Las Leñas

Las Leñas is known to be the 7th best ski resort in the world. The first day of boarding, I couldn't imagine that the place I was boarding could have that title. It had snowed quite a bit the day before and apparently some avalanches had knocked down part of one lift and too much snow had crippled another. There were far too many people there for the few lifts that were left open, so we only got to ride six runs. The next day it seemed that many people left, so we got to ride more runs and we had quite a bit more fun. The third day we finally realized why Las Leñas has the title it does: it boasts the longest continuous run in the world. The reason we did not know this the first day is because the run was closed. It takes three lifts to get to the top and it takes 30 minutes (if you're going fast) to get all the way to the bottom. Because we were not the only ones who wanted to do this, we had to spend nearly two hours in lines and on the lifts just to get to the top. It was well worth it, though. The snow was great and the runs were so much fun. It really is a great place to board after all. I was so excited because I have been wanting to board in Argentina for close to ten years and I finally got to do it. So much fun! And the Patagonian Andes are absolutely beautiful to look at while boarding. One thing I've noticed that is surprising is that there are no trees. I'm so used to trees all over the mountains that it really caught me off guard to be able to see every run from the base of the mountain. It's just pure white everywhere you look. Truly a stunning thing to see.
We were supposed to catch a bus yesterday directly from the resort to Buenos Aires but the bus was full, so we bought a ticket for the next day and stayed one more night in Melargue. Now we are waiting for that bus, which will drop us off in Buenos Aires at 8am tomorrow. I'm very excited to see the capital and even more excited about going to my first soccer match tomorrow afternoon. We will see River Plate of Buenos Aires play Newell's of Rosario. Fun, fun, fun!!!

Mendoza, Argentina

After crossing the border into Argentina at 8am, we waited for a 3:30pm bus to take us to Mendoza. After a 27 hour bus ride with a sick stomach, I was thrilled to arrive in Mendoza and get a nice, comfortable bed and have a nice clean bathroom.
I´m quite happy to be in Argentina. The food is amazing and it´s so clean in comparison to where I´ve been recently. It actually reminds me a lot of Italy or other cities in Europe. It´s really nice. We were planning to do a little shopping here to get some stuff we´ll need for the snow, but I guess it´s a public holiday and most of the shops are closed. A few were open so we were able to get some necessities, eat, drink, and use these computers. Did I mention that the food is amazing? Yum! And real coffee. Awwwww.... Big sigh of relief.
Very happy and feeling quite a bit better too. I´m still a little sick, but nothing like I was before. I´m sure I´ll get better very quickly here.
Tomorrow morning we are supposed to take a bus to Melargue where we´ll stay a few days and from where we´ll take daily buses to Las Leñas to snowboard. YAY!!! I´ve wanted to go snowboarding in Argentina for years and I finally get to do it. I´m so excited.

Road to La Paz, the City of Peace(?), and on to the border!

Once back in Copacabana we realized that the crazy party that had been underway was now gone and the town was back to its quiet, usual self. We booked bus tickets to La Paz and shortly boarded on our crickety old bus with a million other people.
The road was rough but had beautiful views of the lake. After a while we reached a port with a ferry to take us and the bus across to the other side separately. Since there were no ATMs in Copacabana we were running really low on cash and had not anticipated this ferry or its fee. Fortunately we had just enough with about $0.10 to spare, if that. Close one.
We re-boarded the bus and drove on for another hour or two when, all of the sudden, the bus driver pulled over and the bus shut down. He pulled up the board covering the engine and began to work on it. Everyone looked around nervously and, after a bit, he told us all to get off the bus. We would have to wait for alternate transit to take us the rest of the way to La Paz. We sat on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere for quite some time before this alternate transit arrived-- a minivan to fit at most half of us. We piled in and made our way to La Paz.
Once in La Paz, we were surprisingly dropped off somewhere quite far from where we were supposed to be dropped off and we were supposed to take a cab the rest of the way. hmmm... but we had no cash on us. hmmm... some police officers found us, told us to put our backpacks on in the front or we´d get robbed and directed us to the nearest ATMs, which were several blocks away. It was night.
La Paz means the city of peace... well, I think they need to rename it the city of anarchy. It´s the most chaotic city I´ve ever seen (and I´ve seen many). It was truly overwhelming. After we finally located our ATM it was really difficult to find and catch a cab, but we finally did and made our way to a hostel with super saggy beds and shared bathrooms. This is where I got really sick. My stomach just couldn´t handle the ultra unhygienic food handling and greesy food and finally revolted against me in the cruellest of ways. After I wrote that first bit on the last entry I was making my way to the bathroom to throw up again, but ended up passing out on the way instead.
Unbelievably, the next morning I made it to the bus terminal and got the heck out of dodge. After driving for a bit, we ran into one of the infamous Bolivian road blockades. As soon as I´m able I´ll post a picture of it. We were really worried that we would have to wait there for the rest of the day, but after an hour or two many of the people in the long line of buses got out and physically romoved the rocks from the road so that we could pass. The protesters were not too happy about it, but we passed nonetheless. Second major busride incident in Bolivia.
Fortunately, we just made it to our train on time. The trains to the southern Argentinean border only leave a few times a week, so we were really happy to have made it.
I was so excited to finally be on a train instead of a bus, but after this 16 hour train ride I was aching to be back on a bus. It was so incredibly dirty... I mean, dirt coming in through every vent and being sucked up into my nose and down into my lungs with every breath. By the time we arrived at the border in the morning my nostrils were jam packed with dirt and every time I blew my nose the tissue was covered with snotty dirt. Gross, huh?