Some more South American experiences

So Greg and I have had some more down to earth South American experiences in the past 48 hours. Starting with his encounter with a fiesty stray dog in Vina del Mar (Chile) on Saturday morning that wouldnt leave him alone, then with his bus ride from Santiago that took three hours longer than advertised/expected. Once he got here we managed to break a window in our bedroom as a couple of bees got through our only open window (a glass paned door, actually), and the glass was very thin which we found out after Greg smacked the second bee. Then the ATM machine ate my card on Saturday evening after I withdrew money. And obviously the bank was closed, so he and I went over this morning and thankfully were able to bypass a huge line to speak with a rep there, successfully communicate and prove my identity (in Spanish), and get my card back. Whew. Would have been pretty bad if I couldnt recover it. Thankfully we had a great Argentine barbecue at the hostel last night to make me feel a little better before heading to the bank this morning.

But all is well now. The hostel staff doesnt care about the window, my ATM card is safe, and now we´re going wine tasting on another beautiful afternoon. The town of Mendoza is great, complete with several park squares and lots of outdoor restaurants/cafe´s. The surrounding geography is amazing as well and we got a nice dose of it yesterday on horseback at the base of the Andes. Very cool. I am trying to cut down on my use of the term "awesome" as a British girl here commented that Americans use that word too much, but this place is awesome (and I told her that several times).