One Week Update

A lot happens in a week...

Mendoza: ohhhh, Mendoza. I was so exicted about Mendoza and although it wasn't my favorite weekend, it was the most eventful. I did my first couchsurfing experience, which I was so excited about! My host was nice, but they didn't have an extra key, which meant I couldn't leave or come home without someone being there. I got locked out of that apartment so many times, there was one point where I checked into a hostel at 2am because I was so frustrated not being able to get in and just felt very unwelcomed. Of course, they thought I was crazy and overreacting, but there were various other incidencts that made me feel like I wasn't wanted or maybe I should have just gotten a hostel. I didn't save any money because I paid the equivalent of a hostel in chocolate (not for me, I don't even really like chocolate... long story).

Otherwise, the weekend was alright. I went rafting, which was ok. The rapids were small and for whatever reason, everytime we would come to a rapid, the guide would make me run to the front of the boat and stick my head out the front so I went through the rapids head first. Hah, it was funny, but really odd. After rafting, some locals invited me to join them for an asado, which was a lot of fun and I got to practice my spanish and eat delicious food and drink wine.

The next day, all I wanted to do was go to the vineyards but when I woke up at 11, I had to wait until my hoste woke up to leave the house and they didn't get up 1! So it was too late to do the biking vineyard tour then since I had a bus at 5, so I cried. hah. He said there was one vineyard we could go to, so we went there, had a tasting and then I left. I did get to go out on Saturday night with this guy from there, which was fun again, but overall, the weekend was very stressful.

And I had a bunch of pictures from Mendoza, but unfortunately they are gone now. Gary came in on Wednesday, which was awesome! It was so good to see him. On Thursday (Christmas), we went exploring around the city. We went to this part of town known as La Boca, which is known to be a little rough, but I underestimated the situation. We were walking around and we took a turn off the tourist street where a little kid told us to be careful. I said thanks and kept walking. Not even a half a block later, three men come running down the street behind us and surround us. At first we were just caught off guard but when they showed their guns and reaching for our stuff we realized we should cooperate. I had my pepper spray in my hand as the guy was rifling through my purse and debated what would happen if I used it... I decided not to. Guns are scary. Three big men with guns is even scarier. So they had a very Merry Christmas and walked off with two cameras, $200 US, and a watch. fuckers.

It took us a while to shake it off, the whole day we kept replaying what had happened in our heads and if we could have done something different, and obviously, the only thing we could have done was not stray from the tourist path. Lesson learned. So now all of my pictures from my past month in Argentina are gone. We bought a new camera the next day which I am guarding with my life.

We left on Friday for Uruguay. We spent one night in Montevideo, which was ok. Nothing special. Apparently most people head to the beaches on the weekends during the summer, so it was a little dead.

On Saturday we went out in Punta del Este. Punta del Este was a cute little yacht town with a lot of money and boats and tourists. We went to this beach on the club until 7 in the morning. I don't know how the hell people do it here.

Lunch time by the water and some delicious Sangria.

Jumping off the hand in the sand.

6:30 am

Since we rented a car, we had a little freedom with what we wanted to do to and we decided to come to Punta del Diablo... where I want to stay. Forever. And ever.