So Friday, I slept in later than I had wanted to, but I must have needed it! After check-out, it was off to the bus station to get my ticket for Mendoza that evening! I ran into the Kiwi`s from the night before there, and we all decided to head to Vina Del Mar to kill a few hours before our buses left! It was just what I needed: a relaxing day strolling a beach town and lingering over a great lunch! Vina is a gorgeous resort town with great beaches! A great Mexican restaurant right on the beach helped top things off! Matt and Becky had to head back early to catch a bus, so I went with them as well! Trying to kill 4 hours in a bus station in a foreign country can be difficult, but I went across the street to a park to read and then found an internet cafe and killed a couple more hours! Finally boarded my bus and settled in with the anticipation of anywhere from an 8 to 15 hour ride over the border into the Andes! Thankfully the seats were extremely comfotable and reclined all the way! I happened to wake up at the most spctacular part of the trip (even though it was night): the 27 switchbacks between Chile and Argentina! Amazing! And to top it all off, I must say that there is nothing like standing outside at a border crossing at 2:30am in like 35 degree F weather when you and your clothes have just come from 86degree F weather! And then, I got pulled off the bus again before we left because half their paperwork said I was Argentinian! Fun, fun, fun!!! So, only 9 hours later, I am in Mendoza! And with no place to stay! Some German girls that were on the same bus and I took a taxi to the hostel at 5am! Only to find out, that despite the email I got 10 hours previously, I did not have a place to stay and there was nothing available! The front desk guy was great and helped us call every place in town! There was only one place that had any openings, and it wouldn`t be until the next day! He let us crash on the sofas for a couple hours until the other would be ready! An hour later, I woke up to a strange Brasilian boy trying to kiss me and telling me he loved me and how beautiful I was! Apparently, he had been celebrating the wine festival! As I started to leave the hostel in the morning, I ran into one of my dormates from Valpariso, Maria! She didn`t have anywhere to stay and neither did this father and daughter from Rosario, so we all headed over to the only hostel available! We all got a room together and, boy did we luck out! It was right in the center of everything, clean, spacious, friendly, and extremely cheap! For one night, with breakfast and private bath, it was only US$1.00 a person! Time to settle in and catch up on some sleep before setting out to explore Mendoza! More later! Finally in Mendoza, Stacey