My Adventures and Travels

Our first long weekend of the year is Spring Break, in September. As with all long weekends in recent memory, epic rain was predicted, foiling our original plans. A group of 8 of us (5 teachers, 2 spouses, and 1 teaching from another school) was originally planning to visit a lake and beach in Paraguay called Laguna Blanca. However, Laguna Blanca is at the end of a 40 km. dirt road. If it rained, we'd be stranded out there-possibly for days. If we made it. Our backup plan was to visit an Ecolodge outside the town of Concepcion, which is up to the north. It took about 5 hours to get there. One interesting thing was this weekend coincided with a big event, the Trans-Chaco Rally, a 3-day car race, said to be one of the most difficult routes in the world. We did see some of the vehicles while we were driving. Paraguayan Traffic Jam As always, as soon as we got out of Asuncion the scenery changed drastically, and it was beautiful. I love driving through the "chaco"-it ...

WHERE TO STAY I stayed in Mendoza, and at Hostel Mora, longer than any other city on my trip. I really liked it and was happy there. It was warm and welcoming, the staff was helpful in arranging excursions, and I especially loved the outdoor area with hammocks and tables as a spot to meet other travelers! Oh yeah, and did I mention WINE HAPPY HOUR? Hello! I stayed in the dorms most nights, with some single rooms thrown in for a break. Yep, this is the only picture I took of the hostel. PROS All the stuff I mentioned above, plus it is easy walking distance to lots of places in the city if you want to do some sight-seeing. It's also only about 4-5 blocks walk from the bus station. BREAKFAST WAS AMAZING. Every morning they had freshly made crepes, tons of fresh fruit, good coffee, and eggs to order. As I said, great common areas and free wine make it an easy place to start up a conversation with other travelers. In addition to setting up tours, they offered activities in the h...

OK, fine. Mendoza isn't really part of Patagonia. Get over it, it was part of the same trip! Perfection. After all this running around, hiking, exploring, kayaking, and bus ride after bus ride, I was ready to stay in one place for awhile, so I booked a whole week in Mendoza. It was really nice to be in one place that long. I didn't feel like I had to pack every day with every activity and experience I could fit in, and I could afford to have some lazy days-yet I still did a ton of stuff. It was a perfect last leg of five weeks traveling. I was there long enough, and was busy enough, that I'll need several posts to cover it all. My first activity in Mendoza was the most obvious: a bike and wine tour! The hostel I stayed at arranged tours and this one included 3 wineries (tour and tasting) and short bike rides in between. The first vineyard, Tapiz, was the most extensive, giving lots of information about the whole process. Here is vineyard ...