Mendoza - traffic, trekking, and tasting (Part I)
The ride to Mendoza was quite spectacular. We drove through the Andes, sometimes along sheer cliff faces making me wish i had not picked the window seat. We spent a ridiculous amount of time at the border (almost 4 hours). Argentinians and Chileans (especially the Argentinians) are known for their lack of stress sometimes bordering (pun intended) on the absurd. So even with 10 full buses, trucks and a plethora of private cars there are only 4 guys to take care of everything that is 4 on the chilean side and 2 on the Argentinian). there were maybe 10-15 gates but only 4 are active for some reason. So when you get through the Chilean side you have to wait in another line on the Argentinian side. And there they are leisurely drinking their Mate chatting with the bus drivers and greeting an occasional relative that comes by while everyone in the cue is going absolutely mental. It is funny, however, how this is completely turned on it's head when you put an Argentinian in a car. Then it is his turn to go mental. They drive like lunatics, they never stop or even slow down when you are trying to cross the road, in fact I am convinced that they speed up, thinking that they probably will make it past you before you step in front of the car. In many cross roads in big cities and towns there are no traffic lights. And I once asked a guy in Salta how it worked and he replied: "Well it works like everywhere else" (might have been just referring to everywhere in Argentina), "sometimes it is the car that comes first to the intersection or sometimes it is the bigger car that has the right away". This makes it a considerable challenge every time you want to cross a road because you have no idea...and even if their are traffic lights there is no way of telling if the cars or the pedestrians have the right away. In Cordoba I was almost run over by a mad taxi driver (well they are all mad actually) that came around a corner never even touching the breaks as I jumped one meter in the air and two meters back to avoid him. It was the first time I gave someone the finger in Argentina, as I shouted "Stupido" at the top of my lungs. Chileans are much more civilized and stop frequently and even gesture politely for you to cross.
In the Mendoza bus station we were greeted by an elderly gentleman who wanted to offer us accommodation. We had not booked, so that suited us fine. Sometimes you can be lucky and get a good price at the bus station because they are desperate for some business and sometimes (as in this case) it might actually be a decent place. We got a hotel room (2 star) for 90 pesos (US$30 or about 1800 Isk.), It was so good that we decided to stay for 5 nights. And breakfast was included. Argentinian breakfast consists normally of a cup of coffee, two small peaces of toasts w/marmalade, or medialunas(croissants) and if you were lucky, orange juice. There, we had all this + a danish and a refill of everything if you wanted. The reason why Argentinian breakfast is so small is the fact that they eat very late. We are used to have dinner between 6pm and 8pm but they hardly ever have dinner before 9pm. Some restaurants don't even open until 9pm. but then they are open until about 1am.
The first whole day in Mendoza I went on a day trip to the Alta Montana or high mountain. Where they drive you to see well high mountain stuff such as Aconcagua 6962 meters, which is the highest mountain outside of the Himalayas. We drove up to altitude of 4300 and as it was not enough for me I practically ran 500 m more up to 4800 meters. For some reason the altitude seamed to have little or no effect on me in this trip. And people were looking at me funny and asking "did u just go up there and back in 10 minutes!?" like it was something they would never have considered doing in a million years. At the top u actually stood on the borders between Chile and Argentina and there was a big statue of Christ to commemorate the friendship between the two nations. It was alm
ost weired because normally the two nations do not communicate unless absolutely necessary. It has something to do with the Falklands war where Chile supported the UK by allowing them to use their airports for their fighter jets. The drive up and down was harrowing the road was narrow breaking up in parts and the guide was busy telling us stories about other buses that had gone of the road or were hit by falling rock...at one time as we came to a massive boulder almost on the middle of the road she said: "wow! that wasn't here yesterday!!" After that we then headed to the Puente del Inca, a natural arch that forms a bridge over the Vacas River, which runs into the Mendoza River. After a late lunch we drove back home.
Kathleen had used the day to do some shopping (she did not do the tour because she did it 2 years earlier), and we ended that day by going to a Tenedor libre (a free fork) which is a buffet place with basically everything you heart desires for a very resonable price.
ost weired because normally the two nations do not communicate unless absolutely necessary. It has something to do with the Falklands war where Chile supported the UK by allowing them to use their airports for their fighter jets. The drive up and down was harrowing the road was narrow breaking up in parts and the guide was busy telling us stories about other buses that had gone of the road or were hit by falling rock...at one time as we came to a massive boulder almost on the middle of the road she said: "wow! that wasn't here yesterday!!" After that we then headed to the Puente del Inca, a natural arch that forms a bridge over the Vacas River, which runs into the Mendoza River. After a late lunch we drove back home.Kathleen had used the day to do some shopping (she did not do the tour because she did it 2 years earlier), and we ended that day by going to a Tenedor libre (a free fork) which is a buffet place with basically everything you heart desires for a very resonable price.
Photos.
Top: Aconcagua 6962 m
Middle: High in Argentina looking over into Chile
Bottom: Puente del Inca (the Inca Bridge)
posted by Nonni @ 11:41 f.h.
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