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.
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