I arrived in Mendoza on Thursday morning at 9:30 am after an 18 hour bus ride from Cafayate. After a short cab ride I had arrived at the Karma House to check into the "Meditation Room" that I had booked on Airbnb.com. I've stayed at quite a number of accommodations over the years and this is by far the most interesting experience.
The Karma House is operated by a man named Karma who is quite possibly the world's most interesting man. Karma is a Tibetan who speaks five languages, has owned two restaurants in the past, makes and sells his own brand of wine, and entertains his guests with magic tricks. He rents out rooms in his house he's named "Little Tibet" and the rooms range from $18-40 USD depending on the size. My first night ending up being quite an experience. Here is an hourly account of the events of that night:
The Karma House is operated by a man named Karma who is quite possibly the world's most interesting man. Karma is a Tibetan who speaks five languages, has owned two restaurants in the past, makes and sells his own brand of wine, and entertains his guests with magic tricks. He rents out rooms in his house he's named "Little Tibet" and the rooms range from $18-40 USD depending on the size. My first night ending up being quite an experience. Here is an hourly account of the events of that night:
8 pm: Dinner time. Karma owned and operated two Thai-Indian fusion restaurants. He gives a couple girls from Ohio and me lessons on how to turn a couple chicken breasts and some vegetables into a tasty dish that can feed 4-5 using a wok and a few spices. It turned out delicious! For dinner Karma gave us a couple bottles of his "Karma" brand wine he makes.
9 pm: Tristan from the U.K. joins us at the dinner table and tells us all about his adventures fly fishing in Bariloche, in the lakes region of Argentina.
10 pm: Now we are joined by 4 members of a film crew who are staying in the 2 back bedrooms. They are in Mendoza for a week for a documentary they are filming. Most of the crew isn't fluent in English, so the conversation transitions to Spanish. . or in my case Spanglish.
11 pm: Seeing how great of a time we're all having, Karma announces that tonight is a special occasion and he brings out a bottle of his Karma Special Reserve Malbec which sales for $180 in U.S. restaurants. The special reserve wine is made from the best grapes from the harvest and spends an extra 6 months aging in a barrel to create the full flavor.
12 am: Karma brings out a Tibetan guitar and begins playing traditional Tibetan songs and singing. It sounded really good despite not being able to understand the lyrics.
1 am: Apparently Karma knows magic as well. He begins performing several tricks that leave us befuddled. The highlight was a trick that involved him being handed a full banana and after some hocus pocus, he hands the banana to one the Ohio girls who peels it to reveal that it is now sliced in 3 even pieces.
2 am: The night ends with all of us putting our heads together in an attempt to figure out the secret for the tricks. We were unsuccessful. Need to do more Google research.
All in all a great first night in Mendoza. Throughout the next few days, Guests came and went and I was able to meet may interesting people.
12 am: Karma brings out a Tibetan guitar and begins playing traditional Tibetan songs and singing. It sounded really good despite not being able to understand the lyrics.
1 am: Apparently Karma knows magic as well. He begins performing several tricks that leave us befuddled. The highlight was a trick that involved him being handed a full banana and after some hocus pocus, he hands the banana to one the Ohio girls who peels it to reveal that it is now sliced in 3 even pieces.
2 am: The night ends with all of us putting our heads together in an attempt to figure out the secret for the tricks. We were unsuccessful. Need to do more Google research.
All in all a great first night in Mendoza. Throughout the next few days, Guests came and went and I was able to meet may interesting people.
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