Back to Mendza . . .

Ok, so Lisa and I were enjoying being in the park so much that we didn´t leave until it was nearly dark. By the time we reached the hostel, it was dark and Abby was getting worried that we´d been sent off to Chilean prision because the guy at the hostel told her that it was illegal to drink in the park. Opps. We were also regalled with several tales of day time muggings. Yay for us! We unwittngly illuded both the police and the criminals and somhow managed a peaceful day in the park in Santiago.

Anyways, while we had gone, the hostel had livened up. There were now about a dozen other guests hanging out and starting to drink. So, we ended up staying in and drinking and chatting with them. We had planned to do dinner out, but we weren´t really hungry and we were having too much fun to leave. So, on top of the wine cooler buzz, we downed the Corona 40s and the bottle of wine. It wasn´t really a crazy night, but it was fun to meet new people and just hang in with them.

Anyways, we were up the next morning and on the bus heading back to Mendoza at 830 am. About 8 hours, a really long border crossing, and two more stamps in the passport later, we arrived back to Mendoza.

By the time we got settled back into our hostel in Mendoza, most of the day had passed us by. And, considering the next day was Easter, there wasn´t really anything to do the next day. So, we got dressed up and went out to another casino, Mexican dinner (complete with cheap margaritas), and out to this street with tons of bars. We stayed out pretty late and then headed back to the hostel where we slept until noon the next day.

After we made it out of bed, we packed up our things and spent the day having lunch, shopping at the feria, contacting ou families, and studying in the huge, lovely, bussling park near our hostel. It was a peaceful day, but I was feeling a bit sad and lonely even after spending an hour on the phone with my family and being with my two best girlfriends on the continent.

We each got a little bottle of wine and boarded the bus for Bs As at 6. There were alot of nice kids heading back to Bs As, so we chatted with them, and I did some much neglected studing. Every over night bus that I´ve taken in this country was supposed to be coma (more fully reclining seats), however, has always turned out to be semi-coma (petty much coach airline seats) when we´ve arrived. Somehow we must have communicated well with the travel agent this time because we ended up in full coma! They actually served us a hot, although terrible, meal and then I curled up and slept somwhat soundly in my full coma chair.

I woke in the morning to find that the bus had broken down just outside of Bs As. Eveyone got off and took cabs. Of course this caused me to be 45 minutes late for class. But, I made it. and, all´s well that ends well.

Overall, it was a nice trip. It was really relaxed. Unfortunately, I feel like I was a little bit of a bummer because I was so sad most of the trip. My friends would just look at me and know when I was having a bad moment. They would say, hey I know that look, stop it or just come over and give me a hug. But, honestly, I probably couldn´t have been in a better situation to cope with a broken heart than traveling with great friends and drinking great wine. I´m just sad that the trip had to be under a veil of sadness. But, such is life. We still had a good time. And life moves on . . .