A Weekend at the Spa

So, I got on a bus and rode 8 hours north to Federacion in Entre Rios just to have a relaxing weekend at a spa! And it was probably one of the most interesting weekends of my life! Not to mention, TOTALLY fun! I met a girl named Amanda who´s dad is from Argentina but works at the Mayo clinic in Minnesota, so she goes to the Univ. of Minn. She´s super fun!
It started off with a subte ride to the bus station in Retiro. As we walked toward the station, we were double teamed by some STUPID people who tried to rob us. But we were WAY smarter than them, and we had lovked the important compartments in our backpacks, so they opened it up and couldn´t get anything good! HAHA! Success! I would like to say that it made me angry just the thought that they would do something liek that in the first place. I was seriously infuriated. However, we then looked for our bus, and no one could tell us where it would be, so we stressfully walked back and forth up and down the platforms until we spotted our companies bus with the name of our city posted out front! We thought we were home free, and would be there in 7 hours! Not So! Instead, we had horrible bus bathroom experiences......... UGHHHHHHHHH even thinking about it makes me woozy, we had no dinner, and we were super uncomfortable, because they WOULD NOT turn on the air conditioning. In addition, our bus driver had us stuck behind a caravan of slow moving vehicles the whole way there. Needless to say, we made it to our hotel by midnight, HUNGRY!
However, the hotel was fabulous. And the service was amazing (In fact, a little TOO amazing)! The reception man brought us a bottle of wine and some cold sandwiches he found in the kitchen, and then we cleared out the frigobar!
The next morning, we awoke, had breakfast at the hotel, and then we took the shuttle to the warm springs! I thought it´d be a great idea to choose to tan at the warm springs, because we wouldn´t freeze in the cold pool water when we wanted to cool off. However, these were not warm springs, they were VERY VERY HOT springs. In fact, so hot, that there were warning signs on some of them that warned not to stay in for more than 5 minutes......... I know, my thoughts exactly, Argentina has rules... I had no idea.
After dying in the heat, we decided to call a taxi and head back to our hotel for our day at the spa we had arranged. The taxi was infested with mosquitoes, so if I catch malaria, you all know who to blame.
We got to the spa, and let´s just say I was feeling alittle nervous. Earlier in the day, I had been super brave and had decided to invest in a little ¨depilacion.¨ Now, I was seriously rethinking my experience. And, I can´t go into detail, but I probably should have cancelled!! If anyone wants to know more, please facebook message me, hahaha. Anyhow, after the depilacion, I was in great need of a massage, unfortunately, the person was a man. And that made me feel super uncomfortable, especially after only minutes before, an old man had gone in for a massage with a lady, and they had quickly come right back out, and after he left, she laughingly explained to me that he had in mind a certain something that he would like massaged. I truly thought I would die on the spot. I was scared for my life!
I survived the massage, and shortly thereafter progressed to my hand and foot treatment, followed by a mani-pedi. I would like to point out to all americans everywhere, I was TOLD that it is very ugly to have different color nail polish on your hands than on your toenails. So, I now have a french manicure on my toes........ and it looks like my toenails are dead. But she refused to change her standards. In addition, my nails are so square, the edges can cut! They definitely have some different standards.
After the toes and fingernails, I went to my facial and body treatment, both of which were my favorite part of the day!
In all honesty, for what the exchange rate allowed us to pay, the day was fantastic! We got out of these for about 60 american dollars!!!!!!!!!
After the spa, we headed to our fancy reservation dinner. But it was a total flop, but in all actuality, I think we were too tired to care!
This morning at 6 am we awoke to head out and catch our bus back home.
This bus driver was very different from the last. He had a thing for taking up both lanes no matter what. He was also keen on passing when there was a hill and a double line. I wasn´t sure if we´d make it back alive! In addition, the bus was almost entirely empty, but this lady decided it would be fun to sit right next to us and play her cell phone ring tone (and it was one of those old timey annoying ones) over and over and over. Also, update on the bathroom situation, it was even worse! We ended up miserably trying to focus on something else for 7 hours!!! When we got off the bus, we RAN to the nearest restroom, which unfortunately wasn´t much better.
But in the end, it was a fantastic trip. I made a new friend. And I´m not sure if there´s a better way to get to know someone than to spend an intimate day at the spa, and talk for 14 hours straight driving through cattle land that looks unchanging!