Mendoza, Argentina

That's right y'all, I went to Argentina this past weekend!!! qoiwejrksdfajfjasdf;lkasjfl. That's all I have to say about it. It was fabulous, beautiful, kind of a mess and one of the best weekends of my life.  My good friend Jamie and I left Friday morning from Chile and made the (supposed to be) 6 hour bus ride to Mendoza.  The reason I say "supposed to be"is because customs between Chile and Argentina is a hot mess. HOT. MESS. There are only like 2 people working in the whole office on the actual border and they take lots of breaks and can't seem to do anything efficiently. But more on that later...

Once we arrived in Argentina we booked it to our hostel, which again was kind of a hot mess. Jamie and I decided that our phrase for the weekend was "tenemos una problema..." which means "we have a problem".  The lady at the hostel must've just put away her crack pipe when we walked in because she was like, "this is a bad weekend to be here...there won't be anything open...it's a holiday weekend...we ran out of wine in the whole country..." Ok jk to the last thing but she did say everything before that.  She said we wouldn't be able to go to any artisan shops because everything was closed because it was a holiday weekend and basically we needed to go back to Chile.  So after freaking out for .6 seconds, Jamie and I walked to a little square, where lo and behold, everything was open! Restaurants! Artisan shops! People everywhere!  The lady didn't know what she was talking about.  We bought a ton of little gifts for friends and a huge bottle of wine and headed back to the hostel for BBQ and a little hostel party.

The next morning, bright and early and regretting the night before, we got up and headed to Mapiu to rent bikes and take a tour of all of the vineyards in the area.  Maipu is like a suburb of Mendoza, so we had to take a bus to get there.  Long story short we walked around for like 20 minutes trying to figure out how to put money on our card to ride the bus and we ended up getting dropped off even farther from where we were supposed to go-- tenemos una problema!! Finally we stumbled upon the bike shop and were off on a wine-seeking adventure.

A little disclaimer: Mendoza doesn't look anything like what you expect wine country to look like. To be honest, it's kind of ghetto. A lot of trashy people live there. There's a vineyard next to a shack with a broken down camino in front and you're just kinda like what?? So, forgive the pictures. But the excellent wine made up for the disgusting-ness. 

Wine museum 

The hardest vineyard to find in the whole world 

The vineyard we biked through for 20 minutes....

After all the intense biking we were really thirsty so naturally we stopped in a beer garden

A winery that was the worst tour of my life

After a while all wineries look alike.  I can tell you anything you want to know about making wine. I could probably make some right now I'm such an expert. 

Tourin'

Oh, I didn't see you there

More tourin' 

...

And then we got on the barrels. And that's about the time the owner stopped letting American's into the winery

We made it back to Maipu in one piece and fell into a deep long wine induced slumber.  Sunday we woke up a little late and had a nice little breakfast then Jamie had the best idea ever- we should go to the zoo! And that we did! The last time I went to the zoo I was wearing diapers so I was excited to go again. And this was a bomb zoo.  It was in the middle of a beautiful park so it was fun to walk there and get to see all the pretty trees changing colors (even though we ended up walking like 6 miles and I now have huge blisters on my toes)

Ayye reppin' my country 

Blending in

A map of the zoo- it was carved into the hill!

So we go into the zoo expecting something subpar, a good cheap way to spend the day, etc. Boy oh boy were we mistaken. We ended up spending all day there! They had a really good selection of animals to look at and the best part was...THEY HAD WILD MONKEYS JUST WALKING AROUND THE ENTIRE ZOO!! Wild monkeys, people! We bought some monkey cookies and it was game over because we got to feed them. The monkeys took the cookies from us with their little monkey hands!!! At one point I realized Jamie and I were yelling and laughing more than the children were. 

So close, no?

Then I threw monkey cookies literally into this bear's mouth and he loved it, maybe more than I did

Leetle zeebs 

Rosie the elephant!!

She was so cute- she'd put her trunk up here and let people feed her (who knew monkey cookies were a zoo favorite?!)

After a long day of monkey holding and cookie throwing we were exhausted and starving. This is what we ate. I know, are we boys or girls??

Then, after walking a million miles Vanessa Carlton style my feet hurt so dang bad! I'm not embarrassed to say that yes, I took my shoes off and walked home barefoot. 

But not before buying the best churros known to man.

Mendoza was so so SO fun. Monday morning we woke up and headed for the bus station.  All was fine until we got to the Argentina/Chile border.  No lie, we sat there for FIVE HOURS because traffic was so backed up and there's only one scanner that checks all of the luggage that comes through the dang border. Literally one scanner. They take off all the luggage and scan it, then put it back in. OMG I legit thought I was going to die. The only bonus was that we were standing in the middle of the Andes, so it was pretty to look at. But then I'd remember that we were waiting for so long so I'd get mad again. Also there was the trashiest family on our bus. One kid yelled the entire time and his brother picked his nose and coughed on me. I was so over the bus by the time we got back to Chile.  

We don't look to bad either, do we?

Welcome to Chile: land of only one luggage scanner

Good thing I didn't get tired of this view

The cookies that ended up saving our lives because they were the only things we had to eat!!! 

So all in all, a successful weekend in deed.  I'm looking forward to just relaxing and chilling and HANGING OUT WITH MY FAMILY THIS WEEKEND!! That's right, the TankerToes are coming to Chile!! I don't know if the country is ready for the sass those 3 are bringing me.  I'll try to have a good time with them while they're here ;) 

Chao, 

Aves 

Pucon, Chile

This weekend I went to the lovely, fabulous, wonderful, amazing Pucon, Chile! 12 hours south of Vina del Mar, we realized Pucon is actually in the very top of the Patagonia!! All weekend we kept stopping and saying, "oh my gosh we're actually in the Patagonia right now". Mind blown.  If I had to describe this weekend in one word it would definitely be: adventurous. I didn't shower all weekend. We went from one extreme activity to the next. Today I'm definitely feeling the repercussions of my physical actions with a pulled groin muscle and wind chapped face but it was so so SO worth it! 

We (my friends Jamie, Kelly, Lynna, Michaela, Kelly and Brendon) left Vina at 9 p.m on Thursday night. We pulled into Pucon Friday morning and literally hit the ground running. We stayed in the most fabulous hostel known to man- Hostel Refugio- and if you ever find yourself in Pucon sans hotel stay here!!! The staff was so nice and when we left last night we were all sad to say goodbye.  

Lynna, Jamie, Kelly and I in front of our fab hostel

Volcano Villarrica aka the devil's volcano- I hiked this bad boy on Sunday!

My friend Jamie and I in front of the volcano 

Friday afternoon we went horseback riding. I told my mom I was doing this and she said, "dang you sure do ride a lot of horses in Chile!" She's right! For some reason Chileans love to ride horses. We went into the mountains in Pucon and got to look over the town and surrounding lakes.

Such a purty sight 

Chillin' on a hill 

My little pony and I 

** Side note about the boots I'm wearing- Before I left for Chile David, my stepdad, said to me, "Avrey take my hiking boots you'll need them!" and I being the mean, nasty person that I am scoffed at him. "No Dave, I won't need your ugly boots ew who even wears boots like that blah blah blah other mean things". Welp, Dave was right. I DID need hiking boots! So, swallowing my pride, I went to Lider (the Walmart of Chile) and bought these bad boys. For only $7 I too, could be stylin' in my hiking boots. So, I'm sorry Dave. I will never say another bad thing about your boots**

Friday night after the horseback ride we went to some hotsprings! It was so nice to relax after being on a bus for 12 hours and riding a horse for 3+. Of course I don't have pictures from this because who takes a camera anywhere?! Sorry gang. 

Saturday Jamie, Kelly, Lynna, Brett (our new Hawaiian friend also staying at the hostel) and I got up early in the morning and hiked to Salto de Claro waterfall! Feel free to google pictures but they don't do it justice. We got so close to it we were all drenched from the spray! We were also the only people there! Hiking there was also like going through jurassic park-esque flora. We literally clawed our way through roots and leaves and mud but it was so worth it. 

In front of the waterfall- bananas, right?

After the waterfall we rushed home to grab a change of clothes and go hydrospeeding! Wearing a wetsuit, you lay/hold on for dear life onto a raft thing and kick your way down a rapid-filled river. It was the MOST fun. It was raining and really intense and of course I banged my knees up on the rocks but at one point I caught myself giggling while we were swimming downstream. Again, sorry there are no picture

But this is what I looked like if someone had been there to capture the moment

Saturday night after all of our adventures we chilled and drank delicious Chilean wine and prepared for Sunday aka the day of death. 

Sunday we hiked Villarrica Volcano. Villarrica is the second largest volcano in South America and is kind of a mean lady. We geared up in gators, clampons, pants and a jacket to protect us from the ice, a helmet, gloves and a pick-axe thing. It was some serious mountaineering. The first 2 hours were hard because it was uphill on LAVA ROCKS because oh yeah, the volcano last erupted in the 80's. Then we got to a rest point and put on our clampons because we proceeded to hike up straight ice. Frozen water, people! At this point in the hike I was terrified. The wind kept blowing just right and my jacket kept filling up with air and I thought I was going to blow away.  Our guides also kept reminding us that if we fell we would probably die unless we caught ourselves so that didn't help my fear. After stopping again we realized reaching the top of the volcano couldn't be done because it was negative something degrees and it was blowing sleet. Spooky. We turned around and the descent down was muuuuuch better than on the way up because it was downhill (duh) and our guide let us stop to carve our name in the snow, make snowmen, etc.  

Brace yourselves, because these pictures don't look real

Clouds mixed with snow inside an old chairlift 

I know. Stop

Swag

Modeling in the snow 

Dead after the hike

After the hike we returned to our hostel, scarfed down some food and got on the bus to take us home to Vina! We pulled into town this morning at 8 and I had just enough time to put down my stuff and shower before going to class.  My CM is being very sweet and brought me my lunch in bed and ice for my hurt groin. (She keeps asking me to say what muscle I pulled- my groin- and then chuckles because she thinks it's a funny word in english).

This is my last week of summer 1 classes! Yeehaw! I know I haven't documented any pictures but I swear I've been going! I have one test and a project standing between me and Mendoza, Argentina this Friday! I'll have a 5 day break and then I start summer 2 classes and the last half of my time here. I can't believe it- today is my one month anniversary with Chile! At times it was tough but I'm so glad we stuck it out and stayed together because I think I'm in love. 

I promise I'll be better about blogging friends-- 

Chao!

Aves 

Chi-Chi-Chi Le-Le-Le Viva Chile!

Ugh I know, I stink for this post being almost a WEEK late but I have a legitimate excuse: our internet wasn't working at our casa, thus preventing me from spreading the good word about a great soccer game. Yes, friends, I went to a soccer game last Tuesday! In Santiago! Against the nasty Bolivians! (insert boo-ing noise here).  Tuesday was probably one of the best days I've had in Chile yet because everyone was so excited to watch some futbol and drink some cervazas and have just a quality Tuesday night!

We got tickets to the game through a program at La Catolica (my school here) and my friend Jamie and I decided to sneak some beer onto the bus because they don't sell beer inside the stadium.  Little did we know that our soon to be best friends were also planning to do the same! The kind gentlemen that sat behind us on the way to Santiago ended up being our friends for the night.  They taught us all sorts of lovely phrases that involved beating the hell out of Bolivia- ok I taught them that one- and mean things to say to police officers.

Me and my new friends

On the way there, about an hour away from Santiago (and 309240920948 beers in) the guy in the red, white and blue wig pulled out face paint! At that point all hell broke loose. Everyone from the front of the bus came to the back of the bus and paint was passed around like it was going out of style. Chile's colors are red, white and blue so naturally I was all about the theme. Chileans also, like Americans, are verrrrrry patriotic. I was so proud to be a kind of Chilean that night! 

No explanation needed 

Again...speechless 

Friendz 

Go big or go home? 

Paint in the hair- classic 

When we finally got to Santiago we all poured out of our bus. All of the girls wanted to buy game scarves or "bufandas" but one of our kind man, face-paint friends insisted on going with us so that the scarf-seller wouldn't swindle us! Awww. 

In front of the stadium! 

The game was pretty boring but it was fun to watch all of the Chilean's get so enthusiastic about literally everything. Most men were watching the game and listening to people commentate on it from their headphones so I couldn't ask important questions like what color team Chile was and what kind of sandwiches they were selling at the concession stand.  We ended up winning 3-1 and this means that Chile advances to a higher round in the world cup qualifying games! Yay Chile!

After the game we all got back on the bus and fell into a deep beer/avocado sandwich slumber. Wednesday morning was tough and I was still finding face paint on Friday, but it was without a doubt, such a blast. 

Viva Chile!

Chao, 

Aves 

"I only came for the beaches and the dranks..."

You can thank the ever lovely Trey Songz for the title of this post. Except he doesn't say a word as nice as beaches...

I feel like I say this quite often, but Chile is awesome. This experience has been one of the best of my life and I'm not even halfway through with it! I can't even imagine how I'm going to feel at the end of my short 10 weeks here.

This past weekend was absolutely fabulous- the program I'm with (ISA) offered two different excursions on Saturday and Sunday. I came back both nights completely exhausted but I can't imagine what I would've done if I had missed them!

Saturday we all loaded up and went to La Isla Negra.  Speechless.  The pictures don't do it justice.  La Isla Negra is north of Vina del Mar and (suprise, suprise) the third location Pablo Neruda had a house.  I think if I had met Pablo I wouldn't have liked him because I'm soooooo jealous of his sweet digs.  MTV Cribs would've been all over him.  This was my favorite house that we toured because of 1) the view from his bedroom window. Dang, Pabz. And 2) it had a ton of those ladies that are on the front of ships (Pirates of the Caribbean style) everywhere which spooked me out but in a good way. 3) HE HAD A SEASHELL COLLECTION!! I never realized how much I liked seashells until I was standing in his seashell collection room and was green with envy. We took a bunch of pictures at sunset and I was very overcome with emotion thinking about how lucky I am that I get to have this experience. Thanks, Pabz.

I know, stop right? 

Friendz on the rockz (I'm owling- it's a trend I want to make a comeback) 

Whoop, Gig 'Em, Howdy in the sand 

I know

Oh did I forget to mention I met Pabz? He's stiffer than I imagined (hehe I'm so punny) 

At sunset- COULD IT GET MORE BEAUTIFUL?! 

My friend Michaela and I

Sunday Funday we all loaded up again and headed to the beaches to the north (or la playas del norte for all you native spanish speakers). We went to 3 or 4 different beaches.  Every time we'd stop I'd say to myself, ok there's no way the next beach can top this one. Surprise! Each one trumped the one before it. The weather was perfect for a day of beach going and for the most part we were the only people on the beaches because its winter here. Brrrr

Vina del Mar in the distance and across the picture is Valparaiso

Wut

I had to stand on the edge of this rock in order to capture the beauty that is this picture. Def won't be doing that again

Then we all got back in the van and kept driving until we got to the first real beach where we...wait for it...RODE HORSES. ON THE BEACH. I kept waiting for music to start playing and someone to yell "cut" because I legit thought I was on a Sandals commercial. We hopped right on some ponies and set off into the sunset (except it wasn't sunset- it was the middle of the day).  I kept laughing to myself because I know my grandparents would've been mortified to see me ride a horse in chacos and jeans with holes! My how things have changed since the last time I rode! 

Just ridin' a horsey on the beach

My Indian name is "trots in Chile" 

Me and the main horseman, himself. All of his friends were teasing him and saying "put your arm around her!" Jokes on them: I understood what they were saying

After my romantic rendezvous with the horse wrangler (kidding, kind of) we headed to the second beach. This was like every hippies dream location.  The program director was telling us that this beach is a hotspot for rule breakers because there is a lack of police and it's pretty much a free for all.  She also told us to watch out for drunks (it wasn't even noon yet) and not smoke anything. Ha! Also, I met a man named Ricardo and he played a song for me on what I have concluded was a large conch shell. He then proceeded to ask me if I wanted to play a song for him. No thanks, Ricardo. Maybe next time.

A view from hippie-beach 

Holding a nautilus shell (my sororities' symbol omg luv them) 

We then went to this super sweet beach called Zapallar where all the rich and famous people live.  It is a tiny beach surrounded by mansions all over a huge jungle-y hill.  So awesome. Now my dream job would be to live in Zapallar and be an au-pair for spoiled kids and then fall in love with their rich father who lost his wife but is still super young and hot. (A girl can dream, right??) Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures because I was looking for love (in all the wrong places, I'll mind you). 

After Zapallar we loaded up for the last time and went to Concon which isn't so much a beach as it is a huge area filled with sand dunes.  While everyone frolicked and played around in the sand, my friend and I walked to the grocery store called Jumbo and bought ice cream.  It was, without a doubt, one of my best days in Chile yet.  

Y'all enjoy the pics and if you know anyone who has a rich, young, Forbes Top 100 man looking for a gringa girlfriend send him my way. Until then, I'll continue the hunt.

Chao!

Aves