Two Americans in Chile

We are in…ARGENTINA

Thanksgiving day, we left the lovely Santiago and headed into the wild blue yonder.

We traveled by bus 6 hours over the Andes into Mendoza, Argentina. But, we (Steve) had asked a cabbie which bus co. was the nicest, and we had taken a few extra cab rids to find the separate, smaller, unknown to most foreign tourists bus station and our bus. We’d heard a lot about how nice the international buses were, so we were looking forward to a relaxing ride.

As it turns out the best bus co. also has a partnership with the icky bus, and some of their trips use the icky bus. Ours was one of those. So, it was a bit smellier, and hotter than expected on the bus, and their was a large gum collection in my window, but we have a lovely friend who told us of his 6 hour bus ride in Guatemala with 30 people in a 15 passenger van and a small Guatemalan man on his lap the whole time, so we weren’t feeling too bad.

When we arrived in Mendoza it was HOT. Now, I don’t really sweat very much, and I like heat–I’ve been accused of being the only one with a blanket in Hell in fact. But, even I was hurting. We wandered around all over the town, very hungrily searching for air conditioning. It was not to be found, but I discovered the “frozen baileys” worked almost as well. Yes, it is a baileys milkshake–highly recommended. I may make it my new Thanksgiving tradition.

It is also worth noting that in 8 weeks of daily contact with Steve and Sarilyn Andes, this afternoon of hotness is the one and only time when there was a slight hint of crankiness emanating from Sarilyn. It was only slight, but still, a sign that underneath that angelic smiling persona, she may actually be human.