drag queens and sore butts, oy vey

I´m gonna do a quick recap of my past 3 days, since I think my recent experiences have been noteworthy...actually, if I don´t write it here, I may forget, so this is actually my personal journal, although I keep it PG rated.
hm, today is...thursday I think. I guess we start on our our journey to Aconcagua a few days ago. 3rd highest peak in the world, next to the Himalayas, and the highest in all the Americas... its a spectacular site. So, we hopped in a car and drove to the mo untain to observe it ourselves. 6972 meters, over 20,000 feet, definitly not shabby looking. I considered taking the 22 day trek to the top, but there were several factors that I first considered. 1- I have no trekking experience, certaintly not to this degree. 2- I haven´t ever experienced Altitudes of such extremes, and it doesn´t seem like fun. 3- I passed the cemetary on the way to the mountain of all the climbers who have died in attempt of trekking to the top, at least one a year. 4- I doubt my physical capabilities, which is hard for me to admit, but I felt it was an appropriate time to be honest wtih myself. SO, I settled for a 1 hour trek around the base with some friends, where we had a beautiful view of the top...so Now I feel fulfilled.
Aw, I did title this Drag queens, so I should mention that evening as well.
I was with 2 guys from my hostel, and we had an urge to go out clubbing and dancing. We heard about some bar, La Reserva which was supposed to be fun, so we grabbed a cab and headed down around 230am. As we pull up, we realize this is no ordinary club, its a gay bar. Not even just a gay bar, but a dancing dragqueen show as well. I´m wtih two big tough guys, and I´m thinking, no way will they want to do this, but suprisingly, they thought it was hysterical, so we went in. My first surprise of the evening was not the manly looking females that were standing around, but that the female bathroom, had a urinal in it. And as I´m awkwardly staring at this contraption and visualizing how I am supposed to squat in this, 3 men....ahem, women, walk in the ladies bathroom. Granted, they were wearing makeup, were large chested, and dressed quite scantily clad....however their huge muscles and deep voices through me for a loop. OK, no big deal, its not like their interested in what I´m doing in there, so I don´t really care. I get back to my seat, and the show begins. TOTALLY unbelievable. I´m thinking about the Birdcage the entire time, as the two guys and I are clapping and hollering for the 6 dancers that are prancing around on stage, dancing and singing in their drag costumers. It really was a site. After the first show, we go outside and start chatting with dancers, who are the funniest guys, i mean, girls that I´ve spoken to in ages. They were thrilled my 2 straight buddies I was with were so enthralled with the show. I on the other hand, was mostly ignored by everyone in the bar for the evening, as being a legitimate female, their was no use for me! The only time it bothered me was when I attempted to get adrink at the bar, and I stood there for 20 minutes because all the cute little guys around me were getting served first. Role reversal I guess...
and Finally, the wineries.
Yes, I finally made the bike trip to the wineries, and itwas all I could have expected. Minus of course, my poor little butt which is so sore I can barely sit on a chair. Oy. Seated shorts are needed next time, note to self. We took the bus from the city to the town and rented bikes. From there, we biked about 30 kilometers, stopping off every 20 minutes or so at a new winery, getting a tour of the vineryards, and of course, having a little taste of the specialty. Ah, it was lovely. And, we were smart, and started at the farthest wineries and worked our way back to the rental site. Definitly a good idea to not ride too far once I had several tastings. However, I am now inspired to start makin gmy own wine in miniture barrels upon my return home, because I know allllll the secrets now....ooooh.
i have tons of pictures from the past few days, just need a computer thats not so ancient that it can upload them.