Looking for a place to happen...

Our highly anticipated stay in Mendoza is coming to an end after two weeks and after we've said goodbye to the fantastic year that was 2009.

Our time in Mendoza hasn't quite been what we've expected. The city is so incredibly beautiful and it is easy to waste away many days here, but we both can't help like feeling we're being pushed out due to our string of bad accomodations - first, the dungeon and lack of water at the hostel for the few days. And then, when we were happy to finally get out of the dungeon and into a better room, we met our roommates - the bed bugs! After our initial contact with the blasted little critters, our hostel quite diligently got a fumigator in to dispose of them (they actually weren't in our bed, but in the wall behind the bed). It seemed to work the first night, but after the second night I woke up with a few more bites. Frustrated with the whole situation and the response of the staff, we started looking for another place to stay. Finally, the hostel offered us our remaining two nights in their apartment downtown at the price of what we would have paid at the hostel.

We accepted, knowing we likely had no other options during this busy time of year. I also personally think they should have given us the apartment for free, or at least given our stay at the hostel with some kind of discount, but they refused. The apartment was also nothing to write home about, except to say that it could use a good deep clean.

To escape the hostel and the city, we did venture out of town for one day to a water park in a little town called Cacheuta about an hour away. It was nice to be away from the bustle and driving through the multi-colored Andes once again! The setting for the water park was breathtaking against the pink and green backdrop of the mountains and overlooking a small river below. There were countless pools of all sizes including some thermals (not sure why anyone wants to sit in a hot pool when it's +30 degrees...but they were full!), water slides and fountains. It was a nice way to spend the day - alternating between sun and water - although the park could do with an infusion of beach chairs and lockers.

Water park at Cacheuta

We were sure that all of this rest and relaxation would be needed to get ready for our last night in the city - New Years Eve! Gill returned to town to celebrate with us, and we all were very excited to ring in the New Year - Argentinian style - whatever that meant.

We were severely disappointed. Apparently, we picked the one city in the world that does absolutely NOTHING to ring in the new year! We wandered down to the main city plaza expecting some sort of celebration (at the very least a countdown), and it was the absolute deadest we have ever seen it since being here. We tried a few more streets that are normally busy, nothing. Asked some locals, nothing. All there seemed to be was odd groups of tourists like us, wandering aimlessly.

With only twenty minutes to go until midnight, we wandered back to Gill's hostel, grabbed a bottle of bubbly and headed to the outdoor patio where there was supposed to be a "party". There were 5 other people, a disco ball, and a very intoxicated DJ/bartender who wouldn't play anything but The Clash and Joy Division. It was the best option we had been presented all night, so we made our own fun!

Happy New Year!

After almost a couple of hours under the disco ball we decided to go, given the DJ/bartender was now subjecting us to a bunch of music and videos of his own band. We wandered down the STILL empty streets, trying to find a more happening place, to no avail. We stopped in one more bar with decent music blaring, but again it was empty. We busted out a few more moves, and then gave up and called it a night. It was overall the weirdest New Years Eve we ever had, and could have also been the lamest if it wasn't for our own determination to make it fun, no matter what we did!

Fun for New Years Eve turned into a little sickness for New Years Day! Our last day in Mendoza is being spent watching typical hangover movies and recovering on the couch of our old hostel. Tonight we board a 10 hour bus to our next stop of Alta Gracia, leaving this bug infested city behind for some comfort - we are "splurging" on a nice place for the next couple of nights. Hopefully this will be the end of our "visits" from these little friends.

Happy New Year to all of our friends and family back home! I hope 2010 brings everything you desire, and more. Thank you for being a part of this journey with us...

They Like Us!

A week ago, as Pete was perusing the Lonely Planet website for tips on our next destination, he stumbled upon a section called Blogs We Like, in which Lonely Planet posts links from, well...blogs they like! These blogs appear on the pages of specific travel destinations and give readers the opportunity to get some travel advice beyond what the regular Lonely Planet authors provide. It also gives the writers a wider audience and a chance to earn some money for what they post.

Pete submitted this blog address to be considered as a blog they like, and whaddya know, they like us! We received an email yesterday saying: "CONGRATULATIONS! Your blog has been chosen for publication!"

I have no idea if this is actually a bit of an honour or if they give it to any monkey with a keyboard, but what the hell, it can't hurt, right? It isn't going to change where this blog is posted, they will just pull the content right from this page and post it on their site. The only thing that is going to change right now is that you will see Google Ads appearing on this page...the more people that click on them, the more we will get paid for our posts! So, if you have an extra minute in your day, give an Ad a quick click and maybe Pete and I will be able to afford a hostel without bedbugs... =)

Sunny with a chance of poop

Yes, we have had some glorious times on these travels! We have seen some of the most unforgettable sights in this world and experienced things that many people never will. We are having the times of our lives and are always anxious for what each day will bring.

However, there have also been some dark sides in these past four months that we have shielded you from so far. It has not been all sunshine and lollipops, especially as of late.

Examples are below, if you choose to read them and partake in our little bit of misery...

- I got pooped on today by a bird. Not once, but twice. And the problem with having a limited set of clothes is that I just have to endure it until the next laundry day.

- We have effin' bedbug bites. Not sure where we got them from - either from some friends that have them, or from our current hostel. Regardless, our hostel is currently fumagating our rooms and we've been diligently doing everything we are supposed to in order to get rid of them. We don't have them as bad as others we know, but it is still super annoying and I am now slightly paranoid of anything around me.

- Did you know that you can't flush toilet paper down the toilet in South America? For the first few weeks in Bolivia, we were quite concerned with this and even tried to time our bathroom visits around when we would be in a restaurant or elsewhere so that they could deal with our soiled paper instead of us. We now don't care. If our bathroom stinks from a basket full of used paper, then we live with the stink.

We are disgusting. Thankfully, we are going through this together so that we still have each other to love, because I don't think anyone else would have us right now!

Packing it all into 2009!

For Christmas Eve we decided to partake in this regions most famous export - the wine! With Gill and her sister Ruth finally joining up with Pete, Aafke and I, we booked a winery tour through our hostel. The most common way to do it is via bicycle, there is a 14km stretch just outside of Mendoza that has 10 wineries lining it.

When we arrived at the bike rental location we were very disappointed to learn that of the 10 wineries on the strip, only 2 were open for the day, whereas our hostel had assured us that all would be open even though it was Christmas Eve (later, when complaining to our hostel, we received the option of a 50% discount or the chance to do it again for free....hmmmm....more free wine, please!) Slightly grouchy but still excited for the experience (and of course, the wine!), we picked up our bikes and were on our way.

This tour was not at all what I expected. I had visions of riding our bikes down quaint dirt roads, with olive trees hanging over one side and grape vines over the other. I expected soft Italian classical music to be playing in the background and cartoon birds flying just in front of us to guide us along. Not surprisingly, this perception of mine was shattered within the first few minutes.

We started out on a very busy open road through the town of Maipu. Large delivery trucks barreled past us, honking repeatedly to let us know they were coming (like we couldn't hear them). The traffic weakened a bit as we got further out of town, and we finally became able to escape the heat of the sun as we cycled under large trees that provided some shade on the road. Of course, 1 of the only 2 wineries open was the last one on the map, and so 45 minutes later we arrived at the Carinae bodega.

It was a quaint little family run winery, and after a quick tour we dove into the tasting. This area is known largely for their Malbecs, so we were surprised that we all fell in love with the only white on the menu - the Torrentes. We each loaded a bottle of it into our bike baskets and made our way to the second winery.

Pete, Aafke and Ruth taste testing!

Vina El Cerno was much bigger and also served an optional lunch. We decided as a group to skip the tour and while our steaks were grilling we again dove right into the tasting! This time, even though the Malbec was tastier, we all also loved the sparkling white and Pete and I picked up another bottle. Finishing lunch at just after 3pm, we headed back to drop off the bikes and get back into Mendoza for the Christmas Eve dinner.

Lining them up at Vina El Cerno

Our wine tasting entourage

In Latin America (and I believe in most parts of Europe), Christmas Eve is a bigger deal then the actual Christmas Day - complete with the big family dinner, gift opening, and even fireworks! Our hostel combined forces with another to offer up a big family style dinner to all of their guests. It was an incredible array of food, all served up on the other hostel's large, beautiful outdoor patio. Cider was provided to cheers at midnight, and we took to the streets to try to see the fireworks that we could hear overhead. In our little group we talked about all the different traditions we would be partaking in if we were all at home, as well as several other topics of conversation that will remain unnamed for your sake (trust me on that one!)

Being the busy day that it was for Christmas Eve, we kept Christmas Day pretty low key. We spent the afternoon enjoying some similar traditions from home - baileys in our coffee and watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation! After a marathon Skype session with our families, we got ready for another dinner out with our adopted traveling family. While you all consumed turkey with all the trimmings, we downed enormous steaks, lamb, and even some shrimp. All with copious amounts of wine, of course!

Perhaps a smarter strategy would have been to save the copious amounts of wine for what came next....jumping off the side of a mountain on boxing day!

I have never considered myself a thrill-seeker. I know my limits, I don't even like going on rides at the fair. However, during our four months of travels, Pete and I have become harder to impress. Sights need to be bigger and more spectacular, and our activities need to push our limits just a little more. I felt pretty at ease with the zip-lining that I did just a few days before, so I thought I was ready to step it up one more notch. Pete, Aafke and I signed up for paragliding!

After we committed to booking it, I didn't want us to speak of it until we went. If I thought about it too much, I was sure that I would chicken out. I just wanted to get through the day, show up on the mountain late in the afternoon, and just ...jump!

At 3pm we were picked up from our hostel and taken to the jumping point. The drive was up a very windy and bumpy road on the side of the mountain and Pete and I rode in the open back of the truck. We clutched to the sides of the truck pretty intensely, wondering if it was possible for the actual jump to be as scary as the drive up there. We hoped not!

At the top there were at least a couple of dozen people waiting to jump with their guides. Wings (the parachute thingy that you glide with) were spread out all over the slope, and our driver told us that we would be going after the first round of people. What he didn't tell us was that we would be going after everyone went once, and then three of the guides would have to come back up the mountain to take us.

The gear

This added to the agony of the anticipation! One by one, everyone jumped off around us, as well as some single jumpers that had their own gear. We watched as one guy totally chickened out and refused to jump. We saw one girl get stopped at the edge with her guide as they didn't get the wing up high enough for take off. We waited, and waited.

Also during our wait, we saw one of the single jumpers falling from the sky. She had ridden some thermals so she was up quite high above us, and something must have gone wrong. Her emergency chute had deployed but it was on a weird angle with her wing, so she was falling. It was hard to tell from where we were how fast she was descending, but she was going straight down. Some of the guides that were still left on the mountain were trying to contact her via radio to no avail. Then, she disappeared behind a mountain and we never saw or heard what happened to her. It was a very disturbing thing to see, and of course added to the anxiety of our own impending jumps. But, the jumping continued as a few more people went off ahead of us and finally our three guides arrived to get us ready.

After a brief bit of instruction, Pete, Aafke and I were all geared up and ready for take-off. Again we had to wait a bit, the wind has to be coming in just the right way in order to make the jump. As we knew the time was getting close, the weirdest feeling came over me, I felt completely at peace. I was no longer scared, I just stared down at the edge and was ready to go. Pete and Aafke later said they had the exact same feeling. None of us really ever expected to feel that.

Aafke and Pete all geared up!

Pete went first, and I wish I would have been close enough to him that I could have videoed or even gotten a picture of him taking off. Immediately after taking off, the wing dipped down below the mountain and my heart skipped a little until the wind caught and I saw him lift back up above the mountain. Then Aafke went, and she immediately was caught by the thermals and ended up floating above all of us for most of the time.

Aafke after take-off

Then, it was my turn. "Run, run, run!" shouted the guide and all I could do was put my head down and start running towards the edge of the mountain. He ran behind me pulling at the strings of the wing to make it inflate, and when he turned around and ran with me, I knew that this was it. I ran until the land disappeared from underneath my feet, and we were off! I'm sure that my heart stopped for a few seconds and I was just overcome with what an amazing feeling it was. All I could hear was the rush of the wind, and it was actually very peaceful for the first minute or so.

We had taken off at a different edge then Pete and Aafke, so we turned around to join them. As we circled around the side of the mountain and among the 6 or so total jumpers out there, my nerves started to kick in. We at times got a little too close for comfort with the other jumpers, and a digital tool that the guide used was incessantly beeping. The intensity of the beeps would rise and fall randomly and repeatedly - I wanted to ask what the beeping was for, but I was too scared of the answer. After doing some research afterward I found out that it has to do with the strength of the wind, and nothing to do with the multitude of scary things that were running through my head - like the beeps being a warning that we were too close to the others or that we were too slanted and in danger of losing the air in the wing. I started to let these thoughts get the better of me, and with the memory of seeing that single jumper fall out of the sky, I started to get very nervous.

I also should have never looked directly down. Seeing my feet in perspective of the earth far below me was unnerving! Condors and eagles were also circling far below, which reminded me of how high we were.

That is a loooooong way down!

As nervous and scared as I was, I did manage to keep it together and get some pretty cool pictures as we went (don't forget to check out this link for more pictures: CLICK HERE )


Even though I was one of the last ones to take off, I was the first one on the ground about 20 minutes later. It felt pretty good to have ground under my feet again, and I got to watch (and video!) Aafke and Pete's landings.

I am pretty proud and happy to have done this, but that was IT FOR ME! I'm glad I did it, I did mostly enjoy it, but I won't ever do it again. I have found my extreme sporting limit, (which I am sure will make Mom and Dad very happy). Pete and Aafke however, are now addicted, and are making plans to go skydiving at our next location. I will happily watch from the ground...I am done my little bit of thrill-seeking for 2009 (and perhaps EVER!)

Our kind of Christmas!

A Christmas palm tree!!


I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas morning! xo