From Chile to Buenos Aires

If you have ever been jewish on christmas in america then you know exactly what it feels like to try and do or eat anything in Chile when there is even a minor Catholic holiday. This past monday was such a day and surprisingly I found myself in a chinese restaurant ordering spring rolls, sushi and mongolian beef. The sushi was excelltent, soft and delicious, having been caught only kilometers west of the city.

I can´t say that I was very upset to leave Santiago especially after our last night which conisisted of seaching for a restaurant for two hours and then sleeping in the most delapidated and dreadful hostel one could imagine. After resting for only a couple of hours poorly-fully clothed and gripping my pássport. Nate and I headed to the bus station for a six hour bus trip to Mendoza, Argentina.

On the bus I took some beautiful pics of the 3000 meter Andean mouintains and the switchbacks of the intimidating roads, only to then delete them as I ´trained´ myself to use the different complicated functions on the camera.

Finally after six hours, slow moving customs agents, and the film ´the skeleton key´ (an american film which we watched with spanish dub and english subtitles) we arrived in one of the most gorgeous little cities I have seen.

Mendoza, located in the heart of wine country and in a valley surrounded by the Andes, is just like burlington, except with many beautiful Argentinean women, historic sites and fashion. The city exudes a warmness and friendliness that was severely deficient in Santiago, and it felt good to walk across the tiled sidewalks and pedestrian streets without beggars demanding your money and political graffiti covering the walls. mendoza even has minoras!

In Mendoza nate and I hired a guide and went mountain biking through the foothills of the andes. Our guide Juan was in training for climbing the highest peak in all the americas, yet he still smoked -like any good s. american -the whole time we were together. Halfway through the day long trip we stopped for lunch and nate napped.

As well as exercise and move we also spent an extensive amount of time in a restaurant eating great steaks and having our choice of the finest wines the area had to offer, which are many but hard to pick since I cannot say and nate cannot translate ´I would like a wine that has few tanens but is not to sweet and will compliment and balance the flavors of new york strip steak in my mouth...rather we chose by label and recomendation.

Last night we took a 14 hr bus into Buenos Aires and are here now, excited to see what this great city has to offer.