The last night in Mendoza, I was fairly determined to stay out late like the locals. While most of my classmates had taken off for their next adventures, about 10 of us still at the Institute had asked the staff there if we could have a little bbq Friday night.
They hemmed and hawed just a bit, and agreed that if everyone was well behaved and cleaned up, etc, they would let us use the kitchen and would stay around to lock up. Well, as it turned out, 18 year old Geraldine and two young male friends (who obviously like her a lot and would do pretty much anything for her) ran the bbq, cooked everything in the traditional style, served us, helped us to clean up, and came out to play afterwards. Incredibly, unbelievably generous of them, expecially considering we finally locked up at 11:00 instead of the agreed 10:00.
The after party was fun too: we got to party place #1 at midnight, so of course it was not yet even open(!). We continued walking past a little park where people had a bit of a tango going, so stopped to watch and a couple of the more talented amongst us danced a little. On to a sidewalk bar for beers. In spite of my best attempts, I only made it til 3:30, and had to call it a night.
Saturday started late obviously, and was just a mellow day of hanging out in Parque de San Martin, getting briefly but completely lost on a transit bus, packing, a long chat over tea with Malena (the best host mom ever!), and heading to the bus station for the long trip to Salta.
All in all, a great two weeks in Mendoza. Good times all around.
