Tom and me were actually starting to question weather we had got on the right bus for a while as our bus heaved along the highway on a straight line journey toward the farming region of San Rafael. Sheer nothingness. Where the f*** are you taking me? I kept asking.. "C'mon Adsey we'll be sweet".
Arriving at the terminal with everything crossed I was very surprised at my first encounter of Tom's family friend of whom we would be staying with. Sabina was pretty, 18 year old , English girl who loved on a farm house alone in San Rafael. Strange... After exchanging pleasantries I couldn't help my inquiry into why in the world she was actually living here.. Alone especially. She explained a pretty interesting family situation; father a camera man for the war and was constantly moving around the Middle East and the mother fed up of being in Argentina alone moved back to Cyprus in Greece. Still didn't make much f***ing sense the girl was pure pommy! Pale skin, blonde hair living on a farm in the middle butt-f*** no where. She explained that she'd been living there with her family present on and off for the last 7 years. Hated it at first but after picking up Spanish in her first 4months she loved the place since. Went and got some supplies to stock up for the week and headed back to Sabina's place by bus. A really cool ranch style farm home with a pool and great outdoor parilla BBQ area. She had 4 dogs and two horses. We arrived at night so I put my hand up for cooking duties, whipping up some tasty home made burgers. Sabina's house had no tv and no Internet so a lot of or time was spent lazing around watching movies or family guy on her laptop or just cruising around the farm. On our first actual day made a nice breaky cruised around the farm watched a movie then decided on a big late lunch. Me and Tommy were keen to try our hand at our own Asado. While Tom was in the kitchen spatch-cocking a whole chicken I was out back getting the hot coals going for the grill. With some potatoes and a little avocado salsa I'd say our first attempt was pretty damn successful very tasty.
Late that night Sabina's friend Tom came around and brought some beers. Tom was 19 from San Francisco but was living in San Rafael to run his fathers wine business. Pretty switched on kid, but me and Tom could tell that he talk a whole lot of s*** to try and impress us. An hour or so later Sabina's close group of mates all rock up. All local guys at least 4 years older than her and were a pretty sketchy crowd. Couldn't speak a lick of English but were super polite and thought it pretty cool that me and Tom were there. Our Spanish was now at a level where we can communicate all the essentials, be funny and follow a general conversation so we weren't fussed. The Argentina party way no matter what city is ridiculous. These guys arrived without having had a previous drink at 12.30am and had to basically be pushed out the door by Sabina at around 6am. Drinking huge plastics pints of fernet (local liqueur) and cola everyone was fairly hammered for just sitting around and having a few.
Late rise the next day and some more movie watching and siestas was definitely on the menu. I went for a run around the farm and had a good 40minute workout around 6pm before showering up and getting ready to head into town. It was Sabina's birthday the next day so we had to go celebrate with her. Went to two bars and a pretty decent club - fun night. Me and Tom got a lift back with Matt and we were gonna just meet Sabina back at the house later as she was suspectedly getting her w**** on. By the end of our stay at San Rafael I had gathered that she was a pretty strange chick, was still very appreciative and thankful for her accommodation and hospitality but. Had a good time just kicking it with my boy Tommy and lazing about but we were both pretty keen to get out and start doing something productive again. No buses direct to Santiago so had to stop over another night in Mendoza before or border cross into Chile.