Chile-bound. And jobless.

I did it. I quit after a week.

I pretty much had made my decision by Friday morning, and had lived with the anxiety of knowing I'd have to tell Carolyn for 3 days. I didn't want to tell her until I was absolutely sure, and until the last possible minute. And since Yvonne and Ian wanted to head to Chile tomorrow, today was the day.

But first, yesterday. I wanted to show Dan and Yvonne around some wineries, and created a schedule of well known, larger ones and of course small little Altocedro. Sole, a spunky young local graphic designer I had met through Cara, the Seattlite, offered to drive us around. With an early 9am meet-up, we cruised around in her 1999 VW, me making mate in the front seat, burning the shit out of my pants with her leaky water thermos, blasting CCR on Route 40, on our way to our 10am appointment at Catena Zapata. There we met Myfawny, who gave us a (gratis) premium tasting where we compared the domestic line to the export line. I apologize to any Catena Zapata fans, but you're falling for the marketing and the name. The best thing about the visit was the crazy adobe pyramid architecture of the place. The wines didn't do it for any of us.

Next stop was an hour south at Altocedro, where Leo was busy devatting barrels and making blends, but took the time to give us a proper tasting tour. Even including the coveted barrels aging away in the cellar (where I managed to spill wine all over myself, see picture below). It was nice to be home. Lunch was at El Cielo, where I had what is by far my favorite empanada in Mendoza, and the ensalada especial sin jamon. We shared a bottle of Altocedro Reserva 2009 for Dan to try and see if maaaybe Astor would carry it. But of course it all falls to Lorena, the buyer.

By 3:30 we were off to Clos de los Siete, French superstar winemaker Michel Rolland's project, where Diego, a friend of Carolyn's, makes his wine. Picture long blond 80's rockstar hair, a beard, and a charismatic California surfer attitude. His first project in Mendoza is super boutique and small (only 12 barrels fermenting, which means 4 barrels of finished wine, which means maybe 1,200 bottles total). All grapes from La Consulta. Very very nice. No name yet for the brand. He also treated us to a Sav Blanc and Pinot Noir from the Meliflor tanks and a few different AMAZING Malbecs from both Melifor and Val de Flores. Top notch. By the end of the day we all had schoolgirl crushes on Diego and his wines, even Dan, who ended the tour with the awesome quote "yeah, man, let me know when you're in BsAs. It'll be fun to catch up.'' Catch up? You just met the man.

Dinner was at closed door restaurant Los Chocos, which I posted about earlier. Max of 8 people at the dining room in the chef's apartment. 5 courses with wine pairings. Yvonne ate so much she woke up in the middle of the night and threw up. (Not food poisoning, as noone else got sick, and this has happened to her in the past). Poor girl. But pretty funny nonetheless.

This morning I couldn't sleep past 9, regardless of having drunk what must have been at least 2 bottles of wine throughout the course of the day yesterday. Too anxious about the resignation. Fear of being blacklisted from everything in Mendoza and making an enemy. I decided it was a perfect time for a run, to clear the head and detox the body. Made it to the park and did a few laps around the mini Central Park like lake.

Then it was time to meet Kendall at her house at 1, with the intention of collecting a few things from the bags I had stored at her house (she's 29, from San Fran, quit her wine PR job in March, now works for one of the larger wineries here, in PR). A regular Martha Stewart, she whipped up an amazing gourmet salad with roasted chicken and vegetables and pomegranates and we ate in her backyard in the little crevice of sunlight we could warm up in. She gave me some advice on what to say to Carolyn. Nice having someone with a few years of Corporate America experience to run it by. Met Carolyn at her house at 5:30, shot the shit a bit, she made coffee (instant of course, this being Argentina) and we headed out to her garden to talk. I told her I had reservations about the job, that I mislead myself into thinking I was ready for an office job but I wasn't (thanks Dad for that line!). That I felt claustrophobic and stuck, that this was not what I was in SA to do, but that I really liked her, and felt terrible about the whole thing. I apologized profusely and told her how I had agonized over the weekend. She accepted my apology. She had a feeling this was coming from how I was acting Friday (if you know me, you know I am a terrible BS'er and if I don't like someone or something, I am rather blunt about it). We talked it out for about an hour, the low salary did come up and I was honest and said I did feel like I should be making more. She admitted that she hadn't realized how low it was and that if I was open to staying, she would pay more. But at this point, my mind was made. She asked if I would stay another week or two and I told her about the trip to Chile and the opportunity to travel with friends. She understood, agreed it was a good thing for me to do. She said if I wanted to come back to work for her, I could. I told her I would be open to doing project-based consulting work, but in no way do I want to be in the office everyday working in proposals and answering client emails. Again, she understood. She even started crying a bit. That was a shock. Usually I'm the one doing the crying when I quit! (I've done it twice now, with the RIAA and SXM). So. She's going to come up with some projects for me and maybe we'll work something out, either from the road, or when I return to Mendoza in a month or so. I told her a lot depends on the winery gigs, that there needs to be something for me to come back to (besides my bags!). All in all, a good conversation.

Tomorrow at 7:30 am Yvonne, Ian and I will be on a bus set for the other side of the Andes. Hooray! A change in scenery, cuisine, accent, culture. The plan is for 3 nights in Santiago, and then northbound towards the Bolivian salt flats, with many stops along the way. I like this new plan.