oh how time has flown by!

Empanadas with Olga!
On Tuesday night, Elizabeth and I went over to Emily and Olga’s (her host mom) apartment. She was going to teach us how to make empanadas (a very popular/AMAZING Argentine gift!!! We arrived around 7 pm, and hung out with Olga and her friend Leo in the living room for a while, listening to George Straight. Olga is ADORABLE! She is a feisty, opinionated 60ish year old woman that only speaks Spanish….oh my gosh she is so funny! She couldn’t believe I wasn’t wearing a jacket in her house, so she pulls up her shirt and reveals her “can cans” (aka panty hose underneath her pants)!! It was soooooo weird but hilarious! We finally get started on the empanada process. All 5 of us are in her precious tiny kitchen, and we begin to make empanadas. Here is the process for empanadas:

o Saute 2 onions (1 onion per kilo of ground beef)
o Brown the beef with the onions
o Add 1 kilo of butter per kilo of beef (WHAT?! No wonder I am a little chunk!)
o Let all the flavors soak together (its better to prepare this early so there is more time to let the flavors sit)
o Next you get yer empanada dough squares so that you can stuff them with goodness
o You put the meat mixture in there along with some boiled eggs and olives, and you fold the square over the mixture (coat the edges with water so they will stay pretty)
o Now make an egg wash (with only the yolks) and paint it on top of the empanadas on the baking sheet (Olga used a makeup brush, but next time I will prolly use a cooking brush to paint the wash on top! Haha)
o Lastly you put them in the oven for 8 minutes or so (til golden brown) and enjoy!

We ate empanadas with Olga, Leo, and Susannah until we couldn’t eat another bite! We sat at the table and talked about life for about 2 hours. We talked about politics, boys, and Elizabeth made me sing a song for them (I coulda killed her!) Then we all sang “Aint no mountain high enough” for them, they loved it! Before we knew it, it was 11 pm and we had to get home. This was definitely one of my favorite Argentina experiences, its amazing how we were able to carry on conversations with native speakers for 4 whole hours without any English! WOW…

El último fin de semana
After tango on Friday, we went to a bodega (winery) just south of Mendoza. We had a really good time, it was really neat to see the process of making wine! We got to taste a couple different types, so that was neat too! Next we went to an art museum, interesting but nothing too special. Afterwards we went to an Artesan shop where all the locals make things by hand. That was super cool, and I got a few souvenirs from here. It was time to go home, so a group of us went to my house and we made tacos, guacamole and refried beans (my body cannot get enough Mexican food!) We were miserably full, but it was oh so good! We didn’t finish eating til late, so we went to bed around 3 am and had to wake up at 7:30 for our hike to Cerro Arco.

Cerro Arco
We hiked around the mountain and went to a beautiful river type thing and sat there a meditated on the lovely view of the city. It was very chill and pleasant. After the hike, we went to this restaurant in the mountains and ate empanadas of every flavor imaginable! Haha, they were scrumptious and we were all full and happy before we headed to the SPA!

The Spa at Cacheuta
When we arrived at this heavenly place, it was around 4:30 pm on Saturday. I scheduled my massage for 6, so until then we all put on our swim suits and took mud baths and relaxed in the multiple thermal pools facing the beautiful mountains. It was quite therapeutic and was just the beginning. After my amazing massage, I went to my room and hung out with friends. Emalee did my eye makeup, Elizabeth massaged my feet, I was feelin super spoiled and pampered! Before we knew it, it was dinner time so we went downstairs and ate some wonderful HEALTHY food! I am not usually healthy by any means, but its amazing how much you crave it when yer not able to have it! My grilled chicken, salad and vegetables never tasted so good! Haha.. after dinner we showered and went to bed nice and early. We slept in on Sunday, then ate breakfast and hit the thermal pools once again. We ate an INCREDIBLE lunch filled the vegetables, some of the best steak I have ever eaten, and lots of great desserts. We went back out to the mud baths and pools (roughin it right?!) and stayed out there for another 3 hours. I got a little sun on my chest and was really excited about that! By 6 pm, it was time to head back to reality…Finals, presentations, and essays. My lack of productivity over the weekend was absolutely worth it and I enjoyed every second of it!