The Last Few Weeks

Hey,

So I´m going to try to go in order but I may not. tehehe. So the first thing I can think of is talking about Tigre. It was very beautiful even though it was lightly raining during our boat ride in a catamaran. It´s only a train ride away from Buenos Aires, and is well worth the time to visit. I got a smoothie before we left on the boat and later we went to Puerto de Frutos where there was a nice open-air market. I bought my first mate pronounced (Mah-tay) for yerba mate, my new addiction! I also bought a CD with tango music that was only $25 pesos.

Then, that week, one interesting thing was stepping in cat vomit one day that I woke up. It was gross but pretty funny at the same time. Also, Marcela´s birthday party was on Monday, Feb. 24 and I bought her a bouquet of flowers which she ended up really liking. I really am loving soaking up the culture here, and I realize how important family and friends are. I don´t take you all at home for granted.

On Thursday, I had my exam which I felt pretty good about. Often, that´s not a good feeling to have because usually that means you messed up royally. Anyway, that didn´t happen to me luckily because I got a 9! That´s a really good grade here in Argentina. Also, on Thursday, I signed up for the classes I am taking this semester. Here they are:
1. Tango Danza
2. Tango Teoria
3. Los sistemas politicos latinoamericanos comparados
4. La literatura argentina y latinoamericana
5. La base biologica del comportamiento
6. Arte argentina contemporanea
and maybe
7. Psicologia educacional

The best part is that I only have class Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday!!! That will be nice when my parents/sister and possibly my boy visits me.

Anyway, I now am in Mendoza. Today is Tuesday, so I have one more night here at the hostel. So far, we have done a lot of fun things! The first day, we explored the city a bit and found out that there was a wine tasting in the city that night. We got cafe, and then went to dinner (I got a delicious steak, wine, and a peach daquiri). For $20 pesos, we got to try 8 glasses of wine...soo good! I marked down all the ones I liked which was fun. I really only drank 6 of the 8 to not get drunk haha.

The next day, we took a long hike to see the large monument dedicated to San Martin, the character in Argentine history that liberated Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay I think. It was very beautiful and I took a lot of photos. I realized that day how out of shape I am...so I think I will work on that. We then made Chorizo sandwiches with peppers and onions, a good way to end the night.

Yesterday, we went on a tour on bike to check out some vineyards in the Lujan region of Mendoza. I was expecting to ride in the countryside and just have a very chill day. It turned out that we had to ride our bikes on the road with busy traffic (without helmets), which freaked me out a definite few times. Though overall it was a great way to do a tour of 4 to 5 vineyards. I ended up bringing my backpack in case I wanted to buy any bottles, so I bought a rose, a malbec and regular, nonalcoholic grape juice. Man, did the bikeriding get much harder after that. jaja.

Today, we are pretty much taking it easy. Tonight at the hostel there is a BBQ which includes alcohol so that should be fun. I am getting excited for Mar del Plata too which will be here in a few days. Woot woot. Hopefully the trip back to BsAs wont seem too long.

Un beso,

Julieta