Christmas in Mendoza...

Well its been a while since our last written post so we are going to bring everyone up to speed... so when you are reading this blog act like Christmas has not happend...

We arrived in Mendoza, the wine capital of South America, around December 20 2008. The city is really beautiful and much smaller than BA. There are trenches that line the roads so that the Mountain water can come into the city. This allows for trees to grow in the city as well it is very cool how trees line every road in the city. Once we arrived to our hostel we met up with some friends from Chile, Kaitlyn and Brenna. Brenna is a friend from high school, and her and Kaitlyn are studying in Chile for a year.

As you may have already seen we then went Canopying. Canopying involves climbing to the top of a mountain, putting a harness, helmet, and gloves on, and then latching your harness on a steel cable which you then race uncontrollably down the cable to your next spot of where you go to another cable. It was very fun and our adrenaline was pumping the whole time. The view was amazing we were suspended above roaring rapids that swept into a crystal blue lake. I´ve never seen a lake that clear, it is made from melting ice from the mountain tops that rushes down the mountain.

We also went to the local zoo in Mendoza. They had to be the most depressed animals I have ever seen, sad to say. The elephant had no water, the lion had a 10x8x6 foot cage, the polar bear had water up to its ankle (it was 95 degrees this day), the Condor (which has a 9 foot wingspan) had a cage that was 6x10x8, etc. Have to say the zoo was a little disappointing.

Then we went on a winery tour. We went to a Choclate Liquor place, an olive oil factory, and two wineries. The Choclate Liquor place had one of a kind liquors such as bannana and dulce deleche, white choclate chip, and then a wine made from actual rose pedals. The wine factories and olive oil plant were fun too...

Christmas 2008!! Lets just say this was the weirdest Christmas ever. It was 90+ degrees, the sun was out until 9:30, we went to an Asado (BBQ) in the back of someone´s yard which looked like we were in the Amazon because of the trees, and then it started to rain. New for us all. We were told the rain would blow over, but once we were soaked from the storm the people told us maybe it would be good to go inside. This BBQ was really fun, though we did not have our families to celebrate with we had about 30 or our new friends to eat and fellowship with.

Now this was no ordinarry BBQ, it was $15 all you can eat (and all you can drink) with some of the best food imaginable. First off, there was a salad table, which we approached hesitantly at first due to our manly emphasis on the meat to come. But don´t worry moms, we did get our vegatables and were very glad we did, as the table held all kinds of delicious things ranging from carrot salad, to eggplant, 4 different slaws, potatoe salad, etc. But now to the main focus of the night, the meat. The first course was a plate of pork sausage and blood sausage, the first which we scarfed down with delight. The ¨blood¨sausage was a bit of a different story however and we were a bit hessitant to dive into it. Our English friend Stew loved it comparing it to ¨pudding¨ they had in England (a much different concept of pudding than in the states). The following courses consisted of beef chorizo, ribs, chicken, and more and more and more, all amazing. Due to the fact that all the stores would be closed the next day for Christmas we came up with the great idea to stuff as much meat as possible into a ziplock bag in Rob´s pocket. Each time they would bring out a new plate around half of it would go into the bag as we called out for another. By the end of the night the cargo pocket on my (Rob) left leg was so full that I had to limp around like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Although it seemed like a good idea at the time, the next day we could not even think about eating any more meat and consequently that ziplock bag remains in the fridge to this day.

All in all it was a very eventfull Christmas, allbeit a somewhat strange one, with the only thing missing our families to share it with.

Until next time (which will probably be tonight because we still have some catching up to do)

Feliz Fiestas,
Rob
Stevo
Noodle