Menozo, Menolos, MENDOZA, Argentina

What a whirlwind weekend! I have officially visited my second South American country, Argentina! This past Friday, 6 of us from here in Vina and John Kelsey's friend from Santiago all boarded international buses headed for Argentina. After the curviest road of my life (30 plus half circles in all), very intense customs (long story short, I lost my arrival papers from Chile....but thank goodness they still let me pass), being cooked alive the top of a double decker bus and uncomfortable seats we made it to Mendoza, Argentina by 6pm on Friday afternoon. We walked for about what seemed like an hour in sweltering heat (we aren't used to heat like that in Vina) we finally arrived at our hostel, which to our surprise already had 3 people in the room we were supposed to fill up. So no worries, they made it work, they just added a few more bunks....so here we are in a 10 person bunk room....the 7 of us and 3 strangers. The strangers turn out to be 2 guys from Australia and one dude from Israel. We get situated and head out to dinner, Mendoza had some amazing food and great wine. We partied the night away and woke up in the morning to head out on an excursion. We ended up going out to the wine country and renting bikes. Once on bikes we rode from vineyard to vineyard wine tasting, touring and eating. All in all it was an amazing day. We returned to have a great steak dinner (well everyone besides me!) and then to wine it was once again! Sunday our bus didn't leave until 10pm at night so we explored the city, and ate....and waited for the bus. We finally made it back home to Chile at 5:30am Monday....needless to say no one made it to class or work that day, we all caught up on very needed sleep! All in all what a trip! Great memories made and a successful trip to my second southern american country!

PHOTO UPDATE 2!

PHOTO UPDATE!

This update will be purely visual! Here are some recent photos I have taken in Vina the last few weeks. I am still having an incredible time down here. The sun is out everyday and I am loving every minute of it! Two major trips are now in stone. This Friday we leave for Mendoza, Argentina! November 9th I leave for Punta Arenas, PATAGONIA, Chile!! (Google image these amazing places) I could not be more stoked for both of these journeys. Stick around for updates on how they go!!

It's an incredible view from up here!

The view from our apartment is unbelievable.....arguably the best view in all of Vina del Mar, Chile! Whether it is daytime, sunset, dusk or night the view from our balcony is simply unreal! I wish you could all come down to visit because pictures just don't seem to do it justice! Besides our incredible view, life in Chile is perfecto! We go to the beach, have family dinners, walk a lot, work, go to class and travel....life doesn't get much better, especially in South America! We are in the planning phases, we are going to try hard to get to Mendoza, Argentina SOON, Patagonia (the very south tip of Chile) is a must and of course our route through Chile, Bolivia and Peru to finish up our expedition in December

Beer Pong in Chile, con una pelota de ping pong!

Most Chileans, unfortunately have yet to hear about Beer Pong, so thank goodness us Americans are down here to teach them! Last week we decided to start a round of beer pong. However, they don't exactly have "keg cups" down here in Chile. We ended up using plastic/paper birthday party cups! It was an incredible night and we all had a lot of fun!

Mi amiga Kelsey!!

YAY- I am happy to announce that my best friend from school has finally arrived here in Vina del Mar, Chile! I could not be more excited to have her here. She arrived on Sunday morning and we took the whole day to get situated set up "our room" and hang out! Long story short, Kels' room is about 5 feet wide and 8 feet long......so in other words we both share my room, which has its own bathroom, full bed, TV and balcony! We are getting along great! So far we hung out at the beach yesterday, took a field trip to a winery where we got a tour and did wine tasting, we ate empanadas mmmm, and have been exploring the city!

Movin' On Up!!

This day could not have come soon enough! I have been in Chile now for almost 5 weeks! And it is finally beginning to feel like home. One small change in my life down here has already made my time more enjoyable. Being October first I had the opportunity to relocate. I moved out of dos poniente and into an apartment. WOW what a difference. My bed is no longer on the floor, I have a big bed, my own bathroom, balcony and TV! The apartment is on the coast line and has a tremendous view of the beach, the city of Valparaiso, and a view of the sunset! It really doesn't get any better than that! Kelsey arrives Sunday morning and our other roommate named Amanda arrives Sunday morning as well. We are planning to rent a car and drive to Santiago Saturday and pick up Kelsey from the airport, so I will update you all on how that is coming along!