Wow! What a great way to spend your 28th birthday. Merritt and I arrived at Hostel Damajuana in Mendoza, Argentina and promptly went to lay out by the pool for a perfectly sunny day! That night the hostel hosted an Asado or Barbeque and about 35 of us all sat down to a HUGE meat grill, salad, wine and bread. At midnight we were talking to some girls from Iceland and and I told them it was my birthday and the whole table starting singing me Happy Birthday in English, how nice. We got up super early on my birthday for a full day of adventure. Originally, our plan was to kayak and zipline but when we arrived they said we didn't have enough kayak experience for rapids. So we quickly changed our plan and headed out to whitewater raft on the Rio Mendoza. This was the slow season for the river but it was VERY fast and Merritt and I were in front which made for a wet ride. Somehow I always ended up getting hit by all the rapids and by the end I was practically drenched, which he thought was pretty funny. It was a blast and very different from our last experience in Chile but equally as fun. We returned to Rafting Argentina's headquarters and sat out in the sun overlooking the lakes and mountains and enjoyed a huge lunch. Then it was off to part two, ziplining across the lake. We went on 6 huge cables way up high that stretched on for what seemed forever. The last one was the longest and best and as I looked out at the aqua waters and the sun starting to dip over the mountains all I could think was, this is the way to spend a birthday! That night we went out for some Mexican food (hard to find here) and ordered fajitas that were great but the tortillas were questionable, ah how we miss Texas. The waiter surprised me with a margarita as big as my head and I was lucky to even finish half of it. Merritt also took me out for 4 enormous pieces of cake, chocolate, cheesecake, and mil hojas. We ate a couple slices that night and then the next day when we peaked in the fridge half of it was gone! Oh well, that's hostel life with a shared fridge. The next few days we visited the huge San Martin park, lovely plazas, and more time poolside. On our last day we went to an amazing winery for lunch called Ruca Malen in a town called Lujan right outside of Mendoza. We had a six course meal and I had mine paired with different amazing wines for every course. It was delicious and we spent the rest of the afternoon strolling around the vineyards. Our 5 days in Mendoza were very relaxing as well as adventurous and just what we needed.
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