hello, again i have left it too long and a lot has happened. i will begin with the earthquake, i was driving at the time so i didn't feel the main quake but when we stopped off at Mr Dog for a midnight burger we felt the aftershocks. at the time we didn't really think it was a big deal (other than all the clubs had been evacuated) then i got home and saw the news. everyone here was very tense for a few days and our new room mates were in chile at the time. (they're really nice, a young couple from california, just beginning a 15 month trip around the world.)

the next night was incredible, we went to moonfest which is water rafting under the full moon and then a party in the mountains afterwards. The rafting was so fun and i went swimming in the end, it was nowhere near as cold as it should have been considering it is ice water from the mountains. we met some really crazy people that night; including a genuine nutter from bristol who did the rafting in just a skimpy pair of pants and had not brought a change of clothes for the party! i think moonfest only happens about 3 times a year but all the local people go crazy for it, i'm really hoping there will be at least one more before we leave.

so we have had a meeting with the school and we are starting on wednesday, thank goodness. it has been too long without work and we have all be feeling a bit worthless. actually i am getting quite concerned about taking time off to see mama and papa when they arrive as i will only just have started. but very excited to see the parents,i think dad wants to do a road trip to buenos aires and try and get U2 tickets, sounds incredible!

VENDIMIA! mendoza is famous for wine, along with the wine (of course) comes a festival of wine. this festival has been going on for just over a week now and it has been so mkuch fun. the main focus of the festival (certainly for the mendocinos) are the beauty queens, las reinas. their faces have been filling billboards, shop windows and bus sides since we arrived and on saturday it culminated in the huge amphiteatro with the election of this years beauty queen. they have a huge show beforehand which i went to see a practice of on friday with my host mother and some of her friends. the show gives a history of mendoza and argentina, they skimmed very lightly over the massacre of the indigenous people. ah yes, the spanish arrived and the indigenous people were no more. anyway, this show is a very very nog deal. it had the biggest cast i have ever seen with a different costume for every scene, of which there were hundreds. they also had traditional dances from chile, argentina, bolivia and most spectacularly; brazil. so this all took place on the saturday evening and the queen this year is form santa rosa, if that means anything to anyone. continuing the theme of vendimia, hemione and i got up very early on saturday morning to waath la via blanca which is a 4 hour long parade of gouchos, the beauty queens, traditional dancers and singers etc. the tradition is that the beauty queens throw melons, yes melons, hard melons into the crowds of people. the parade was fantastic, it was boiling hot and i had no idea it would be 4 hours long but there was amazing music and dancing and the people in the crowd were loving it! it was a real, genuine espectaculo! i didnt manage to catch any melons, only a measly bunch of grapes but i had to fight for them so i was proud. i'm feeling this blog may be too long but i really want to convey how crazy and fun this festival is, if you get a chnace, look it up. the theme this year for the show was horses, so it was all told a from a horses point of view. the vendimia is still going on with wine tasting lining the streets and a show every night in the amphiteatro in the mountains. i believe that tonight i am going to an electric tango show with some friends, i say i believe as you can never be quite sure with argentina. finally about the vendimia, i took some lovely pictures but unfotunately my memory card has decided to lock itself and i dont appear to have the key, i will post them on here if i ever manage to get it open. finally, asado.. there are no words. i used to be content with an english barbecue but now, i just don't know what to say. the meat here is so incedible, we went to an asado last night and i have genuinely never tasted anything so delicious in my whole life. the meat is tender and very slowly cooked over wood and draped in salt, it never seems to end. i eat a lot and there is always more than i can cope with. this asado was at the house of some french people we have met and they had a lot of argentine friends and a swimming pool! we all went swimming in the middle of the night as it was still so hot. apparenly they live in the red light district of mendoza and as we were driving home, the street corners were filled with transvestites and transexuals! very interesting. ciao, besos. ps i'm not entirely sure why it suddenly became italics and i dont know how to remove it