I'm baaaaack.

Sorry for the delay--each time I have attempted to blog (all two of them) I have been interrupted.  On Thursday night, I had a little military time mix-up...If you know me well, you know I can't count, so imagine how hard it is for me to tell the hour with any number above 12. So it was 9:17 and I decided to quickly ask google, "what is 21:30 in military time" just to double check and make sure I had ample time to blog before departing.  Basically I had a mild panic attack in the midst of typing because I thought 21:30 was 11:30, not 9:30.  That night we had a FEAST and i'm pretty sure, if I translated their words correctly, I ate baby goat.  So that was weird, but pretty tasty.  My second snafu occured last night, and just as I started brewing up some wonderful posting material, the power went out.  Which tends to happen a lot here, I'd say about 3 times a week.  Last night's outage lasted longer than normal, which I actually really enjoyed.  I oftentimes refer to our bunk room as the Ladies Lounge, and not in a bridge at the country club kind of way, but more in a chill lets hang out in Argentina kind of way.  The power outage really amplified the whole coolness factor of the LL, and me and my roomates (shout out to Mary and Jenni) cracked open some wine and contemplated life in candlelight.  It was quite nice, and later that night we headed downtown to a boliche called Cuba Inc.  It looked nothing like Cuba, I was pissed.

Enough of that, it's time to finally finish telling you about the final days of my trip.  I believe I left off at the hotel...trust me, this was no Holiday Inn Express.  At around 10 p.m. on Thursday night, the Mystery Machine made it's way into the sprawling Altalaluna Hotel.  Despite the fact that it was pitch black outside, the lights lit up the building perfectly so I could make out a sprawling Spanish Riviera-esque estate.  After we settled into our rooms, we ate a wonderful feast (literally...the table was about 15 feet long and 5 feet wide) with delicious hot soup, vegetable stuffed beef, and warm quinoa mixed with veggies.  It was delectable.  Oh wait, I forgot to mention that the hotel was located on a vineyard.  Therefore, I once again took full advantage of my age (19) and ordered a glass of vino, called Terremonte which is a light white wine who's grapes are only found in Argentina.  Everyone ordered the either the house red or white, teachers included, and we had a great time.
The next morning we met up around 10:30, where an entire breakfast buffet of fresh croissants, marmalades, cereal, fruit, pastries was at our disposal.  After demolishing said buffet, we hopped in the van and headed out to....a vineyard! The group went on a tour of the winery, where we learned (in spanish) about the wine making process.  Following the tour, we had 4 glasses of wine set up for each of us to do a lil taste testing.  I have never put so much thought into each sip; however, Cupcake wine from the drug store doesn't require extensive background knowledge.  After four glasses of wine (my tuition going to great use) I discovered a newfound consideration for vino- red, white, rosé you name it.
Needless to say, these activities captivated my attention way more than the rock walk.  I was 4 glasses deep all before noon, and feeling GREAT.  So what did we do? Go to another vineyard.

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The drive was delightful, and the cloudless skies made it a perfect day.  We arrived at our second vineyard, where we went through a similar tour and tasting at Finca las Nubes vineyard.  This one was a little more rural, and after we enjoyed an amazing lunch on the porch of the house overlooking the mountains and the fields of grapes.  The food was unbelieveable--fresh beef, grilled vegetables, and dessert.  After a strenuous day of drinking and eating, I took a nice cat nap on the grass in the sun.  We then went to a small, rustic town, where we visited a house where 8 local women wove lovely tapestries, and had a little tour.  They die their own yarn with various vegetables, roots, and leaves, and work hours everyday on the pieces.  The women were incredibly nice, and we spent a generous amount of pesos there.  It's interesting how it all started--in 2001, the Argentinian economy underwent a huge crisis, so women with no education or work experienced were forced to join the work force in order to support their families.  These women are an example of a success story, but unfortunately there is still so much poverty here, especially in the rural towns in the northwest.  We then went to the desert, where we went on a 2 hour hike in one of the coolest places I've ever been.  Salta, the town we were in, is known for its absolutely massive rock formations, that are a deep orange and incredible high. It's hard to describe how amazing it was to walk around in such a natural, untouched piece of land.

Be-a-u-tiful. Not just me

View from the porch.  I've seen better.

I could end here and tell you it was the best day ever--but I shall not because it got so much better.  The hotel was not only located on the vineyard, but it also had an award winning spa.  Therefore, I took full advantage of the accomodations and got an hour long massage...for $30.  I then met up with the group, where we walked around in robes and slippers, testing out the steam room, sauna, and "resting room."  It honestly was not real life.  That night, I slipped into my brand new alpaca sweater, and enjoyed yet another delectable meal with everyone.  That night I don't think I have ever laughed so hard in my life--it was a perfect way to finish off such an amazing day.  On Saturday we went hiking for a few hours to this place that is kind of like the Machu Pichu of Argentina, except it's all rocks.  As I stated earlier, rocks were a very common theme of the trip.  It was awesome, and that afternoon we had a nice lunch in the park and drove back to where we first got on the Mystery Machine in Tucuman.  A few hours later we arrived and explored the city for a little.  Then we headed to dinner, which was tasty, and one of the teachers bought us all a little night cap of champagne before we headed back onto the 7 hour bus ride to Cordoba.  It truly was an unbelievable trip, and I saw parts of the world that I would have never even known existed until had I not been able to travel to Argentina.  Unfortunately, this is all for tonight...the boliche called, and they want their best dancer back.  Seriously, thanks to everyone for reading I love sharing with you my experiences here, and I'm glad you are all enjoying reading this as much as I am living it. Buenos noches!

Love,
Kris



p.s. hi turner