I Heart Mendoza!

Alright, so my sister Wendy and her boyfriend Nate got here last week. Amazingly, they didn't have any problems with the Spanish part because they were lucky enough to find people that spoke enough English to get them by. So they got here on Tuesday afternoon, and, of course, it was the coldest day of the year here when they arrived, and it was the first day since I've been here where there wasn't any sun. Oh well...Anyways, on Wednesday, Wendy and Nate ate dinner with my host family and I, and I was amazed at how much English my host parents actually knew. I'd never heard them speak English before, so it was really different. There were a few places where I had to translate for them, but overall it was really good. Then on Friday we all left for Mendoza, Argentina, which is my new favorite place in South America. It was gorgeous there! We had a 7 hour bus ride there, and a majority of it was through the mountains. Beautiful! I took a TON of pictures while we were there, I'll get them on here soon I swear. When we first got to Mendoza, my friend Heather and I had made reservations to stay at this hostel called Campo Base, and when we got to the bus station, the owner of the hostel met our bus there and told us he would drive us to the hostel. So we were thinking that this was really nice, and that the hostel would be really nice, and blah blah...Then me, Heather, and three German students were brought to our "taxi" that would take us to the hostel, and suddenly we changed our minds. The taxi was a beat up old van, and in place of seats there were cardboard boxes, and a side of the inside wall was missing. Fancy, I know. So Heather and I got into the hostel and we were told that were rooming with a sketchy/weird girl and some other guy, and the room was so small I could barely get my bag in the door. Sweet. So, needless to say, we began looking for a new place to stay as soon as we could. Luckily, we were able to find this place called Winca's that was right across the street from my sister's hotel, and it was this adorable, affordable, nice place. Our first night we roomed with the most adorable Australian couple, Nick and Alicia. They were hilarious, and we talked to them for like two hours about how they're travelling around the world together. They were such a cute couple :) Then on Saturday, me, Heather, Wendy and Nate all went paragliding off of a huge mountain. It was the most amazing thing ever! First, Heather, Wendy, and I watched as Nate and the first group went, and then it was our turn to go. Heather was scared out of her mind and looked like she was going to cry, I was shaking like crazy, and Wendy was silent, so I knew she was nervous too. The instructors made Heather go first, and then Wendy, and I went last. It was really awesome. We were strapped onto the instructor, and then we had to run to the edge of the cliff and jump when they told us to. I expected to just sort of float downward, but instead we sort of flew up into the air and slowly floated up and down until we landed. I have a couple videos of that one, too. The next day, we went to the biggest zoo in South America, and then Wendy and Nate had to leave to fly back to the US, so Heather and I were left on our own. Our last day there, we decided to be adventerous once again, and we went white water rafting down the Argentine River. Difficulty level: Moderate. My experience: None. Result: I FELL INTO THE ICE COLD RIVER. Yep, it was pretty sweet. We were on a class III rapid, and we hit a huge wave, and next thing I know I'm in ice cold water with three other Argentinian guys that went with us. Heather and the instructor stayed in the raft, and luckily I was the first to get pulled back in, but I definitely freaked out and tried swimming in the river even though they told us not to do that. Plus I lost a shoe, so that helped. I still have a few bruises from the rocks I hit, but overall it was a rush and pretty awesome. After we went rafting, we also went horseback riding in the mountains. That was pretty freaky, too. I've done a ton of horseback riding in my life, but never up a mountain, and never with a guide that is younger than I am...It was gorgeous though, I loved it! And then we came back to Viña del Mar today, and our whole study abroad group leaves again tomorrow morning for La Serena. So, that was the Mendoza trip in a small little nutshell...a lot of other stuff happened too, but I'll leave that for later...got to go now. Bye!