summer kind of wonderful

this weekend marked the final excursion: san rafael. from here on out, we are pretty much on our own; the program officially ends on december 11th, but we are in the midst of final exams and papers. i have less than 5 weeks left in mendoza (which is crazy) as of today. it's all starting to fall into place though, and everything everyone has told me about the end of the trip is starting to materialize and prove true. the temperature is climbing steadily into the higher 90s and the people are finally starting to peel off their sweaters. we're starting to eat less bread and more liquids and use the oven less. i rarely have to carry my map (just in case) in my wallet, and i feel completely confident when going to classes now. i can buy clothes and have the ability to sing along with songs on the radio. i know when the park and gym gets crowded on the weekends, and where the best water fountains are around the lake loop. i've got my own little rhythm here and don't want to break it. however, this weekend was one of the points that was heavily emphasized during orientation back in chilly, wintry july: rafting in san rafael. i can't believe it's already passed! after some confusion on the logistics of the "schedule" we were all emailed (argentinos don't do schedules, obviously, if you read the last post), we left plaza independencia promptly at 6:45am on saturday morning.

we stayed in cabañas, or cabins in valle grande, san rafael. it's about a four hour drive south of mendoza. this is when we first got there. we had two pools at our 'campsite' and the weather was absolutely perfect.

our cabin. i stayed here with six other girls.

where we ate lunch on saturday

after lunch, we drove to a lake and walked across...

...the dike...

...where we walked down some precarious stairs...

...and hopped on...

...a catamarán! the boat went so slowly. it took us about 10 minutes to go maybe 800 meters across from the dock area to the beach that we camped out in for the rest of the afternoon.

graffiti was plastered all over the inside of the dike walls

back at the cabins, roses lined the yard. note the pool in the background.

sunday morning we went trekking

no agua on this trek, which was supposed to be a hike to "4 waterfalls". it was so dusty, sandy, and dry.

and then on our way back home, our bus broke down...

...at least the scenery was nice. and the moon was out.

several buses pulled over to help but we ended up having to wait for another tour bus to pick us up

waiting for the bus

i have to steal some of my friends pictures off of facebook because i didn't bring my camera when we went rafting (maybe it's time to get a new, waterproof/shockproof camera?). i will upload those later. i also have more pictures but my camera died when i was uploading them, so i need to charge the battery and finish that project. this mini-vacation was perfect though. i spent time with other people from the ifsa group and got to know people better just by spending a weekend with them. i made an absolute fool of myself when we went rafting (again, pictures to follow of this hilarity) and ran up a literal sand mountain, which i can still feel the affects of in my calf and forearm muscles. we ate asado, facturas (pastries), lots of tapas (informal hors d'oeuvres), delicious strawberries and sweet cream, and plenty of white bread and coke. it was crazy to feel how far we've come in mendoza, not only breaking down the language barrier little by little, but just how fast time has gone since we've been here. people started planning after-finals excursions before they fly home, something that i have been recently thinking about as well. with about a month left, time is running out, and the tourists are rushing in! for now, i think i am going to bus back to buenos aires (flying within argentina is ridiculously expensive), and then hit iguazu falls for a few days, head back down to BA and tour around the city/quilmes beer brewery if possible/beach for a few days, and then get ready to head back to the united states. the more i think about it, the scarier it is that i will not have a daily lifestyle here anymore, so i've been excited, but trying not to think about it too much.