Travels!

WOW!!! I had an AMAZING weekend full of travels. I went to Santiago, Valparaiso, Mendoza and Buenos Aires...I don't know how it all worked out but it was incredible!

In Santiago we walked around the city and went to the top of the mountain San Cristobol. It was a gorgeous day and we saw a lot of the city! Chile is full of color and for me was a mix between Peru/Bolivia and Argentina. Ps- got the bEST ice cream. It was with real fruit blended with natural chocolate frozen yogurt. YUM!!

Valparaiso is GORGEOUS and I loved it there. It is only a 2 hour bus ride away so on Sunday we woke up early and hopped on a bus and spent the day there. Valpo is cool because it is split between two different parts, new and old. One part is Old Valparaiso and the other Vino del Mar-- very posh and new. I did a city tour since I only had a day-- it was great because I got to see everything. It would have been hard to walk around myself because Valpo is on a hill so it would be a lot of trekking up the steep streets. Valparaiso is full of awesome colors and is just charming--The beach is awesome as well. I really liked Valpo and wish I had more time there! After the tour was over I hoped back on a bus just as the sun was setting. I was on the beach for the first part of the sunset in Valpo (it was perfect earlier when the sun was coming down and hitting the buildings perfectly). I got to see the sun set over the Andes and it was absolutely amazing. When you see something as pretty and magnificent as that it is truly breath taking. It is one of those moments where you have to sit back and enjoy the moment and take in life. My day in Valpo was just great and I hope I make it back there one time.

When I returned to Santiago we had dinner with friends who we met on the tour. They were all super nice: two from Nebraska, 1 from Colombia but living in Buenos Aires, and one from Quito Ecuador.
Luckily they all spoke English!

Bus to MENDOZA--Wine Capital!

Mendoza was incredibly gorgeous. Since it is Fall here all the leaves were changing colors and the vineyards were outstanding. The colors were just incredible and the mountains in the backdrop made it even more breathtaking. I arrived to Mendoza around 6 am after taking a 6 hour overnight bus, which are pretty comfortable actually. During the day we went on a bike vineyard tour because that is the thing to do in Mendoza. The sun was out, the colors were spectacular, the mountains were glowing and the wine well, was good? Haha I felt a little silly becasue frankly I don't like wine and don't know annyything about it so I would only take really small sips. I had to experience it though because how could I be in a wine capital and not try any wine? Biking was amazing in itself--just being outside and chilling was awesome.

I had a suppper great day in Mendoza and didn't have too much else to do unless I spent a lot of money doing adventure stuff that I have already done in Australia and New Zealand. This is when I thought about flying to Buenos Aires to meet up with another good friend/volunteer. The flights were cheap so I thought, heck why not! It May 25th as well which was Argentina's 200th Anniversary of the revolution: Bicentenario!!! There was festivals, parades and concerts going on --- a once in a lifetime opportunity!

TO BUENOS AIRES!!

I decided to go for it. I hoped on a plane and met my friend in Buenos Aires. It was just crazy there with so many people but it was soooo awesome to experience. The whole city was decorated with blue and white and was so vibrant. We wondered the streets watching all the festivities and ate some yummy empanadas. It was a great night/afternoon!!

The next day was gorgeous out, yet again, so I toured the city and it was fabulous. The city is really super gorgeous and different than any other South American country I have been to.

HOME! I flew home later that afternoon because I had work in the Dining Hall. I went straight to from the airport to the Dining Hall and played there for a long time. We had a really intense soccer match that night haha it was a ton of fun. The cherry on top of all of my travels. It was amazing coming home and playing with the kids again and coming home to a homemade family dinner!

I just had an amazzzing few days! I love Argentina.