Chilling out max and relaxing all cool– Weekend at the Spa

With midterms behind us and the end in sight, we’re embarking on the last half of our study abroad experience in South America. And with that, we decided to take a relaxing trip to Cacheuta, thank you Dickinson! That’s two different spas in two different countries. I think I should make a habit out of this.

Recap of the week:

It’s official, I am not failing my literature class! In all honesty, this class is one of the toughest ones I’ve ever taken, and it’s hard to get through a three hour lecture when you’re not completely sure about what’s going on. It’s not for lack of understanding the words coming out of the professors’ mouths (we have five professors for this class), but rather the lack of understanding of how the class works. I’m now starting to get the hang of it, which is certainly a relief half way through the semester.

Speaking of halfway through the semester, let’s do some quick math. This Monday is May 18th. My last Argentinian Literature class is June 18th. My exam for my Latin American Thought and Art class is June 24th. My final paper for the Argentinian Reality class is due June 15th. So, I have 5 more weeks of classes and each class meets two times a week. That’s 10 more classes each, amounting to 30 classes total left in this semester. For various reasons, I don’t have my Thought and Art class for the next two weeks, so subtract 4 classes from that (though I do have a few assignments to do during that hiatus). Also, the last three Thursdays of my literature class are all “trabajo prácticos”, like little tests, so those aren’t really lecture classes either, so I’m going to subtract 3 more classes there. So that brings me down to 23. 23 more lecture classes. That’s it. How is this semester going by so fast?

Semester Calendar from UNCuyo Facultad de Filosofía y Letras

A few things from this week: For my literature class, I had to read a few really awesome stories by an Argentinian author, Angélica Gorodischer, who is our first (and only) female author in this course. We read mostly from her 1980s writings, and these were heavily influenced by the military dictatorship ruling over Argentina at the time. They are science fiction-y in the way Kurt Vonnegut is science fiction-y: it’s science fiction, yes, but it’s completely accessible to those who are less inclined to that genre. I loved reading her stories!

Angélica Gorodischer

Wednesday, Sharaldine and I set out for a salsa and bachata dance group/bar/lesson night. It was so much fun and I forgot how nice it is to just go out and dance. Sharaldine and I had a great time and have convinced everyone else to come with us next week.

Sharaldine and I at Salsa and Bachata night, I was way too excited about this

Now, for the weekend. Thanks to Dickinson, we had an excursion to Cacheuta’s thermal waters and hot springs, in the lower mountains just an hour and a half from Mendoza city. It was a bright, bright, sunshiny day, and we were all very excited to enjoy it relaxing in the pool.

The group making a ruckus

Relaxing pool-side

How nice is this! #thanksdson

Similar to our first spa experience in Ecuador, mud and saunas were involved. This was a much more relaxed environment, as we were not guided from place to place and mud bath to mud bath, and we were by far the youngest people at this spa. The setting was spectacular, with the cliff walls surrounding a river flowing by the spa, we felt nestled in the bosom of the earth.

View of the upper pool from my siesta spot

We started in a warm pool, proceeded to a sauna, covered ourselves in mud and stood out in the sun, and then went into a really really hot pool and swam around outside for a bit. After that, we had lunch buffet-style, and I thought I might collapse from all the food I managed to consume. We took a post-lunch siesta, and I think I slept about an hour and a half out by the pool, before returning to the bottom section to swim again in the warm waters. We left in the afternoon and headed back to Mendoza. Somehow, I managed to take another nap. Spa days can be exhausting!

Pool 1: That waterfall was like a massage 

Indoor relaxing area

Heated pool that goes inside to outside

Heated outdoor pool by the mountains

Enjoying the sunshine and the water

Quiet by the pool, on our way home

Today, Sunday, I will be writing two papers, preparing some work for Dickinson (Congratulations to the class of 2015 for graduating!), and reading some new authors. It’s going to be a quiet day, but sometimes we need those, right?