¡Hola, todos!
Shortly, we will be departing Córdoba for Mendoza, located on the western side of the country in the foothills of the Andes, near the Chilean border. Mendoza is known for it's exquisite wine and it's abundance of natural offerings, including rafting, hiking, paragliding, and horseback riding. Hopefully we will be able to partake in at least some of these adventures. We have a day full of scheduled events and such on Saturday, but we're completely free on Sunday, and we'll be able to embark on adventures of our choosing.
After a full week of classes that included two tests, this excursion is quite welcome. In fact, Monday and Tuesday of next week are holidays (seems like February in Argentina is full of holidays), so we only have classes on Wednesday and Thursday. Seems like the opposite of Union, where we don't spend as much time in classes, but have precisely one day off during the entire year apart from winter and spring breaks. One interesting development this past week is that we are beginning our volunteer assignments, although calling it volunteer seems a bit misleading since nobody volunteered for this; we were all given assignments by the program. Still, it should be interesting - I, along with a number of my classmates, have been assigned to a nocturnal refuge in Córdoba. This is a small shelter that takes in people who don't have anywhere to go during the night, and gives them food and a place to sleep. It seems similar to a homeless shelter, but not identical, because they seem to host people who just need somewhere for a short time before they get back on their feet. Among these people are those who come looking for jobs and need somewhere to stay while searching, and those who might be in a tough situation for some reason and need a place for a short time while doing some sort of transition. I will be there once a week from 6-10 pm doing whatever they need me to do, which sounds like it will include making beds, distributing food, moving things around, and engaging the people staying there with conversation. It seems like it'll be a good opportunity to see the real/non-touristy side of life here, and really immerse myself in the culture. That starts next Thursday, and since I'm only there once a week, I'll really only have 5 nights working there, but I'm betting those nights will be pretty interesting.
I must go now, since it's time to pack and prepare for Mendoza. Like the trip to Buenos Aires, we will be taking an overnight bus, so I'll get to practice my sleeping-on-bus skills once again. We'll have all day Saturday, all day Sunday, and part of Monday there before coming home Monday evening. I'll put up another blog post sometime on Tuesday I think, so you can look forward to some (hopefully) good stories and photos about my weekend in Mendoza.
¡Hasta luego!
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