Mendoza (part 2...which is really a more detailed part one)

So I was able to spend Easter weekend in the city of Mendoza with 6 of my friends (and I also made 3 more!).  It was awesome.  Of course, there is a lot (a LOT) to say, and so I am going to break it up day by day (each day being another post).  I feel that this way it won’t get too overwhelming to read…even though the updates will probably be coming one day after the next.  Also, I know that I already touched on a lot of things in my last post, but this one will be a bit more detailed.

 So anyways, here is the overview:

·         There are 7 of us sharing a room: Annalise, Jordan (guy), Drew, Emily, Olivia, Katie, and myself. 

·         After claiming beds and taking showers, we watched Men in Black (the first time for me) because we didn’t really have plans until dinner.

·         We (minus Drew and Emily who were eating with Drew’s parents who were in town) enjoyed wine and tapas (which you heard about in the last post)

·         It was pretty much a great first day of vacations.

·         More to come in the following posts, which will probably be spaced out to be one update every day.

The first day there was Thursday, we left Wednesday night (a little delayed due to the storm) and so we got in around noon.  Once we made it to the hostel, beds were chosen (three sets of bunk beds and an extra mattress for the 7^th…which ended up being Jordan) and the desire to shower was very strong.  So we got settled in, there were 6 “lockers” (more like very large cupboards, but we put locks on them) and so people unpacked and started getting in line for showers.  There were three bathrooms in the hostel, but 4 showers…yes, one bathroom had two showers.  However, those two showers were connected with nothing to separate them…so for all intents and purposes, there were three showers, and we were not the only ones using them.  Point is: it took a while for all of us to shower.  Also, before I forget, these are the people that make up the “we” I keep referring to: Annalise, Olivia and Katie (housemates), Jordan (guy), Drew and Emily (I guess they’re an almost-couple?), and myself. 

Well, Drew’s parents were in town and so he and Emily were going to go out for dinner with them, while we were kind of left to choose our own thing.  The original plan was to do a wine tasting at around 5 and then go to dinner (I think that’s what it was) but then we caught wind of a place that had wine and tapas for just 15 pesos more…so that’s what we did.  Of course, that didn’t start until 9, so we had some time to kill.  What we ended up doing was watching Men in Black. Good choice? I think so.  Also, I’m pretty sure that was the first time I’d seen it…I know, I know, ‘how can that be? It’s such a classic!’ well…now I’ve seen it…does that count for anything?

We (minus Drew and Emily who were at dinner with his parents) ended up sitting outside (and feeling kind of underdressed in jeans and flip flops) and the way it worked was that there were two wines they were showcasing that night, and so we got to try one glass of each, and then enjoy to our stomach’s content the tapas that were being brought out.  I won’t go into too much detail about that part of the night (because looking back on my last post I realize I was about to repeat myself pretty much verbatim…without actually trying.

When we got back, it was about 11 or so and I was pretty exhausted and so I pretty much just went to bed.  I heard the next day that people went out for ice cream afterwards, but I’m ok with missing that because we had to be ready to go by 9:30 the next day to go on a bike tour, and so maximum sleep was definitely a high priority for me.

All in all it was a good day, definitely a good start to our vacation.  The only thing is that we closed the window before going to bed.  Also, two of Emily’s friends crashed with us (with all of our permission of course,) and so they just slept on the floor with these backpacking mats they had…like hard core spending-nights-outside hiking sleeping mats…yeah.  So there were 9 of us in one room…with the window closed.  Point is: it got SUPER hot at night.  I ended up waking up at like 6:30 because I was so hot, and I couldn’t get back to sleep…so I just started getting ready.  I had to be super quiet, so once I was done showering and getting dressed, I decided not to go back into the room and so that was when my last blog update happened.  I also sat outside for a bit because it was just too stinking hot in the room—it was quite cool outside and I enjoyed it a lot.  But this is getting into the next day!  I really am trying not to put too much in one post!

So that was pretty much my first full day in Mendoza, a pretty great one, if you ask me…but that wasn’t even the best part :P I guess you’ll just have to wait until tomorrow for the next part!

Chau,

Kiki