It is raining and hailing intermittently. Since this is our laundry and errand day, it is actually quite refreshing. Mendoza is a warm place. 28-30 degrees in the spring ( now) and 38-44 in the summer. I dont think it rains here much. The shops are big on intricate displays of their products, and lots of the displays are right out on the sidewalk. The sidewalks here are as wide as the streets at home, and are sometimes used for parking as well as walking. About every 5 blocks is a pedestrian only street, with cafe tables where the cars would be. Beautiful streets! The furniture stores In particular carry most of their furniture outside every day, and set up "rooms" on the street. Today we were out walking in the rain. The streets were deserted- which was very strange, and shop owners were all in the doorways exclaiming about the rain. The furniture just sat in the rain.... Leather couches, wood furniture, particle board dressers. Strange. Finally, the sales people came with big rolls of shrink wrap plastic, and wrapped that around the furniture. When it stopped raining they cut the plastic off, and lo and behold, it started raining again. Eventually they piled everything under the eaves if the store. Funny to watch. Sierra and i found a good size grocery store (kinda like Coop at home) and spent quite awhile just browsing. Hahaha! Who would have thought i would enjoy grocery shopping so much!! We got some food for the bus. We have learned that you dont go anywhere here without some protein and a good supply of water. You never know what is coming. Everyone could tell you what to expect, and it could be completely different than that. Tours are routinely 3 or 4 hours later in getting back than they advertise, and we are still not quite coping with the 10:30 or 11:00 suppers. Lol!! We have learned to just keep some crackers and cheese, croissants, or yogurt on hand to tide us over. I also got some packages of instant vanilla capachino like we have at home for camping. Haha! Knowing me, I will probably come home with it, but its there if i want... The other thing we have discovered is that when you order food in, you never get what you think you ordered! Last night we ordered pizza after rafting because we were hungry and tired. It took an hour to come, and had cut up hot dogs on it!!!!! Raw hot dogs!!! Hilarious!! Everyone eats hot dogs here. Hot dog cafes are all full. We topped up our cash, because in the far south there is only one bank machine per town, and they reportedly run out of cash and gasoline routinely for as long as a week at a time. I dont want to rely on that at all. Id rather have everything and more that we will need before we ever get there!! Only an hour left in Mendoza. Next post Barioloche.