Country Livin´

After the smooth pickup of Rowan "Corn Row" Steele, we took the night bus from Santiago and arrived in Mendoza early Thursday morning. Things got off to a rocky start when either the hostels didnt have room, were too expensive, and/or wouldn´t let us check in until early afternoon. You can imagine how happy we were walking around, canvasing the town, with all of our stuff on our backs. (And all of this before sunrise.) Eventually we were recommended to the glorious Hostel Alamo, where they allowed us to sleep for 5 hours on their amazing bean bag chairs in the living room until our room was ready. Thanks Alamo!

The next day we woke up super early to start our big wine tasting day adventure. The common tourist practice of Mendoza is to rent bikes and tour the dozen or so bodegas (say it with me now, bo-de-gas) that are all located on the same country road. Some of them give tours and free wine tasting, while others serve food and cater to people of a more connoisseur nature. We tried our best to fit in and ended up having a great day, filled with wine, carne y sol.

We spent half of the next day in Mendoza eating the world famous, or at least they should be, sandwich de lomo at a local place called Tablao, and the other half lounging around the park. In the late afternoon we hopped on the bus to Tunuyán about an hour south. After a rather trying experience attempting to locate a taxi, we finally arrived at Madre Tierra; the incredible farm where we will be spending the next two and a half weeks. The farm is around 40 acres and is nestled in the foothills of the Eastern Andes. Despite a rather dry climate, the farm is very lush with rivers and irrigation ditches a plenty.

We couldn´t have picked a better day to arrive as the owners were gone and the asado (meat fest) was just about to start. Read translation: no work, yet, and lots of play. We got to meet the other volunteers in the area, three from France, and the rest from the US, with a total of 10 in all (including us three crazy kids). Last night during the asado we watched the sun go down and the stars and the fireflies come out, a welcome change from the city life of Santiago and Mendoza.

We are really looking forward to the next two and a half weeks, with pictures and more updates to follow soon.