Wine, 2, 3, 4

 Me, Bryan, Paola and her 2 friends: Damien and Austin took a 14 hour overnight bus ride to Mendoza from Buenos Aires. 14 hours on a bus sounds awful I know, but it was actually pretty enjoyable- 2 story bus, our chairs were like comfy lazy boys that reclined all the way back, they served wine, showed a few bootleg movies and fed us. What more do you need? So much better than my 14 hour flight to Argentina. 

The first day we took a little guided tour to a town outside of Mendoza where a lot of the bodegas are, called Maipu (My Poo).  We went to two vineyards, an olive oil farm, and this mans house where he makes chocolates and liquors out of his tiny kitchen. It was super cool, first he had Norah Jones playing, so that was a plus. Then he gave us  little shots of his special creations... Absinthe, Russian Death, Black Cherry liqueur and some other stuff. The wine and liquor warmed us up since its starting to get a little blistery (blustery?*) outside.  Plus, we Mendoza is right by the mountains so that probably doesnt help. Then we got back and the boys made a huge bbq on the parrilla and jammed out to some tunes. Mmm. Steak, potatoes,' veggies  and of course, wine. 

 Day 2, we went back to Maipu and rented bikes from this lady's shed and rode from vinyard to vinyard. I guess the bright side was that the bikes worked but other than that, they werent too comfy and kinda wobbled a lot. The vinyards we visited that day were probably my favorite. This one vinyard, El Cerno was cool, they had a man posted up outside grilling all day. His name was Oscar and he was good at what he did, the meat was really good!  Maybe because we were starving after biking, but a sandwich, salad and wine hit the spot. So we all had lunch outside in front of the vines. 

 

That night we went to this bar called Juegetes Rabiosos and played some intense games of Jenga accompanied by Andes beer.  Although Im still not a huge beer lover, I can at least drink a glass now. Baby steps. haha. I think its the carbonation. 

Moving on... day 3: Me, P and B took a bus to Cacheuta and went to the local hot springs. The minerals made your skin feel so so soft. Of course me and Bryan didnt think to bring swimsuits so  we rented some sweet ones for 5 pesos from a lady outside the park who swears they were sanitary, sometimes you gotta just go with it and hope for the best.  Mine was a mix between a one-piece and a wrestlers outfit- very very attractive. Grey and yellow polka-dots and stripes. We grabbed some empanadas and whisky (a nice change from wine, plus it was still freezing outside) from a kiosko across the dirt road, made friends with Stormy the stray dog, and then went into the springs. You could see the beginning of the Andes mountains from where we were swimming, so that was cool. The rules in the park were weird, for example, girls had to have their hair in a ponytail and werent allowed to wear shorts as swimsuit bottoms, but at the same time they allowed breastfeeding in the water. Or maybe thats not weird, I dont know. After soaking ourselves to prunes in the springs, we went down the slide and left.  For some reason that wore us out and we napped the whole bus ride home.  I had my first Argentina sushi experience. Not bad, not much to choose from like back home- mostly salmon. So I got salmon. 

 

Day 4.. what was day 4.. oh yea, haha, it was super super cold that day- and we got up early and took a bus to do horseback riding through the mountains. Very cold. Thats pretty much it.  

Friday me and Bryan just kinda chilled out around Mendoza, we were going to try and go back to  Maipu on a scooter but it was raining, so that was a no-go. Instead we found an irish pub,  and the owner was this little round man who was so jolly and happy we were in his bar that we were sort of forced to stay. So we did. Got some drinks and watched old 90s music videos. Not bad at all. We had a couple of hours to kill until our bus left so we went to the local Mendoza Casino. It was so small. Bryan goes up to the bar and asks for a mojito.. haha I was like who are you? Were not in vegas. But the bartender tells us that the second bar can help him out with the mojito. So we go up the elevator, where we think he says the other bar is... turns out its the security floor where they watch the cameras to see if youre cheating. We  take the elevator back down and as the door opens, there are 4 security guards in suits with earpieces waiting for us. haha, woops. wrong floor. Once they hear my spanish, they realize Im just lost and not trying to take down Casino Mendoza. Yikes. Bryan brought a cuban cigar with him to act classy while on the wine vacation but never found the perfect time to smoke it. So we lit it in the casino, why not, everyone smokes in casinos. Ive never smoked a cigar, but Bryan said if youre gonna do it you may as well do it right. So my first puff of a cigar was a cuban one. Go team go. Thats pretty much as long as that lasted, a puff. haha. Checked that off my list. We went back to the hostel , packed and got on the bus. 

Anddd we just got back to Buenos Aires :) Its good to be home. Oh and if youre wondering where Winnie was, he stayed with a friend who treated him like a god.  He was kinda on vacation too. And, if you made it this far reading all of my babble, Im impressed and thank you :)

* Im coming home for Thanksgiving.  So see yall in T minus 5 months!

love youuuu,

Elise

¡GOLLLLLLLLL!

BOCA JRS vs. ARSENAL

(2-1)

I'll write more later :) but for now, this is what it was like at the Boca game. 

El Caminito

If you've ever seen pictures of Buenos Aires, you've probably come across the pictures of the colorful buildings. Well, thats on a street called El Caminito in the  barrio Boca. A long time ago it  was the main port of the city where everthing happened since it backs up to a river. Now, it's a little more touristy and is no longer where everything happens. I dont think really anything happens there actually except the tourist thing.  They had street performers, tango dancers, people in costumes who stand still, etc. 

Anyway, its like going to San Antonio and seeing the Alamo.. it;s just something you've gotta do. So we did it!

...when in Rome right? haha absolutely.  We tried to smile at the camera, but the man taking the picture was VERY insistant on having it look "natural." So there ya go...  at least my body is drawn  to size. 

the Oreo of Argentina

Sooo el cachorro (argentine spn. for puppy) made it! Poor little guy.. 20 hours in a box :( But he made it ok, a little grumpy, but in one piece. So thats good. What was it like getting him from Buenos Aires customs you wonder..?  Kind of like having a long confusing nightmare. I thought it was going to be super easy, 15 minutes at the max. Go into the airport, show them my passport and be on my way with Winnie. No way, not at all. We rented a little "mystic blue"  Volkswagen Gol Trend since the airport is in a city right outside of Buenos Aires called Ezeiza and Winnie sheds a lot so I didnt think a cab driver would let him in his car. haha anyway, so we get there and had to talk to about 23 different people like .. "go to terminal A, talk to them, sign this pay that, then come back to me get this form , go to terminal B, go to cargo talk to them, walk across the hall, pay them, show this stuff to them, wheres your passport? why is your dog coming? remember terminal A? go back there then Im not sure what next, ask them..." haha so I wont keep going, but this lasted for literally 3 hours. Then.. bum bum bum.. he was set free! And exhausted for two days... but he's back to normal now... obsessed with Bryan and jolly. 

It seems like Argentina has no shortcuts, besides the airport adventure, I kinda like that about BA. There's a special store for everything:  spices,  a little lady  that makes pastries and chocolates, fruits, lampshades.. I found a button store the other day. When you go eat at a restaurant, everything (for the most part) is made from scratch or maybe from a local bakery. So thats kind of cool. Not too much frozen food. And, the cheap hole in the wall restaurants have been the best so far, by a lot!  The Choripan/entrana (strip of steak) for $1.50, and the empanada for 75 cents turn out much better than the steak at Joe Fancy's restaurant. So much better. 

Theres this little coffee shop a block from our apt, little hole-in-the wall ... of course, place - not too fancy where we always go get coffee and an alfahor. More about the alfahor later, Bryan loves them. Well I do too, but I love all sweets so I dont count. Anyway, this one waiter is always there, I think he's the only waiter actually. Well anyway, he knows us now and knows our order. No idea what his name is, but he looks just like Mr. Bean... you know that comedian that everyone loves, except me I feel. How great is it that he looks like Mr Bean and deals with coffee beans all day! Coincidence? Not at all. I'll find out what his name is and take a picture with him so I can show yall and compare the two. Oh! the alfahor, right.. so they sound super unhealthy, and after writing what they are it sounds actually not healthy at all... but theyre so good. Its like the "Oreo of Argentina" someone told me. Its sort of like an oreo filled with dulce de leche and then covered in chocolate. Sometimes they get a little crazy and make the Alfahor 3x.. so its like 4 cookies filled with dulce de leche.. 3 times.. I havent gotten that daring to try it, seems like a little much. Like what if there was a PB&J 3x .. no way right. peanut butter overload. Anyway, we eat them alot. thats pretty much it. 

Oh and the picture below I stole from Paola, it's us out in Plaza Serrano at Bar Abierto- good title right. Theres a restaurant down the street from us named "The Standard Restaurant", its written in english,  they may have well named it, Just-Alright. haha.  Or theres this Chinese place near us named Yan Kie and a pizza place called Kentucky... whats the story behind that one I wonder.. 

* I wish these pictures were mine, but I dont have an adapter for my camera charger yet and its dead.. so until then, stealing them from the internet and Paola. 

Love you! 

Elise

Bienvenidos Mi Querido Winnie

Winnie's coming! He gets shipped tomorrow and arrives Friday morning... he has no idea whats in store for him - a super super long plane ride. Poor little guy. When I say shipped I mean, goes on the plane... 

Safari Duck and Churipan

         Today we spent the day in the park, had a little picknick of sorts. We made sandwiches, brought some chips and some drinks and sat out bye the park just hangin out playing texas hold-em for pesos. Of course, elise had to feed all the birds and creatures she saw causing us to get attacked by swans and pigeons, but it was still lots of fun. The duck you see to your left was called "Safari Duck", or at least thats what Elise named him because he had "all the colors of safari animals. He has a cheetah, a lion a zebra- all of them" Needless to say he was her favorite. After our picknick, we went walking around the park and found a little churipan man. It was about a buck fifty for a sausage sandwich and it was soooo good. That was pretty much our day today, low key and nice. Tomorrow we are off to the work office of my school to see if we can find me a little job. Thats all for now!!

Bryan

Guatemala, home sweet home.

Apartment #2 is so great.  We live on Guatemala Street, all the streets around us are named after little countries- next door is Paraguay. I'm not used to the metrics system yet, but what this whole moving into a different apartment thing has taught me is that 40 sq.  meters is a HUGE difference from 30 sq. meters... how big is a meter? who knows,  but 10 of them is quite noticeable. I mean, 5 km is about 3 miles-ish but thats as far as my metric knowledge goes. Well and 0˚C is cold. It may not look like a gem from the video, but it really is.  The only thing is, which isn't even really a thing at all but, you know when you go to the bank - the drive through part- and you send your money through that shoot and it makes that "shooop" sound... well we constantly hear that sound all day because the walls are thin and we're kinda near the elevator and the elevator sounds just like that! haha I promise.  Its like living in the money shoot, but you dont even notice it really.  So if you saw the video, Welcome to our Apartment #2! So thats where we live. 

Today I went running in the Palermo Parks, I had never been before- Palermo is the "barrio" we live in and there are a bunch of parks together so they call them the Palermo Parks. Theres a Rose Garden, the Japanese Gardens and a couple others. Anyway its like Townlake in Austin meets that famous park in Amsterdam, ugh whats it called, anyway its so nice.. palm trees, other trees, lakes- well ponds, green area everywhere, swans, ducks, picnics, dirt paths to run on, oh and a little man selling ice cream and choripan:  chorizo + pan (bread) = choripan. simple concept. Plus, I'm sure it didnt hurt that it was 75˚ and beautiful outside. It was so nice! Thats the picture on here, I didnt take it- because... who runs with a camera in their pocket, but its from the internet of where I ran. Oh and on the walk back to the subte (subway) I found a flower stand and bought myself a flower, Ive never seen this type of flower- its called Terciopelo, which means Velvet in spanish- who knew, but the red pedals are so close together, like a cauliflower and they feel and look just like velvet! Im not sure what its called in english.  See the picture of our dinner... well its the flower in the background. Speaking of dinner, so the food is cheaper here and we found a whole chicken at the supermarket for $3 (how cool is that) because Bryan wanted to oven-roast a chicken with rosemary. Well we get the ingredients from the supermarket, and came back to discover that the oven had no temperatures written on the knob. haha what? Maybe its common here, but how are you supposed to know I wonder. What would Bobby Flay do? Anyway,  Bryan seasoned the chicken - you know, some rosemary, garlic, olive oil- threw it in there, put it on high and hoped for the best..  it surprisingly turned out really really good- not too dry, not raw- but really good! "Suprisingly" not because he cant cook , because hes a good little chef,  but because the oven is pretty much a question mark in disguise. So, thats what the picture is. Oh and we didnt eat the whole chicken by the way, like the lentils, we will be having chicken for a while... 

The computer is doing weird things with the font- so, I guess I'm done for tonight, which is probably good. 

P.S.: Happy 5 de Mayo, eat tons of avocados and drink a margarita or 2 for me :)

- Elise