latch on to a steel cable that is stretched between two areas (for example a Canopy in the rain forest) or over a valley or river (in our case). You thus are hanging from this little harness and you have your hand on the steel cable. The circular item allows you to quite literally fly through the air on this steel cable from one side of the valley to the other. There were about 7 steel cable stretches that we could ride. The guide told us that some of us could go upside down if we were connected to him. Emma, Devon, and I all got picked to try it. I got to go upside down while crossing the largest stretch across the river. It was quite the experience. In general the canopy was one of my favorite things I have done in South America. It was such a free feeling just hanging on to the steel cable.
The pictures from both of these excursions ended up being very great. I bought a cd with both excursions on it with slideshows and everything. I can't wait to show you guys when I get home.
After the canopy activity we got in the van to go back to Mendoza and our hostel. While on this excursion we met some people who recommended a place to eat for dinner, so when we got back to the hostel we made reservations at this place for dinner.
Food in Argentina is so good and so cheap. We arrived at the restaurant and we immediately felt a little out of place. Most people there were dressed up and we were mostly just in our regular clothes. I was wearing my St. Thomas hooded sweatshirt. ;) Classy... I know. We sat down and got the menu given to us. We looked over the menu for a few minutes and soon the head Chef came over to our table to ask us if we had any questions. We felt pretty special. After we made our decision the waiter came over to take our order. We ordered and then after about 5 minutes the "wine expert" came over and asked us if we wanted to order our wine for our meal. We all said yes and he asked us what we ordered. He then recommended the wine that would best go with our pre-ordered meal. After we decided what wine we wanted he came and served us the wine. After going to the wineries the day before we all knew the correct way to test the wine. Soon after the meal came out and honestly, it was one of the best looking meals in my life. I got a steak wrapped in Prichutto. It was so good. I paid $25 dollars for a huge plate of food and a glass of wine at this restaurant. Definitely a good recommendation.
After dinner we walked around the city a little bit more and grabbed ice cream again for dessert, before heading back to the hostel.
After the tutorial we all got into the van that was going to take us up the river to the part where we would embark from. When we got to the place we got situated in our raft we were off. Rafting was such a neat experience. Sometimes it was relaxing and sometimes it was very exciting. Every few minutes it was different. The water was very, very cold because all of the rivers in Chile and Argentina (well the majority in Argentina) are from ice melt off in the mountains. Thus the water is literally cold as ice!The wet suits really do help you though from becoming too cold in the water. After the expedition we got off on the side of the river and we loaded the boats for our return trip to the area owned by the rafting company.
When we got back some of the groups loaded up to go home (their program was only half a day). We got to stick around because we had a canopy expedition before in the afternoon. The rafting company offered a well portioned lunch for about $10.00. so Emma, Devon and I for lunch ate and chilled out. It was a pretty great lunch just sitting by the river in the sun. Especially after being in the cold water of the Mendoza River the sun felt really nice on my cold body.
After lunch we got fitted for our canopy harness. Canopy is where you wear a belt feeling thing that has a little circular thing on it where you can latch on to a steel cable that is stretched between two areas (for example a Canopy in the rain forest) or over a valley or river (in our case). You thus are hanging from this little harness and you have your hand on the steel cable. The circular item allows you to quite literally fly through the air on this steel cable from one side of the valley to the other. There were about 7 steel cable stretches that we could ride. The guide told us that some of us could go upside down if we were connected to him. Emma, Devon, and I all got picked to try it. I got to go upside down while crossing the largest stretch across the river. It was quite the experience. In general the canopy was one of my favorite things I have done in South America. It was such a free feeling just hanging on to the steel cable.
The pictures from both of these excursions ended up being very great. I bought a cd with both excursions on it with slideshows and everything. I can't wait to show you guys when I get home.
After the canopy activity we got in the van to go back to Mendoza and our hostel. While on this excursion we met some people who recommended a place to eat for dinner, so when we got back to the hostel we made reservations at this place for dinner.
Food in Argentina is so good and so cheap. We arrived at the restaurant and we immediately felt a little out of place. Most people there were dressed up and we were mostly just in our regular clothes. I was wearing my St. Thomas hooded sweatshirt. ;) Classy... I know. We sat down and got the menu given to us. We looked over the menu for a few minutes and soon the head Chef came over to our table to ask us if we had any questions. We felt pretty special. After we made our decision the waiter came over to take our order. We ordered and then after about 5 minutes the "wine expert" came over and asked us if we wanted to order our wine for our meal. We all said yes and he asked us what we ordered. He then recommended the wine that would best go with our pre-ordered meal. After we decided what wine we wanted he came and served us the wine. After going to the wineries the day before we all knew the correct way to test the wine. Soon after the meal came out and honestly, it was one of the best looking meals in my life. I got a steak wrapped in Prichutto. It was so good. I paid $25 dollars for a huge plate of food and a glass of wine at this restaurant. Definitely a good recommendation.
After dinner we walked around the city a little bit more and grabbed ice cream again for dessert, before heading back to the hostel.
Mendoza Day 1
This trip to Mendoza, Argentina started with a great Vice Presidential Debate between Sen. Joe Biden from Delaware and Gov. Sarah Palin from Alaska. Like all the rest of the debates the group of students from IFSA got together at the apartment of our program director. We had some wine and watched the debate. I was very impressed by the quality of the debate, especially considering the first debate was really not impressive.
I had to leave the debate early because our bus to Argentina left in the evening. I went to the bus station and waited for my two friends who were going with me Emma Espel (who goes to Gustavus College in Minnesota and lives in Fargo N. Dakota) and Devon Pratt (who goes to Northwestern University in Chicago and lives in California). We got on the bus that was going to take us up over the mountains and across the border to Argentina.
It was long before we all were sleeping on the bus only to be woken up when we reached the border. We all had to get out with our passports and other identification materials. There was quite a difference when we got off the bus though... it was very, very cold! If you know anything about the geography of South America or Chile you will know that the Andes Mountains lie between the two countries. That makes this border crossing one of the highest border crossings in the world. Thus with this increase in elevation you get to experience what feels like winter again (snow and everything). We stood in line to get our passport stamped with an exit stamp from Chile and then literally walked 4 steps to get our passport stamped again by the Argentinian official. The Argentinian passport stamp is unimpressive and quite dull (especially considering the Chilean stamp is very neat). I will have to show people all of the cool stamps I have when I get home.
After waiting for what seemed like forever our bus moved ahead about 25 feet (with us on it). Thinking we were going to keep going to Mendoza, we were surprised to learn that we all had to get off again now to have our hand baggage searched. What confused me more then anything was that they didn't check the luggage that was under the bus. So... if you want to bring anything illegally over the border (which I don't recommend) I would try that method.
After the search process we finally could get back on the bus and go to sleep, however little we would get that night.
We arrived in the morning in Mendoza and we were all droggy from the little sleep we did get. After getting our location figured out we started our "trek" to the hostel. We had booked it the afternoon before online. After getting lost a few times and trying multiple ATMs to get money out for a taxi, we finally found our hostel. The hostel was very, very nice. It was called Lugares and it had a great (typical) South American breakfast and very nice facilities. We talked with the owners of the hostel to see what exactly we should do with our time in Mendoza. After consulting the owner and discussing among ourselves we decided to tour the vineyard areas of Mendoza on bicycles with the company Wines and Bikes. It sounds like a very bad combination and I guess it could be. We also made reservations for a rafting and "canopy" excursion the next day.
The ride for wines and bikes arrived at our hostel an hour or so later and took us on our journey to the beginning of our bike tour. None of us had money so we asked if the driver could take us to an ATM. He wasn't happy but took us anyways. We were very happy that he did because without money our tour would have been a flop. We got to the bikes and wines place which looked like a little shack in the middle of no where. We tested out the bikes and we each picked the bike we thought was best. Then we were off.
We visited a number of wineries, a chocolate store, museums. During our tour we kept running into a young 'lad' from the United Kingdom. His name was Gary Kite. We ended up just hanging out with him for the tour because we were on the trail together. We stopped at a great place for lunch. This place was absolutely wonderful. It was a small Victorian looking home in the middle of the vineyards. The owners of the place were originally from Canada before moving to Argentina. They fixed up this historic house and now ran it as a restaurant. The food was reasonably priced ($10.00 for a good portioned plate) and the service was great. We of course got wine with our meal.
After lunch we kept up with visiting more wineries. Finally, we got to a point where we needed to start heading back to the little shack that rented the bikes to us. So we pedaled our way back to the little store. Our taxi showed up soon after we did to take us back to the hostel.
When we got back to the hostel, I started not feeling very well. I have no idea what it ended up being, but it was my stomach more then anything. I think it might have been the wine I drank all day. I wasn't drunk, I think my body just didn't like all of the different wines that I had put into my system. Even though I wasn't feeling very well, we walked across the city checking out all the little plazas and areas the city has to get to the restaurant we wanted to eat at.
The Lonely Planet book recommended this great pasta place where you choose the type of pasta you like and the sauce. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of options. Because I wasn't feeling very good, it wasn't the best meal I have every had, but I think if I went there again, I would really enjoy it. After riding the bikes all day and getting insufficient sleep the night before we all were tired. We headed back to the hostel (getting ice cream first) and crashed.
In general the first day in Mendoza was great. The wine was spectacular and I had a wonderful time just biking around the vineyards. It felt like a very classic central Argentine experience. If I would have had more time and money I would go back to Mendoza because in general the exchange rate in Argentina is better then in Chile and it was just so much fun. If you make a trip to South America definitely spend a few days there. I spent two there and it wasn't enough, I think 4 would give it more justice.
I had to leave the debate early because our bus to Argentina left in the evening. I went to the bus station and waited for my two friends who were going with me Emma Espel (who goes to Gustavus College in Minnesota and lives in Fargo N. Dakota) and Devon Pratt (who goes to Northwestern University in Chicago and lives in California). We got on the bus that was going to take us up over the mountains and across the border to Argentina.
It was long before we all were sleeping on the bus only to be woken up when we reached the border. We all had to get out with our passports and other identification materials. There was quite a difference when we got off the bus though... it was very, very cold! If you know anything about the geography of South America or Chile you will know that the Andes Mountains lie between the two countries. That makes this border crossing one of the highest border crossings in the world. Thus with this increase in elevation you get to experience what feels like winter again (snow and everything). We stood in line to get our passport stamped with an exit stamp from Chile and then literally walked 4 steps to get our passport stamped again by the Argentinian official. The Argentinian passport stamp is unimpressive and quite dull (especially considering the Chilean stamp is very neat). I will have to show people all of the cool stamps I have when I get home.
After waiting for what seemed like forever our bus moved ahead about 25 feet (with us on it). Thinking we were going to keep going to Mendoza, we were surprised to learn that we all had to get off again now to have our hand baggage searched. What confused me more then anything was that they didn't check the luggage that was under the bus. So... if you want to bring anything illegally over the border (which I don't recommend) I would try that method.
After the search process we finally could get back on the bus and go to sleep, however little we would get that night.
We arrived in the morning in Mendoza and we were all droggy from the little sleep we did get. After getting our location figured out we started our "trek" to the hostel. We had booked it the afternoon before online. After getting lost a few times and trying multiple ATMs to get money out for a taxi, we finally found our hostel. The hostel was very, very nice. It was called Lugares and it had a great (typical) South American breakfast and very nice facilities. We talked with the owners of the hostel to see what exactly we should do with our time in Mendoza. After consulting the owner and discussing among ourselves we decided to tour the vineyard areas of Mendoza on bicycles with the company Wines and Bikes. It sounds like a very bad combination and I guess it could be. We also made reservations for a rafting and "canopy" excursion the next day.
The ride for wines and bikes arrived at our hostel an hour or so later and took us on our journey to the beginning of our bike tour. None of us had money so we asked if the driver could take us to an ATM. He wasn't happy but took us anyways. We were very happy that he did because without money our tour would have been a flop. We got to the bikes and wines place which looked like a little shack in the middle of no where. We tested out the bikes and we each picked the bike we thought was best. Then we were off.
We visited a number of wineries, a chocolate store, museums. During our tour we kept running into a young 'lad' from the United Kingdom. His name was Gary Kite. We ended up just hanging out with him for the tour because we were on the trail together. We stopped at a great place for lunch. This place was absolutely wonderful. It was a small Victorian looking home in the middle of the vineyards. The owners of the place were originally from Canada before moving to Argentina. They fixed up this historic house and now ran it as a restaurant. The food was reasonably priced ($10.00 for a good portioned plate) and the service was great. We of course got wine with our meal.
After lunch we kept up with visiting more wineries. Finally, we got to a point where we needed to start heading back to the little shack that rented the bikes to us. So we pedaled our way back to the little store. Our taxi showed up soon after we did to take us back to the hostel.
When we got back to the hostel, I started not feeling very well. I have no idea what it ended up being, but it was my stomach more then anything. I think it might have been the wine I drank all day. I wasn't drunk, I think my body just didn't like all of the different wines that I had put into my system. Even though I wasn't feeling very well, we walked across the city checking out all the little plazas and areas the city has to get to the restaurant we wanted to eat at.
The Lonely Planet book recommended this great pasta place where you choose the type of pasta you like and the sauce. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of options. Because I wasn't feeling very good, it wasn't the best meal I have every had, but I think if I went there again, I would really enjoy it. After riding the bikes all day and getting insufficient sleep the night before we all were tired. We headed back to the hostel (getting ice cream first) and crashed.
In general the first day in Mendoza was great. The wine was spectacular and I had a wonderful time just biking around the vineyards. It felt like a very classic central Argentine experience. If I would have had more time and money I would go back to Mendoza because in general the exchange rate in Argentina is better then in Chile and it was just so much fun. If you make a trip to South America definitely spend a few days there. I spent two there and it wasn't enough, I think 4 would give it more justice.
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