Dec 17 Rafting

Rafting in Mendoza river with the water from Aconagua.
Another pickup later, impressively earlier than the parapente crew we headed out of the city once again and towards the foothills of the Andes. The scenery is a Lindis Pass double in fact, scrubby desert, clear blue water(a first for me here) and nice big mountains capped with snow.
We arrived and had role call only to get told off for being in jandals................but before i delve into the day: Argentina god bless it as i have come to love it like my own, is at best an interesting place. There s no way i can justly share nor communicate what it is to try and find things out here, try to think ahead or avoid potential problems and complications. There is no grasp of resolving them or avoiding them. I had enquired before leaving the hostel about our shoes.... they suggested what i call tramper sandals which we didnt have they should have guessed that by our lack of interest in anything to extremely exertive i.e trekking, high mountaining, our lack of packs and rather overnight bags or if you are Beanie a wheelie suitcase and our homemade ´picada´(antipasta board dinner and white wine(torrontes) sangria) nonetheless when i proposed wearing closed shoes they said ´not necessary´so yeah off we went in jandals(flipflops) only to find out they werent an option. After narrowly avoiding very expensive renting of black bootie beauties we got to wait again( its an art here). Finally after many evil looks and unhappy faces the guy relented and first tried to give us 2 for 1, but after more unhappy faces and bitching gave in and gave all 4pairs for free.
They divided us into groups and sent us off to get dressed. MC Hammer was our name-oh.....
We´re bringing sweaty back.....anyway blue jumpsuit/tracksuits, yellow helmets and life jacketted out we boarded the bus and headed in and up the valley. The water at this stage no longer crystal clear....but rather the colour of a chocolate frappachino! Paddles and boat in hand we headed down to the river where who has to be chosen as ´demo´girl.....the ever co-ordinated, completely entertaining....RIKI!!! So after various run throughs of our new commands with the actions required for staying afloat ¡adelante!, ¡atrás! etc and me feeling like a lost kid in a game of 'simon says' he finsihed it off with showing us what would happen if someone was to go overboard....so im crouched on the ground beside the boat and he´s grabbing and smacking me showing all the not to´s he finally grabs me by the life jacket and doenst´t tug me onto the boat playfully-he proceeds to yank me from the ground up and onto him in the boat. It was that feeling of knowing what was coming but having no idea how to react. The girls of course are on the floor at this point crying in stitches at the ´rescue´ and im completley dazed and confused and hurting. Whiplashed today i laugh!!!!

So we waded into the water which we didnt feel until we had to lift our paddles, squealed as the water made its way into our bubble of heated tracksuit. FREEZING!!!!!
Somehow i managed to have an attack of sleepiness in the midst of our rafting. The 18km was great fun and i won´t lie; the right distance. Between nature and more 'simon says' we got out of the boat starving and cold. The sun made small work of heating us up and the hamburgers, pizza and fries were met with glee even though we had to wait half an hour. Some swimming in murky and freezing pool (the size of a jacuzzi) and me and bean tabletennising.
Last night was mellow we had showers and dinner at la Carmela with Riki and Beanie enjoying cosmopolitans and sex on the beaches along with yummy tomato basil, mozzarella salad, and ice cream(again) and came home and played cards. In particular Kings and Asshole, where naturally Beanie reigned supreme as King and Riki was in her rightful asshole like position. Ahah just kidding I love you too Riki.

Lest forgot the spiel about the state of our hostel. I´ll let Beanie do the justice!!!

Right. So. The hostel. Noted in the Lonely Planet as full of the 'trekking/mountaingoat variety' it failed to mention the state of the bathrooms. Campo Base Mendoza we deplore you - please fix your plumbing!!! The Drainage system of the hostel with 4 bathrooms between god knows how many backpackers... the stench is inescapable and thank goodness for our bedroom window otherwise we would have suffocated to death on fumes released by those bathrooms.
Lets just say blockages, crampiness and flooding on the toilet floor which despite any non existent attempt by the cleaner to clean does not go away.
Then, the desk guys have no clue of anything..see example above of the shoes we specifically asked for rafting. Haha god bless Argentina...