yesterday we had our last day of Equitacion class, which is horseback riding. now, i am no zorro, nor mel gibson in the patriot, but i think i actually improved a little over the last few weeks in the process of taming a beast 7 times my size… we got to go riding outside of the ranch, where we walked, trotted and galloped (which was slightly scary) along a river, up and down some paths, and a few other random terrains, all with a beautiful mountain range in the background, and the sun shining on our face. it was hard to forget though about the 50 degree (F) weather. it should be warming up in the next few weeks, winter is almost done here, and will soon be spring. i think i will take a class every now and then through out the semester on the ranch to keep learning about riding, but its an optional activity that we found that runs on saturdays. they do 5 hour runs and then have dinner together at the ranch. i think my buddy russ and are will try it in a few weeks, once the actual semester starts.
Tomorrow will be the first day of venturing out of Córdoba on our own. it started out as a group of about 7 of us but now has grown to about 15 that will be traveling to Mendoza, which is parto of the region Cuyo that is west of Córdoba. three of the guys (including me) and two girls are going to head out tomorrow night for the allnight bus ride, so we can have an extra full day there, and the rest of the group is coming on the alnight ride friday night. it should be fun. we have been asking around and trying to make somewhat of a plan for the weekend and this is what it is shaping up to be: Friday-Ski/snowboard in the mountains (this is a region well known for their snow sports, sowe figure why not, its nothing a couple of MN boys cant handle). Saturday-Viñeros, which are vinyards. Mendoza is really well know also for their vinyards. the water that goes into their wine, if im understanding it correctly, is (clean) snow that has melted from the mountains… so that should be a fun day of touring the different vinyards. and then finally Sunday- we plan on going mountain biking, because there are some sights that cant be seen from a car and what not, and that should be pretty cool, the other part of the day, believeit or not will be para glyding (how ever its called/spelled). yes, that means i will be strapped to some large winged contraption, and hurl myself off of a mountain top or cliff. that doesnt really seem like “my cup of tea” but i figure why now? i can later say with my broken leg and scars that ” i was young and stupid, i was all about living on the edge!” we´ll see how it all goes…
anyways, im just about to have a quick lunch before heading out to a day full of classes, then lifting, then hopefully a run to the convinient store on the way home. hope all is well at home with everyone, miss you a lot!
love julian
ps- does anyone have the program skype on their computers? its a way to make free phone calls from computer to computer, and you can attach a webcam and have video phone calls for free! if you do, let me know, i just figured out how to set up the account!
