from Chile to Argentina

We´ve made it to our third country: Argentina! Right now we are in a small town called Malargüe, after a short stint in Mendoza. This is big wine country, folks! The scenery is beautiful, the weather is amazing and the Malbecs (our new favorite wine) are flowing. After leaving La Serena, Chile, we made our way to Santiago. We visited the city´s center, which is more structurally stable than the surrounding towns. There wasn´t too much evidence throughout the city that there was such a severe earthquake. Although, some of the old cathedrals and momuments did have minor damage. We, by no means, saw the devastation of the earthquake. --Speaking of earthquakes, we literally just felt a tiny aftershock-- After exploring the gigantic and beautiful city of Santiago, Chile, we decided we were ready for Argentina! We took a bus over to Mendoza, which is widely known for it´s wine! It´s what Napa Valley is for California. We set up camp about 6 kms outside the city at a great campground. We took the local bus into town daily to explore the city and, of course, wine taste. We rented bikes and went to a couple great wineries in Maipu, and also tasted some great olive oils! We discovered Malbec, which contrary to what I thought, is it´s own grape and not a blend. We have fallen in love! We got to Malargüe two days ago and are making our way outta here today. Like I said, the town is small and quaint, but there isn´t a whole lot to do. Today, I have no idea where we are going, what time we are leaving, if we are camping or staying at a hostel, or which bus company we are riding. In fact, Andrew is at the bus terminal right now deciding and purchasing our tickets to our next destination. For anyone who knows about me and my need to plan-every-little-detail, should know this is HUGE. But, if this trip has taught me anything thus far, it´s that things cannot always go as scheduled, no matter how much planning is put into it!! We are planning on travelling around Argentina, until Andrew´s parents meet us in Buenos Aires on the 3rd of April (which we are so excited for!!). Also, we have set in stone our date of return to California-- May 27th, 2010.--And another aftershock, can you believe they´re still coming??-- Sorry I coulnd´t upload more pictures into the blog. My internet connection is incredibly slow at this cafe. Make sure to check out the rest on Snapfish.com. Until next time...

I will upload the photos from Argentina so far when I have more time on a computer, right now here is the rest of Chile:

http://www2.snapfish.ca/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3567887009/a=34282164_34282164/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/