Mendoza so far

So from San Martin de los Andes it was a 19 hour bus ride to Mendoza. This bus ride included a change of bus after the first 6 hours, and our bus was late so we were shuttled onto another bus company's bus for the second leg, which was not as comfy and a little more run-down. Anyway we had assigned seats but there were people in them, so they told us to just take some other ones, so of course then we were in someone else's seats, and we had to pass on the news-- vicious cycle, that is. Anyway, so we watched a movie which finished at 11:30, and I was all ready to fall asleep and relax for the remainder of the trip. But no. The lights go on, music starts blaring, and they serve our dinner. Luckily, Levi and I had brought wine, so we finished the bottle and that helped me sleep for the rest of the ride, at least til 4:30 when the lights went on again for another stop.

So you can imagine, when we got into Mendoza, that I was exhausted, dirty, cranky and really excited to get to the hotel and lie down, take a shower etc. Well, we walk to the hotel (the Confluencia), get to the front desk and the guy goes "Oh you used email to make your reservation? We didn't get it and you don't have a room. But, you see, it's the fault of company you used, not ours, so it's not our problem." And I look at him, furious, and I go "NO. But it IS OUR problem!!!" Then, tears in my eyes, I told Levi to take care of it and walked out. I went and called 7 different hotels, all booked, and started to panic. Luckily Levi did not have the same desire to strangle the guy, and was actually patient enough to watch him make several phone calls until he found a place for us to stay. So we got a hotel, it was fine, and things were looking up.

Flash forward to last night- I was eaten alive by mosquitoes. Finally I fall asleep, wake up minutes later, get my clothes-- whole pile swarming with ants. That bite. Oh my god that was disgusting. Anyway I told the lady at the front desk and she changed the room, so we will see about tonight. And we have a fan now, so we don't have to leave the window open.

Today we were white water rafting which was awesome, really fun. Levi and I joined our friends Anna, Lisa, Miguel and Renato. Our guide was Juan AKA "More Power!!!" I started in the front with Levi, then was moved one seat back due to my lack of power, then back again due to the guy in front of me's lack of understanding the difference between "forward" and "back." Then after the break I was moved to the other side due to the other girl's lack of power. So I played musical raft-seats while getting tossed around the river. The water was SO cold, but it was really fun.

Then, at the end, our raft was up on shore and we were watching the other one, waiting for them to pull up alongside of us. All of a sudden, almost in slow motion, the whole raft got caught on the way to shore and all the people (including Anna, Lisa, Miguel and Renato) were thrown out. "Back in the boat!" called Juan. We were now a rescue mission. We had learned all the procedures for what to do so we were out there working like pros. Renato got safely to shore, Anna was in her raft, but Lisa and Miguel were swimming through the rapids. Lisa eventually was rescued by the kayaker and got to do the "sexy pose" which required straddling the front of the kayak as he led her to shore. That left Miguel. Our raft got to him, Levi grabbed his paddle and then it was up to me to haul him into the boat. I stashed my paddle, got ready to grab Miguel, when the guy from the other side stopped me, telling me not to grab him. So I moved to the middle, thinking the guide must be coming up behind me, but he wasn't! So Miguel is waitng there, wondering who is coming to get him, and there I am sitting in the middle of the raft, wondering who is going to get Miguel out of the water! We get out and Juan, pointing to me, says "You forgot the procedure! Beer for everyone!" So I did, I bought the raft a beer, and in the end summed up our day like this in their guestbook:

WEEEEEEE!

SHIT!

SPLASH!

FLOAT!

SAVE (optional)!

CHEERS!

CHAU!