Mendoza (& Some of the Past Week)

Two weekends ago, my friend Jade and I decided to go to Mendoza, Argentina (and ended up running into Michael from our program in the bus station, so he joined us too!). We took an overnight bus on Friday over the Andes, and getting out to wait in the immigration line at 4 AM was absolutely brutal. Not only had we barely slept at all but it was FREEZING. And of course, being in South America, everything took three times as long as it needed to. But at least I got another stamp in my passport!

We got into Mendoza around 8 AM, took a short nap and headed out for the day. Mendoza is known for its wine, so wine tasting is its main tourist attraction. And unless you rent a car, all of the winery tours are done on bikes!!! Slightly dangerous to have drunk bikers all over the roads? Yes. Still a brilliant idea? DEFINITELY! Maps in hand (actually in the basket on the front of my bike), we set out for the first winery, where we got to try lots of jams and marmalades, chocolate, different flavors of dulce de leche, salsas, delishhh olive oil, and absinthe!!! Now that I think about it, we didn't even have any wine there but a shot of absinthe was a great way to start my day! Okay I'm lying, it was disgusting, but I'm glad I tried it. Throughout the day, we rode around, visiting different wineries and enjoying the scenery. That night, we got some Argentine steak in a supposedly "German-themed" restaurant that was decorated like a rainforest, then passed out.

The next day, we walked to the main square. We decided to make some dog's day by giving him Jade's leftover steak from the night before, and ended up practically starting a dog fight in giant pack of strays, who then surrounded us and followed us all the way down the street until we took shelter in a bakery. Michael had an early bus back, so Jade and I wandered around the city, but EVERYTHING was closed since it was Sunday. Even the outdoor market wasn't going to open until the evening, but we had Argentine pesos to get rid of so we ate all day until we had to head back to the bus station.

Our ride back was much more enjoyable than the ride over. It was still light out for the first few hours, so we got to look at the mountains and see all the SNOW! Such a fun weekend! I wish we could've stayed longer but this whole "school" thing is kinda cramping my style.

Photosss:

Chocolateee :)

Preparing our absinthe shots.

The plant that Jade accidentally sat on and killed with her butt.

Aging wine bottles in the cellar.

All of the fountains in the city were died blue...

About half of our dog gang.

Driving home through the Andes!

This past weekend, we had a Mexican potluck since that's the food that everyone misses most. The food was good, but the best part of the night was meeting this little guy!

Her name is Espineta. I want one.

On Saturday night I saw Mamma Mia in Spanish! It was really small and low budget but I LOVED it, and it was pretty funny to hear all the songs translated to Spanish.

EXACTLY 6 WEEKS TIL I'M HOME!!!

Just A Little Update...

So I've been really slacking on the blog, but I think it's time for a little update on my life down here. Nothing too interesting, no major trips since Peru.

First things first. I started my internship!!! I actually don't think "internship" is the right word, but that's what my school is calling it so I'll take it! I work with an organization called Corporación Padre Patricio Espinosa. My friend Nallely and I are teaching an afternoon arts and crafts class once a week at an elementary school in a town called El Monte, which is about an hour outside the city. The students at the school (as well as the rest of the town) are for the most part extremely poor. The director was telling us how the school's attendance rate isn't much over half since education isn't considered a priority in most of the poor households. The kids are fed at school, but some of them go without eating all weekend at home. El Monte's teenage pregnancy rate is off the charts, and drug and alcohol addiction is very common. The high school even has a civil registry right across the street, which is kind of a scary idea. Really sad and humbling to think about, but the kids I work with are AMAZING. I work with 3rd and 4th graders and we mostly do simple projects since we have pretty limited resources, but I love every second that I'm with them. They call us "Tía Rachel" and "Tía Nallely" and they all run to kiss us on the cheek before and after each class. A few of them asked if they can follow me home and live with me, which seemed cute at the time, but it's sad to think that they were serious. I've worked with kids for almost 5 years now, and I've never had such a sweet, well-behaved group. They're so excited for everything we do, and the language barrier hasn't been a problem at all. Just goes to show that I have the Spanish vocabulary of a 3rd grader!!! Haha maybe that explains why we get along so well. 

Also, I went to my first soccer game in South America! I was actually kinda disappointed that it wasn't as crazy as people warned me it would be...I wanted some fights and tear gas! C'MON!!! Anywho, it was still really exciting, and the fans didn't sit down or stop cheering the entire game. Wish I knew the chants though! The game was between 2 of the 3 major teams in Chile - La Católica (my school) and La Chile (our rival). And...drumroll....................we TIED! Haha. But everyone still went crazy, because it meant that La Católica got to keep their #1 spot and La Chile got bumped out of the running for the title. WOOO!!! Here are some pics!

The crowd...rowdy bunch.

TIE! This all happened in the 1st half...

And some pics from an afternoon in the sculpture garden down the street from my apartment: 

Rolling down the hill.

Fall :)

So while all this has been fun, I've been pretty stressed lately. Since when is study abroad supposed to be hard??? I have a ridiculous amount of work for class, including 2 huge group research projects that are due at the same time as my 3 finals (keep in mind, all of this is EN ESPAÑOL). Basically, homework is consuming my life right now but I'm trying not to let it get in the way of me enjoying my time here. Also, it's starting to get colddd! During the day, it's still in the low 60s but it gets down to the 30s in the mornings and at night. And everyone keeps telling us this is nothing compared to what's coming. AHHHHHH!!! At least it's not miserably hot anymore...I'll take being cold over that any day. 

Leaving tonight to go to Mendoza, Argentina for the weekend! Wine country :) 

¡Chau!

Isla Los Uros

After Machu Picchu, we got on yet another bus (yay...) up to Puno, a town on the edge of Lake Titicaca (trying to hold it in, tryinggg...BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA okay I couldn't do it, that name is just too good). While the lake itself was really cool, Puno did NOT make the list of my favorite places. There were multiple reasons for this other than it being plain and boring, but I won't go into that (except that when you offer someone a free cup of coffee, you should probably let them know that adding milk to it makes it full price; that would've been a useful little tidbit - especially when the coffee itself is squirted out of a Gatorade bottle).

Anyway, after a morning that went nothing like planned, we boarded a tour boat to Isla Los Uros, a set of man-made floating reed islands on the lake. The ancestry of the Uro people goes back before the Incans arrived in the region, and they speak a language called Aymara (but also Spanish). They make the islands themselves and somehow anchor them down so they don't keep floating all over the lake when it's windy. EVERYTHING is made of reeds - the islands, their boats, their houses and furniture, and the handicrafts that they sell. Most of the islands also have lookout towers (made of reeds, of course) but I'm not sure what they're supposed to be looking out for? Even if they saw something coming, what would they do.......? Interesante.

On the island, we listened to a joint presentation by our tour guide and the island's headman, who explained their customs and demonstrated how they make the islands. After that, the people on the island (there are about 6-8 families on most of them) invited us into their huts and talked to us, and then asked us what we wanted to buy, those tricksters!!! But besides that, going to Isla Los Uros was an amazing experience, and I loved being able to visit with people who's culture was so unbelievably different than mine. Plus now I can say I've been on the highest navigable lake in the world!

Being welcomed onto the island.

The harbor. Peruvian and Bolivian flags.

Isla Los Uros!

Random side note: our friend at the bus station in Tacna thought he was so funny when he told us that Titi was the Peruvian side and Caca was the Bolivian side. Until we explained why Titi wasn't much better.

That's it for Peru! Other than the 50-hour journey back to Santiago...I had such an amazing trip (made more amazing by the fact that Peru actually has spicy food). I WANNA GO BACKKK.