Apologies for missing a week...at least this post will be somewhat eventful.
On Friday, March 1, we had our last day of classes before "Spring" Break. That night, three of us made our way to Santiago's bustling Estación Central to board a night bus from Santiago to Mendoza, Argentina. The route was totally wild; a couple of hours driving on progressively emptier roads away from the city, until suddenly we found ourselves amongst the mountains. Sometimes we were driving between them, sometimes we were driving through them in tunnels, and occasionally we were weaving up and down them in neat, terrifying curves, the road often lacking a shoulder, instead simply dropping off into dark nothingness (I don't know if it was better or worse that the darkness obscured much of the view of the drop). And because we had booked seats at the very front of the bus, we could see clearly the terrain ahead of us, in all of its terrifying narrowness.
After white-knuckling through the precarious periods, we arrived at the Chile-Argentina border. Luckily, on both the departure and return trip, Everything with customs was totally smooth, if time consuming (we spent probably ninety minutes just sitting in the bus waiting before we could actually get out and pass through customs.)
From there, we made it to Mendoza. We got to our hotel--it was a mixture between a hostel and bed-and-breakfast--and began to explore the city. I must say, I really loved Mendoza. It was quite different than Santiago, being a lot less populated and therefore significantly calmer. We took it pretty slow, using the days to try food and just walk around, exploring the parks near our hotel. We ate pasta, steak, pizza, ice cream. Great food. We also had the opportunity to talk to some locals on a couple of occasions, who helped me locate a stand where I could buy a Lionel Messi jersey (this was my one mission for the trip). Overall, I am really happy with the trip...it basically couldn't have gone better and it only cost 80$ in bus tickets.
Now I am back in Santiago and things are looking different than when I left...lots of people returned to Santiago this week so the streets, and especially the Metro, are more packed. It will be interesting to see what the second half of the program holds.
.jpg)
