Irony: 5) an outcome of events contrary to what was, or might have been, expected.

Alright, first of all, we went to what is considered by Travel and Liesure Magazine as the seventh best restuarant in the world. it was pretty fun. i had a sandwich before we left, but the taxi took us to a big plain looking building with a gate and a security gurad. he came up and check that we were on the list and we were allowed to walk though. then he walkie-talkied to someone inside, and the large steel door was opened for us. it looked like a imagine a club in miami might. as we walked past the bar area, which was stalked with every kind of expensive liquer you can imagine, there was a perfectly maintained grass courtyard on the right, with candle lit tables and a big Argentine style barbeque and clay oven at the back. we stat inside, in cushy chair at tables that were set correctly, a rarity in south america. service was immaculate, water was poured, the wine man recommended a reasonably priced bottle of a local malbec, which i normally dont like, but this one was pretty good. i just got an appetizer, but my grilled squids were very good. the steak and lamb that the guys i was with was also very good, some of the best ive had. only english was spoken in the whole place, and every local we asked about it had never been. we left satisfied and with money still in our pockets.

The next day we wanted to go for a hike. so we had a taxi drop us off at the base of a big hill that was recomended to us to climb by some guys at an outdoors store. it was a bit disconcerting, however, to be dropped off in what seemed like the middle of nowhere, and then have the cabbie speed off laughing at us. we pondered our situation and our lack of water and the fact that it was supposed to hit 98 degrees that day. fortunatly we found some paragliders and they sold us some water and told us where to go. there were times during our trek that were...how shall i say it...we thought we might die. not really, but this area is a bit dangerous and there were "no trespassing" signs everywhere. but we ran into a old man who was about to run up the slope we were going to walk up, and he said it was fine, he did it all the time. it was wicked hot, but when we summited an hour and a half later we had delcious salami and cheese and avacado sandwichs to eat. we watched some people go paragliding off the top, and then headed back down. upon reaching the road at the bottom we again asked ourselves, "what the hell do we do now?" forutnatly the same paragliders called us a taxi, and we were back at the hostel in 15 minutes.

next morning we met a canadian girl who wanted to go zip lining. it wasnt expensive, so we all got signed up and once again headed into the middle of nowhere, this time knowing what we were getting ourselves into. the zip lining was very cool. you have a harness and you get attached to a cable and push off and cruise from one side to the other. the last two lines were over a massive river and we got some pretty good speed going across. once we got back to mendoza, it was time for adam and ian to go to BA, and for me to head to bariloche. a sad time in my trip, they´re good guys, and im sure ill see them again at some point.

i skipped bariloche for now, and im now in esquel, my exchange town. its a bit strange being back. i met up with some of my friends last night for a couple games of pool, and received some fairly comical news. apparently, Flor, my younger x-host sister may or may not be in italy on exchange, and Belen, my older x-host sister is studying in cordoba (where i was a week ago, remember?). well, since shes studying there, my x-host family went as well, or so im told. so now that i am in esquel, almost 2 years after being here last time, my family isnt here, and they are where i was a week ago. so im staying in a hostel now, not sure what to do. i am still trying to get to the bottom of the world by my birthday, and i think i can make that happen. just a week short of 19 and im still the youngest person ive met who is actually traveling down here.