Jan 15,16,17

Tuesday Jan 20,
I took a taxi to the airport for Mendoza. Come to find out I read my ticket wrong. I was supposed to leave at 630am, not 630pm. Luckily I got one standby and got on the plane. I ate some delisicous dulce de leche candies and crackers... I was starved... After getting to the airport I changed my ticket for coming back to BA on Friday instead of Thursday evening. As soon as I walked our of the Mendoza airport I saw a beautiful vineyard and the huge andes mountains with a bit of snow on them. SO AMAZING!! I took a taxi to a hotel...wish I stayed in a hostel instead. There was no AC and I didn´t really meet anyone. When I got settled in the hotel I made my way down the street to a bike shop where I made reservations to do a bike-wine tour to some of the wineries. I also got recommendations to eat at a great restaurant a block away. There I had a great chicken and beet salad with bread and really good butter. After dinner, I went to a grocery store and got some treats to take back to the hotel. It was so hot in my room that it was hard to sleep. I decided to wet some towels and put them around my head. I finally fell to sleep.

Wednesday Jan 16, I woke up and had breakfast down be the hotels pool. After breakfast, a person came to transfer me to the bike shop in maipu, where I would be doing the tour. Along the way we picked up three people from a hotel called largares. The three people David from Canada, Joanna from Scotland, and Dorothee from Germany and I became instant friends. We all travelled together on our bikes to the different wineries. First stop a historic wine museum, where we had a tour about the facility. Next stop was a chocolate shop and jam shop. The liquors were really good, so many different varaities. Next stop was lunch at a gas station, then onto a boutique winery with lots of almond trees outside. My had a great tour about the wines and the facility. This winery was built in like 1916 crazy old. Our last stop was a winery out in the vineyard. The tour guide told us all about the vineyard and the fermentation process. The vineyard was 60 years old. After the tour we had some delicious malbec wine yum!!! Then back to the bike shop. We rode bikes about 24 kilometers that day. I must say something about the trees in mendoza before I forget. There are so many different trees its amazing. If Mendoza did not have the trees it wouldn´t be as beautiful. With the trees, vineyards, and andes in the back it is gorgous. Mendoza reminded me a lot of Napa but not a touristy. After the bike tour I went back to my hotel and checkout. I was moving to the hostel that my new friends were staying in. The hostel was really nice and a much better deal. For a bed with AC, free internet, free kitchen use, any movies I wanted to watch and a good bathroom plus breakfast eat morning was only 35 pesos. Cannot bet that! I got a bed in a room with 4 bunk beds and co-ed people. I didn´t mind it everyone was really nice and I felt safe. Plus the room included a locker to put all my stuff. By the end of the day I was so tried that I made dinner and went straight to bed.

Thursday Jan 17, Today I woke up and ate breakfast with my friends. Then I was picked up by a big van for some hiking. Well that is what I thought I had purchased from the hostel. As I was getting into the van the lady asked me if I have a jacket because she said that it gets windy. I went and got a jacket and then got back into the van. We picked up other people on the way up to the Andes. The other people were caring huge backpacks. I was getting a little scared because I didn´t know if I was on the right trip. Come to find out the trip was trekking for 5 hours up to a peck and back down. I was thinking to myself ¨Oh god what did I sign up for¨. The others were going for 3 days and I was going for the day. As we drove up to the Andes mountains it was so beautiful. I saw a lake that was the most blue/turqouse color I have ever seen. We reached a hostel and got ready for the trekking. I was with a guide and two other women, both from Ireland. We started going for about 45 minutes. The heat and altitude started to get to me. My legs started to really hurt too. I worried amount my hips and didn´t wait to risk damaging them. i told the other ladies and the guide that this was to hard for me. Luckily there was a road nearby the trekking road. I told them I would make my way back to the hostel, which I did. After an hour, I found my way back and watched tv and ate lunch that they provided me with. After resting a while. I went back outside and did a little small hike not trekking around the properties. It was gorgous. A could see a little snow on a mountain peek and a steam that was going down the mountain. There wasn´t much vegation, just some shurbs and a few flowers. I also saw a lot of birds. After my small hike, I met a guy from Argentina on our transfer up to the mountains who offered me some Mate. Mate is a bitter tea drink that EVERYONE drinks in south america. It was a little to bitter for me, but I had a few sips. After that it was already around 5 pm and my guide and the others got back from the trekking. I said my good-byes and was transferred back to my hostel. There I went to the store and got dinner and watched the movie man on fire and then went up to my bed. I was starting to get sick some I wanted to get a good night sleep. Before bed I met some guys from Brazil who were super nice. One was becoming a doctoe. We talked alot about there medical system in Brazil and compared it with ours. There system is universal. Everyone has the opportunity to get care. We also talked a lot about nutrition as well! After or talk, my friend Joanna from scotland came to talk to me about our plans for the next day. We decided that we were going to rent bikes and travel around Mendoza for the day. After we set our plans we all went to bed. I will blog more later..