The bus ride to Mendoza was smooth and comfortable, although it was 8.5 hours. Part of what made the ride so neat was that I was already quite familiar with the majority of the route, given it was the same route Max takes to Portillo. Then I happened to also be familiar with the first half of the leg through Argentina because Max and I had already been to Uspallata. And finally, luckily, since I had previously crossed into Argentina successfully, the border customs person I had to deal with still gave me a slightly confused look when I handed her both my new and old passport, but stamped my passport with the 90 day visa without any issues. Can´t remember, but I must have previously mentioned that US citizens have to pay an entry fee to get into Argentina, which lasts 10 years. Well the evidence that I paid is recorded in my old passport, and not in my new passport, so it is a little confusing, I´m guessing because when you get a new passport, you are issued a new passport number too. Which to me is super stupid... But anyway, the Andes were a stunning backdrop druing the rest of the route past Uspallata. Eventually you´ll get to see the pictures! We passed a gorgeous lake, which I later found of is called Potrerillo, a popular weekend destination for Mendocinos (it´s only about an hour from the city). I navigated the Mendoza bus terminal fine and got a taxi to Rosa´s, my new host. Her house was lovely, and she was a wonderful hostess. I definitely felt at home, as I had my own room and bathroom, and had full reign of her kitchen. She also had an adorable 17 year old kitty named Cleopatra, with who I immediately bonded.
My spanish classes went well; I had two lady professors who I really enjoyed chatting with. I didnt do many real touristy things, although I did go on a guided tour the first Friday in Mendoza, to two wineries (the second of which was organic!), an olive oil factory, and an artisanal preserves and liquours shop of a family that has been using their same recipes for 3 generations. It was a very informative and beautiful excursion, and before we left each location we received marvelous tastings. Each winery offered 4 solid tastings; the olive oil factory let us try 5 different varieties of their olive oils (flavored, unfiltered, etc) with bread, and they also make various dried foods and other olive products we got to try as well; and the artisanal shop let us try nearly 20 different kinds of sweet and savory preserves and spreads, as well as our choice of 3 of their 20 or so different kinds of liquors. I tried a walnut coffee rum, chocolate mint liquour, and absynth! I´ve tried absynth in Europe a few times and it was always pretty horrible, even with with sugar-preparation, but this absynth was incredible, not too licorishy, I could taste so much more. It definitely lit my belly up. =) The second Monday I was in Mendoza, I met up with a friend I made in Portillo, it was totally cool to see a familiar face. He´s an Aussie who was visiting various ski buddies of his throughout South America and happened to be passing through Mendoza while I was there. So I dined with him and some other of his travel buddies that night. Then the last Sunday I was in Mendoza it was Brasil´s independence day, so there was a big all day celebration in a park very close to my host´s house. I met a fellow student and some professors and other staff from my language school there, and stayed for the entire event. There were lots of traditional foods, live traditional music, traditional dance performances, and then a dance party for the last hour and a half - I danced my booty off! Got home about 8:30 that evening, with enough time to finish packing before it got too late. Rosa was kind enough to take me to the bus terminal Monday morning. My time in Mendoza flew by, and I did not take as many pictures as I would have liked, nor could I find postcards! Guess I´ll just have to go back again!
The bus ride to Capilla del Monte was long and uneventful. We headed north out of Mendoza, so I got to gaze at the Andes for a nice while before we turned east, at which point they were at our backs. The topography was mostly desert and flat from then until about an hour outside Capilla, when it started getting hilly again. I arrived to Capilla about 6:30pm and went straight to a little cafew adjacent to the bus station for a swiss chard empanada (yum!) because I was starving. Right after I ordered, a guy sitting at the next table over asked if I spoke english; turns out he was from Chicago, but married an argentinian and they´ve lived in Capilla six years now. He told me they are about to open a vegetarian restaurant, so I hope they have something particular or special to make their restaurant stand out because there are actually all kinds of veg restaurants here, and even a couple exclusively vegan! I´ve eaten at a couple, but they all have enticing menus. There are also lots of natural food/product/medicine shops in town. The culture here is unlike any other place I´ve yet to visit in Chile and Argentina. They say Capilla has a special, particular energy, and a lot of mystic, naturalist (perhaps hippy) types gravitate here because of it. Capilla is also known for the giant hills that surround it, one of which called Uritorco, is famous for its high number of UFO sitings. It is a popular hiking destination, which I plan to see for myself in a coming weekend.
So the farm I´m now calling home is just great. It´s a demonstration farm with lots of different animals (hens and roosters, turkeys, ducks, geese, pheasants, cornish hens, emus, and two pavos reales - the english word escapes me at the moment - as well as sheep, goats, rabbits, llamas, turtles, and worms - for compost), and a big vegetable garden and small orchard. They host a bunch of different kinds of groups, young and old, in the spring and summer months, so they also have a big camping area, as well as various dorms and a big outdoor kitchen/dining area (i say outdoor, but it has walls and a roof). I have a dorm and bathroom all to myself, and I use the outdoor kitchen when I dont dine with the owners. They are a nice middle-aged couple who moved here 10 years ago from Buenos Aires, wanting to escape crazy city life. Along with running this farm, they are also teachers at one of the local schools, but Juan Carlos is an architect and Sandra is a biochemist. They have two sons studying in Córdoba, and a daughter in New Zealand living with a family through a Rotary Club exchange program. They are in turn hosting the New Zealand family´s daughter. And I guess this is the fourth year they have hosted an exchange student through Rotary.
There is much to do on the farm, definitely no shortage of work for me to do. But I´m only obligated to work 5 hours/day, Mon-Sat. I start at 8am feeding and watering all the birds (except the emus) and the rabbits, which takes me almost 1.5 hrs. Then I head to the veggie patch, where I water, weed, transplant, harvest, all the typical necessary day to day garden needs. But soon I will help them build 5 raised beds in areas where water tends to pool up in the summers when their natural springs are most active. They were thrilled to hear I already have much experience building solid raised beds (with CCUA). I really like the farm manager, Hugo, who is super kind and patient with me. Overall, I think Capilla del Monte is an enchanting little town, and I believe I´m going to have a wonderful time getting to know it and its residents better! Can´t wait to share my pictures with you and upcoming local adventures! xoxo
