First stop in Argentina was Salta and the one thing on everyones mind was..... steak for dinner.  Went to a place called Viaje Jacks I think.  Steaks were so massive we were ordering one between two and still had tonnes each.  We found a really nice wine too which I carefully wrote down the name of so we could find it again and then promptly lost it... Well done.  Ended up in a bar who´s waiters claimed they serve the best mojitos.. in the world.  Well they were seriously good!!  It went on to be a very funny, weird night.  For ever more known as the white rabbit night for reasons known to those present.  We crawled home well after daylight.

Next day we headed out of town to Salta Rafting centre and had a day of ziplining and white water rafting.  I wasn´t too impressed with the rafting - river was dead calm.  More floating than rafting.  The adrenaline junkies in the group were well disappointed.  Zip lining was good though.  Not nearly as scary as it looked at first even though you´re hanging something like 160 m up over the river valley.  The lines zigzag across the valley until the final one where you eventually fly straight down into the campsite.  To finish the day they served us up a massive bbq, death by steak overdose!!...  Lots of wine & beer followed and lots of the girlies getting a little over friendly with the rafting instructors.  Made for lots of slagging the next day.  Think my Geordie tent buddie made quite an impression on one of them!! :-)

Cafayate was next stop and that meant one thing - Vineyards.  We hired ourselves some bikes and headed off out to the countryside in the sunshine.  Visit the Etchart bodega in the morning and did the full tour and proper tastings and even think I learned a thing or two about looking at horseshoes, and difference between early & late harvests...  Stopped for lunch of.. yeap steak and wine... then went out to La Banda where we unashamedly skipped the tour and went straight to the tastings.  Bought 3-4 bottles which ended up being drunk almost straight away.  Back at the camp we heard some of the others had been kicked off the Etchart tour in the afternoon for being drunk and rowdy and Séamus was showing off some nasty cuts after falling off his bike while drunkenly cycling with no hands singing "Flying without wings"
There was quite a few fragile heads the following day!!....

Mendoza was our next destination - again famous for vineyards but none of us made it to any this time thanks to the after effects of a fancy dress party for one of the girls birthdays.  As her name´s Hayley, the theme was anything beginning with H, so there was Hells Angel, Hula Girl, Hari Krishna, Holy Mary, Heaven & Hell, Hannibal Lecter, and the scariest hooker you´ve ever seen....(Yes Brendan was a bit too happy with his balloon boobs!)  It was all pretty hilarious.  People made a really good effort.  But the punch took its toll.  All we were fit for the next day was lying by the pool in the sun, and eventually working up to a trip to Walmart to stock up on booze for the next party....

Yes I´m just realising that this whole post revolves around alcohol.... Hmm.  We´re not really that bad.  Well not all the time!!..

Ok, it´s been over a week since I last added to the blog. So here´s a quick summary of where I´ve been.

I spent last Wednesday looking around Rosario by bicycle. 

Thursday until Saturday I was in Córdoba. On Friday I spent a great day being shown round the town by Naty, who I met at Octoberfest, in blazing sunshine. In fact at times the heat was just too much.

Sunday afternoon in Mendoza was spent wandering around the town. Monday went on a bicycle tour around the vineyards, tasting many a fine Malbec red wine. Tuesday we went up into the mountains to see Puente del Inca, Cerro Aconcagua (6900m) and popped over to Chile for a few minutes.

Thursday and Friday went back into the mountains to climb up to 3500m a couple of times, the second of which was a peak called Cerro Arenales. Great views and a real good work out! Stayed in a lodge at 2500m, which helped the acclimatisation.

Mendoza didn't really meet our expectations, the city reminded us of Swindon. I think it's one of those places were it's actually the surrounding areas that are of interest and we couldn't afford the time or the money. So sorry Mendoza, we didn't give you much of a chance!

We did manage to squeeze in a wine tour though. The wine on the tour was average but then what wine is nice at 9.30am? The wine at lunch and the huge spread of food was great.

Van Valparaiso was het weer met de bus richting het Andesgebergte. Chili is niet breed in kilometers, dus na ca. 3 uur rijden en klimmen met de bus zaten we al weer midden in de sneeuw. Met de bus moesten we een bergpas over en de grensovergang ligt natuurlijk zo´n beetje in het midden van die bergpas. Was dus wel even koud toen we eruit moesten voor de paspoortcontrole, ondanks dat het overdekt was. En dan te bedenken dat het voorjaar begint nu. Het was overigens een schitterende busreis door het Andesgebergte, veel sneeuw ook nog. Met de bus reden we nog langs skipistes en begon het wel een beetje te kriebelen bij Peter. Gelukkig hoefde Zwa niet veel moeite te doen om mij te overtuigen dat het echt slechte sneeuw was...Weer een paar uur later en wat dommelen waren we al in Mendoza beland. Mendoza is een belangrijk centrum voor de wijnproductie van Argentinie en ook bekend als skigebied. In 1864 had een behoorlijke aardbeving huisgehouden waardoor daarna de stad werd herbouwd met brede straten en grote (evacuatie)pleinen, dat geeft de stad wel een prettige en gezellige sfeer.  ´s Middags nog even op zoek gegaan naar een tourbureau om te kijken of ze vliegtickets naar Buenos Aires voor de volgende dag konden regelen. We hadden niet meer zo´n zin in een bustocht van ruim 14 uur. De dame bij een tourbureau kon ons helpen, maar daar had ze wel verschrikkelijk veel tijd voor nodig. Blijkbaar was ze nieuw...Tot overmaat van ramp hadden we ook aan het begin gevraagd of ze voor ons alvast tickets naar Iguazul kon regelen (om de watervallen in Noord-Argentinie te kunnen bekijken)... Dat werd dus overwerken voor haar. Het systeem kreeg natuurlijk de schuld. Pinnen of met creditcard betalen ging ook niet goed, dus na 2 uur wachten hadden we officieel nog geen tickets. De volgende ochtend alles maar cash betaald en alles was geregeld. ´s Middags om 15.05 zouden we naar Buenos Aires vliegen. Dat werd uiteindelijk een uurtje vertraging en om een of 6 waren we uiteindelijk in Buenos Aires.  

Hola chicos! So, its my final hour here in Mendoza before I hop back on the overnight bus to Buenos Aires. Mendoza has been by far my favorite city in Argentina. It reminds me alot of Anywhere California, from the houses, streets, trees, etc. Its soooo much mellower than BsAs and easy to just relax and have a gelato for a few hours and watch kids skateboard. I am please with this small city.

So Thursday morning we arrived in Mendoza, checked into our hostel, and hopped on a winery tour. Unfortunatly, tis winter here in this here hemisphere and there are no fields of beautiful grapes to behold. But we did get basic tours of the workings of each winery. Three bottles of wine, one bottle of olive oil, and a bag of amazing sundried tomatoes later we were back looking for dinner in the city. All I can say is FUCK FROMMERS. Now, generally speaking Im not one to use guide books. But I did happen to buy Frommers Argentina and let me tell you, stupid stupid man. I wont bore you with the details but lets just say that lameo has led us astray in this country more than six times so far. That night was no different. Wandering around for an hour while looking for a restaurant that 1) is totally overpriced 2) not good food by any means 3) on a completely different street than what was written. Like I said, fuck Frommers.

Friday we got up at the ungodly hour of 6:30 to go on a "high mountain" tour. We were expecting mountain climbing, trekking, ya know, high mountain stuff. Instead we were shoved in a van with a bunch of other people for 13 hours as they shuttled us from tourist place to tourist place. Not even interesting tourist places....... like coffee shops. Needless to say, blah.

But the final soccer game between Nigeria and our beloved Argentina was on that night so we decided the day could be redeemed. The hostel was throwing a bbq before the game. So after eating a bunch of meat, drinking plenty of Quilmes cervezcas, and hanging out with a huge group of Irish drunkards, the game finally started at 1 am. ARGENTINA 1 - NIGERIA 0!!!! Good times.

Now for today, lets just say, in my state when I got back to the hostel last night, I shoved one of my ear plugs in a bit too deep. Couldnt get it out this morning and paniced. Julia took two steak knives and eventually got the thing out. My hero. Good thing too because we went paragliding today! 1750 meters off a mountain. Now let me tell you, its pretty much against every survival instinct in a human being to run off a cliff but we did. It was beautiful and I had a cool tandem partner. Julia on the other hand, got sick and threw up........ in the air. Hahaha. I dont think Ive laughed so hard in a while. So Julia can actually say she puked all over Argentina.

Alright then lovers, off to the big city and soon home! Besoss.

Viaje de presentacion de Coca Cola Zero

Spent today wandering around the streets of Mendoza, before leaving on the night bus to Cordoba.  Our legs actually aren´t too bad, but the bottoms are a bit tender when we sit on a hard surface!  We walked up to the top of the old town to the Foundational Musuem, which is built over the remains of the old cabildo.  You get a good look at the old floor works and the different layers of soil and building work, and there is a good display about early Mendoza.  Most of the exhibits are in Spanish, but the odd sign has some English translation.  For some reason, we didn´t have to pay, so got a bit of a bonus here.  Nearby are the ruins of the San Francisco Church, but they are so covered in scaffolding you really can´t see very much.  Much of Mendoza was destroyed in an earthquake in 1861, and the museum had an interesting exhibition of photos showing what the town looked like just afterwards.  We walked back down along the Parque O`Higgins and across in the centre to a small modern art musuem.  It had an exhibition of women sculptors, but not much else, so don´t think it was the main one we were actually looking for (and didn´t find).  After a short walk back to Las Heras, we had a coffee in Havanna and a Big Mac meal (OK, we all crave junk every now and then!) then had a quick look at the dioramas between 25 de Mayo and Peru.  They were little boxes on stands, with models within depicting the life of Las Heras over the ages.  They were quite kitsch, but interesting in their own way.  Had a wander through the artesan stalls in Plaza Independencia, but seeing the same things over and over again now, so not that exciting.

Had our first brush with crime tonight.  While waiting for the bus to leave at 10.15pm, we were approached by a couple asking for directions.  We stupidly turned to help them and were very lucky that their accomplice was very clumsy and the racket he made falling over attracted our attention to the fact that he had one of our backpack´s in his hands!  A quick yell from Melissa scared him off, and before we knew it, all of them had disappeared into the crowds.  It was a lucky escape for us, and a reminder that we always need to be vigilant and not let our guard down.

Overnight bus didn´t go too badly last night, was a long trip - about 17 hours - but saw a couple of movies and got a bit of sleep.  Had dinner served at 11.30pm, so definitely on South American time!  We arrived into Mendoza slightly early and were looking for the address of the hotel we were thinking of when a very respectable looking couple came up and offered us an apartment with kitchenette right in the centre.  They drove us to the apartment and it turned out to be perfect, and at only 90 pesos a night, a bargain.   Because we were feeling a bit seedy after the bus trip, we didn´t do an awful lot today, just wandered around the town and went to the tourist information.  We walked up to Las Heras and past all the restaurants and tourist shops, and ended up having Mexican for lunch at the Central Market!  Having the kitchenette, we had home-made veggie soup for dinner again - just what you need when you´re a long way from home.

The apartment is owned by Nancy and Julio Gimenez and they can be contacted at abc.alquidep@yahoo.com.ar or on their mobiles: Nancy is 00 54 156 151 214 and Julio is 00 54 151 517 582.  They don´t speak English, apart from very basic words, but were extremely helpful and lovely.  The apartment is right near the corner of Alem and San Martin, so very central for sight-seeing and shopping.

Had quite a long day today, did a tour out to the mountains around Mendoza, as far across as the international tunnel that crosses the border between Argentina and Chile (but didn´t go through).  After we were picked up about 40 minutes late, we headed out through the pre-Andes range to the Potrerillos Valley, where a big new dam has been built.  It´s a bit like Jindabyne in the Australian Snowys, they had to flood the old town to make the dam, so the inhabitants were moved to new houses higher up the hill.  Not sure what they think of it, but it looks quite nice.  After a quick stop at Uspallata for drinks etc., we drove on to the main Andes mountains with a stop at Picheuta.  This is the site of an old bridge used by the San Martinian army during the independence wars, but now basically looks a bit like a large garden ornament!  The guide told us not to climb on it because it´s a national monument, but the locals don´t seem to take that seriously and were jumping up on it for photos, taking bits of the rocks etc., as souvenirs.  Not very respectful, really.  As we drove on through the mountains, we started to go into snow.  Not deep, but it´s still only May, so it must get pretty grim here in winter.  We saw a photo at our lunch stop of the army base at Los Penitentes and it seemed to be surrounded by about 3 meters of snow!  We stopped at the famous Inca Bridge for a photo session.  It is a natural rock formation found at the end of the 6000km Inca Trail, and is now growing all sorts of weird rock shapes from the mineral water that trickles down over it.  The public can no longer go over it, because it was being eroded too much.  Underneath it are thermal baths built in the early 1900s by a nearby hotel.  The hotel was destroyed by an avalanche, so everything is now just ruins (except the `miracle`church between the mountain and the hotel which survived the avalanche pretty well unscathed).  Stopped to have a look at the Aconcagua Mountain, the second in height after Everest.  People die on this mountain every year, and there´s a little cemetary nearby exclusively for climbers.  Drove back through the pre-Andes and got some beautiful scenery as the sun came down.  The mountains have lots of orange, yellow, red etc in them, and bring out lovely colours in the sunset.  Also interesting to see the quite clear sedimentary layers where the road cuts through the hills, lots of eruptions here in the past.  Got home about 6.30pm feeling quite tired, we always seem to get really sleepy when we pass through higher areas.

Finally, We made it to Mendoza!! Didn't think we'd ever make it here due to the constant protesters blocking the roads around the country.

Our stay in Argentina has definitely been an interesting and fun-filled one, no doubt. Still, getting around hasn't been all fun and games.

We had to experience the agricultural strike first-hand. Yep! As we were trying to head out of the province of Córdoba, we ran into a little problem . . . the roads were cut off and so no one was able to pass by because of the burning tires layed out across the road!!! You heard it right, there were flames blazing high on the highway!!

You see, at the time of our stay in Argentina, there was a huge disagreement regarding percentages to be paid to the government on agricultural products. The government wanted to increase them, and the workers were against the measure . . . hence, the reason for all the protests and blocked roads.

Truckers weren't allowed to pass, and consequently unable to deliver the goods they were transporting to their destinations!

By the end of over 20 days of constant bickering between the government and the farmers, the consequences of these acts started to be felt!! Grocery stores were nearly empty of all basic necessities and the people of the country were really the ones feeling the backlash of all this fighting.

And well, although we weren't affected as badly as others, we still felt it when we got back on the road.

Due to the blocked roads, there were no vehicles heading our way . . . which meant no ride for us!!!

Apres un bon repos bien merite chez notre ami Marcelo, nous voila sur la route du vin d Argentine: Mendoza. Un probleme assez important a noter, les routes etaient fermees par les paysans. Une greve generale gelant tous les grands axes des grandes villes et devinez quoi? Cordoba en fait parti! Donc il a fallu marcher et passer le barrage a pied.

Rien de mechant, il nous a fallu juste un petit peu plus de patience pour ce faire prendre en stop. Pour nous, c est un principe, ne jamais voyager de nuit, une fois la nuit tombee, on demande au chauffeur de nous deposer et Hop!! Nous voila au bord du lac, tranquille, la tente sous le prehaut, le tour est joue, demain sera un autre jour.

De nouveau, le pousse leve, differentes personnes nous prennent, un papi avec sa petite fille, un mr accompagne d un policier, un autre qui roule a 200km/h, un camion rempli a ras bord, un autre completement vide et sans remorque qui roule a 40km/h, bref on a vu de tout dans cette journee!! Mais on y est quand meme arrive a Mendoza.

Notre contact d internet etait une francaise de 23 ans sympa comme tout, elle nous a indique quelques endroits a visiter, on a vraiment ete bien accueuilli. Nous avons fait avec Juanita, la route des vins, vraiment interessant, on a goute differentes sortes de vins, pour moi le seul inconvenient etait que les vins etaient tous de 2007. On est alle voir aussi une fabrique d huile d olive.

Des petites vacances, je resumerais cette aventure a Mendoza! Je suis meme alle voir le zoo, pour vous dire le depeisement.

Wed, 19 Oct 2005 19:35:47 -0500  

Hola from Mendoza, Argentina

I finally made it here after the flight delays and mechanical plane troubles in Miami.  Stuck in Miami for a day and arrived in Mendoza Sat instead.  Juliet & Deb are great hostess.  Argentinians are obsessess with siestas.  I have to take a nap my first day bec people here start to go dancing/partying after midnight.  The 3 of us are such ‘wushes’ that we can’t stay awake after 4 am at La Guanaca club.

Juliet is busy spending time with relatives because her grandma died a month ago.  So Debbie & I are doing mini-tours.  Did the wine tours + the an olive tour was included • the dried tomatoes and balsamic vinegar I got better be good.   The trekking, repelling and zip line adventure tour was the most active I did.  Hiked for 1 hour & ½ on top of a mountain, fell down twice, I have cuts and bruises to prove it, did 2 repels down some rock formation and the zip line was a bit ‘wussified’ bec it was just 1 line over a river.  Costa Rica is still the best on zip line tours over the tropical forest.

Made it to the Andes mountains today.  It’s spring in here but there still have left over snow up there.  Mendoza doesn’t get snow just a cold breeze.  Deb & I were a little lost during the explaination because it was in full castillian spanish.  Oh well, I got the 'gist' of the narration.  The empanada here is the best.  On Friday night, Juliet’s family is supposed to make us a big asado dinner • grilled beef especially.  I can’t wait, this is what Argentinians dish are known for.

 Ciao (they say that here instead of adios), AC

City Tour through Mendoza to see Ciudad Vieja, El Parque San Martín, club Regata, Cerro de la Gloria and micro centro.

I skipped over Mendoza like a flat stone across water. I Arrived Sunday morning off the night bus, dishevelled and a little confused as to why the sky was still pitch black just before 8am. They currently have a strange time system in place within Argentina which means that it´s two hours ahead of Bolivia, its neighbour directly to the North on the same longitude. This leads to long evenings and dark mornings; the system is apparently in use to save electricity but many of the locals seem to doubt its effectiveness. Anyway, after being approached by some random bloke (a hostel manager as it turns out) at the bus station touting for a hostel, I ended up at Hostel A, a name which, in the running for this year´s Lack of Imagination Oscars, will take some beating.

Hostel A is hardly the Ritz, I realised this as soon as I arrived outside and there was no sign up to announce its existence to the world. The place is basically just a large house shabbily converted into cramped bedrooms packed with bunk beds. There is a single bathroom for 20 people - I think that tells you all you need to know really. Don´t stay there. The only good thing I have to say about the place is that it was where I met two outgoing and fun girls; Ellie (Aussie) and Audrey (US) who had been teaching English in Buenos Aires.     

The other notable person I met in Mendoza was a long-haired goth who happened upon me in the park a little later on Sunday morning. I was minding my own business, listening to Arctic Monkeys and chilling out, still knackered from the night bus. All of a sudden this lanky local geezer, all togged up in black, plonked himself down next to me, and asked me where I´m from. Upon hearing the answer and ignoring my "leave me alone you nutter" body language, he immediately began harping on about how he loves music from Manchester and demanded to know my favourite Morrissey and Smiths songs. He subsequently claimed that not only can he sing Nick Cave songs better than Nick Cave but that he´s also a vampire.

That´s right: a vampire.

But do not be concerned dear readers, for he was not the type of vampire who sucks blood. Of course not - that would be ridiculous! No, instead this guy apparently sucks out the energy that people derive from the enjoyment of music. Obviously this is exactly the type of thing you wish to hear when you are worse for wear due to travel fatigue and trying to relax in a sunny park in Mendoza on a Sunday morning.

At this point I decided that the surreality of the previous day in Cordoba (see previous entry) was enough for me and so, to his obvious disappointment, I made a sharp exit. I then had a nice hamburger and chips in a city centre cafe and mused as to just why random weirdos seem to be attracted to approaching me. I concluded that I simply must have one of those: "Please talk to me - chatting to random mentalists floats my boat" types of faces.      

Anyway, the following day Ellie, Audrey and I hired bikes and visited some bodegas near the city. Despite getting a little lost, as is my wont, it was a splendid day filled with excellent wine (the reds down here are amazing) and good company. It just confirms my notion that it is who you are with, as much as where you are, that often makes or breaks each travelling experience. It´s always nice to meet people who are on the same wavelength and share a similar sense of humour to yourself. And who aren´t vampires.  

I had to dash to the bus station after underestimating the time it would take to get back from the wine biking. Thankfully the local bus driver drove like his tea was on the table back home and delivered me back to Hostel A with enough time to gather my gear and hot foot it to the terminal on time.

On the whole Mendoza seems a really nice place, it´s yet another Argentinian city filled with wide leafy avenues and the scent of sycamore. I guess I didn´t really do the place justice and there were loads of activities I missed. However, time waits for no Salad: Bariloche, and a birthday, were beckoning.    

Mendoza seemed like a very pleasant city, one of those places that are very nice to live in but don´t really offer much to the tourist. Sure there are a hundred little wineries nearby but other than that and a few museums there really wasn´t much right in the city. The first day I intended to go visit some of the wineries with some other people but we got a bit of a late start and the wineries all close at around 6pm so we had to abort the plan. Instead, we walked around the city and decided to each buy a few bottles of wine and have our own wine tasting. It was quite fun and it turned out to be way cheaper and much easier than visiting all the wineries.

To the west of Mendoza there are lots of beautiful things to see with a few lakes, Aconcagua, the tallest mountain outside of the Himalayas, and Puente del Inca, a naturally made bridge. But as I was going ot be heading that way en route back to Chile and Santiago I decided to skip the all-day 12 hour tours and see those things on my own. That left only another day of wandering around the city and hanging out on the sidewalk cafes watching the people walk by. After a lame St. Patricks Day celebration in a place called Irish Bar I caught a bus to Puente del Inca, about 200km west of Mendoza.  

arrived on an overnight bus, walked into town to find wincas hostel. dumped our stuff and went for a wander in the massive park, it got cut a bit short with rain and the white singlet i was wearing!! booked a winery tour for the next day and then just hung out.

first vineyard we visited was great,heaps of info, we were one week before harvest so the machines were off and we could get really close. tasting was good too, cool guide. thenext place was mostly out for the hard sell not so cool. then off to a distillery that made grappa, gin and various other liquors. really interesting and i learnt lots about grappa i didnt know. then a lunch of gigantic proportions!! it was ridiculous amounts of food and wine. i waddled out a very happy girl.

That night we saw an open air movie in the park as a part of the wine festival. all in spanish but we think it was funny :)

next day another big walk in the park and then another wait for a night bus to cordoba