Monday, November 22, 2010

San Rafael

I meant to write this immediately after I got back but naturally I forgot, so here goes to the best of my memory (which seems to be fleeting me as of late):

We all woke up at the crack of dawn to meet in Plaza Independencia, and literally it was the crack of dawn we caught the first trole of the day, which is practically unheard of, the sun wasn't up nor were any of Mendoza's inhabitants. However, you did see the scattering couples and groups coming back from their nights at various boliche's still in their short skirts and carrying their heels.

We board the bus and settle into our mid morning slumbers and enjoy the four hour drive to the beautiful city of San Rafael.  We pull in finally to this beautiful wooded area and we all unload and choose which cabana we wanted to stay in, the cabanas were BEAUTIFUL!!! I seriously could just imagine living in one of them for an extended period of time, with a full kitchen and full bathroom and beds everywhere, it was just perfect.

That first day the day plan was to go to the Dique at Valle Grande which is basically a huge damn which has created this beautiful sky blue lake near to these beaches. It was an incredible day and so beautiful we took a ferry across the lake and then all jumped into the ice cold water. We stayed in long enough for our bodies to go numb so the water became slightly bearable and then progressively we all got out and laid out upon the beach to soak up those equatorial rays.

After a lovely day of chillage on the beach we began to make our way back to the bus to head back to the cabanas. We were all pretty much exhausted from the long day of doing nothing so some people took short naps before dinner and others attempted to get the sand out of their hair. I decided a nap was the way to go. Dinner was pretty good but nothing too special, however, the dinner conversation was great our table just got into a huge discusion about politics and the healthcare bill and all this crazy nonsense- it felt nice to actually think for the first time in months, it felt refreshing.

After dinner we all went our separate ways I joined a group sitting on one of the balconies playing some tunes on the guitar and drinking probably some of the worst wine I have ever tasted in my life. It was nice and a beautiful evening, you could see the stars so clearly from where we were out in the countryside. I just wanted to sleep outside under the sky, however the massive amounts of mosquitos disuaded me from doing that.

The next morning we were up and out ready to go on our trek, this was my first experience actually trekking since coming to Argentina, which may be slightly pathetic but it isn´t something I found myself dyingg to do. The sun was out and blazing and there was a bit of a Zonda so it was crazy windy which just made hiking up sand dunes all the more fun. I´ve got to say though hiking up those hills of sand really does point out just how out of shape one is.... maybe should start working on that before rugby season starts up again. Regardless it was great fun and I ended up being one of the first ones to get back to the end so wooohoo for me! I don´t know if i will ever get all of the sand out of my sneakers though, there was one point that we were literally just up to our ankles going down a sand dune. The view from the top was absolutely incredible and there was a little spot also that we stopped at that used to be a raging river, but sadly is now nothing more than a sad looking stream.

When we got back to the camp site the weather began to turn on us, the Zonda was picking up speed and eventually in the afternoon it began pouring (naturally the one time we are out in Mendoza actually doing outdoor activities it rains). So we decided to head back home early just to cut some time out of our traveling.

All in all it was a beautiful trip and I would much like to go to San Rafael again some day if I have the time.

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