Mendoza, Spanish lessons, musical hostels and serious siestas

I had initially planned on just spending a couple of days in Mendoza, but my plans were thwarted again by vacationing Argentines. The first available bus to my next destination, Bariloche, was a week-and-a-half later. Fortunately Mendoza proved to be a enjoyable city, and the extra time enabled me to take some Spanish lessons. And lessons were much needed as Spanish in Argentina hardly seemed recognizable. I had been getting by in Peru in Bolivia, but Argentines speak much faster and use slightly different rules. I took just over a week of classes, and my instructors were very helpful, and quite entertaining. Apparently I entertained them as well when trying to describe a man working on his computer in Spanish. I still have much to learn because rather than saying he was working on his computer, I said that he was pissing on his computer. The school made sure that we got a taste of the nightlife as well. I've always considered myself a bit of a night owl, but in Mendoza, I think even the senior citizens and toddlers outlasted me. Apparently 2:30 a.m. is early, which explains why they take their siestas so seriously. Just about everything shuts down from 1:00 to 6:00 in most Argentine cities. Banks and government offices are generally only open from 9am to 1pm. Rough life! Apparently there is some fantastic hiking around Mendoza as well, but my Spanish lessons made it difficult to make it out of the city. I did manage to make it on one wine tour though. AndI checked out a good number of the hostels in Mendoza as musical hostels was necessary due to the busy travel season. I think I changed hostels around 5 times in the week-and-a half that I was there.