Page 4 of Ajtak Travel Blog Posts



Again a wonderful trip from San Martín de los Andes to Bariloche! The colours of Patagonia are amazing and the wind quite strong. Here in Bariloche, I spontaneously changes hostel and I am now in a very cool hostel called freedom, I'll spend 4 days in this region and hope for good weather! Buenas noches a todos! Ps: I forgot to mention somebody I met in San Martín: Andrés from Córdoba who lives now in Spain. He studied something different, but he loves painting and would like to do this for living. He already sold several paintings and will probably get the opportunity to show his paintings in Switzerland. Have a look at his homepage: www.bongiovanni.com... read more

South America » Argentina March 22nd 2011

Since my bus leaves at 14:00, I have some spare time to write a little bit about the differences between Switzerland and Argentina. Obviously, Argentina is muuuch bigger and thus, it's difficult to talk about "the Argentinian", but there are some aspects, which are different in general. First, my trip is quite exciting for many Argentinians because they travel mainly in Argentina (well, there's a lot to see here). Although they've never left their country, they like to talk about "the Italians", "the Spanish", "the Germans"... :) To speak more than one language is also something that surprises many people here. Most Argentinians had English classes during school, but the oppurtunities to talk other languages than Spanish are rare. Switzerland is organised...stricter; however, the Argentinian way has many good aspects. I felt a bit lost in ... read more


Asado yesterday was delicious: many Argentinians, a drunk Chilenian couple and I eating good meat and drinking wine and fernet! Although I didn't understand all jokes (about Chilenians and Argentinians, of course), I had a great time and made some new friends. Que buena onda! Since the asado didn't start before 23:30, I slept only about 4.5 hours before my 12h trip to the Parque Nacional del Lanín...The weather was like Swiss April weather, but nevertheless, the tour was a m a z i n g! First, we went to Junín de los Andes, a little town with a church, which combines Catholicism, Islam (there were quite many Libanese people in Junín) and the symbols and colours of the Mapuches, the Indinas from this region. We left Junín and went to the Parque Nacional in the ... read more


Today I rent a bike and went cycling with Javier. First we did a little trip on the southern side of the beautiful lake and had a rest on a little playa. Afterwards we went back to the city to have some mate with a friend (un alpinista) of Javier on the beach of S.M. de los Andes. Full of energy (thanks to the mate), we did the northern part of the lake, which was quite heavy (steep...) but which lead us to a beautiful beach. You can imagine San Martin as any ski village, but located as Interlaken and with a little latino touch. Tonight Juan will prepare an asado and the porteños (people from Buenos Aires capital), the Chilenos and I will have a nice (and late) dinner. Tomorrow I'll try the San Martinian ... read more


As you see, I'm still in the province of Neuquén but here in San Martín de los Andes it's a totally different world. The first 5h of my bus trip I saw only Patagonia's earth/grass/bushes-landscape. However, the colours were amazing and instead of sleeping I was taking pictures all the time (I travelled during the day). The closer we came to the Andes, the greener was the landscape and anybody in Argentina who misses Switzerland should come here...: chalets, same vegetation, chocolate, fondue(!), cars stop for pedestrians...if people didn't speak Spanish I'd feel like in a Swiss winter sports village. It's very relaxing to be here since it's somehow 'familiar'. The funny thing is that the Argentinians don't know about this similarity. In Mendoza were many European tourists, in the hostel in Neuquén I was the ... read more

South America » Argentina » Neuquén » Neuquén March 18th 2011

After spending my last day in the city (partyl with Andreas, an Austrian guy from the hostel), visiting some parks and the MMAMM (museum with paintings of the Andes - very beautiful), I took my bus to Neuquén. This time we didn't have any problems except for a delay of about 1/2h. Since it's very difficult to sleep in these buses, I watched the movies and looked out of the window. However, most of the time (12h) one could see only grass, bushes, and some trees, which is impressing but after a while a bit boring. But the starry sky and the sun rise were great! The hostel here is very close to the bus station (convenient), but a bit far from the microcentro. However, the bus drivers are lovely: I took the bus to go ... read more

South America » Argentina » Mendoza » Mendoza March 17th 2011

Jakob, you vs. Argentina -> you lose! Argentina is testing me much harder :) On Sunday, I wanted to get my bus from Córdoba to Mendoza, which should have left - according to my ticket - at 22:45. I got already a bit nervous when there was no bus at 22:40, but finally it arrived. However, the driver was telling me that the bus would leave at 23:15 and that he couldn't let me get on this bus... Fortunately, there were some elderly Argentinian ladies who had the same problem and who forced the driver to check the tickets with his boss. Finally, he found out that the time-table changed after we had bought our tickets and we were allowed to take this bus :) Around 9 AM I arrived in Mendoza, the city of wine ... read more

South America » Argentina » Córdoba » Córdoba March 13th 2011

The weekend was very quiet since it was very hot on Friday and raining on Saturday. I went in the center for some shopping (food) and everytime I go there, I discover some new funny shops or nice places. Disco was planned too, but due to some complications and the high level of tiredness, this was cancelled. Thus, talking, TV, eating, baby and dog sitting, and reading were the main activities. Today (Sunday) I crossed half Córdoba (I felt like an alian in some barrios...) and bought an Argentinian SIM card: 005493516460314. Tonight I'm going to leave Córdoba and take the bus to Mendoza, the city of Argentinian wine. I'll miss this city, but I heard only good things about Mendoza.You'll read soon about what I think of this city. ... read more


Preface 1: I apologise for tipos and bad English. I usually write my entries in the evening after long days and either on an Argentinian keyboard or on my cell phone. Preface 2: Who is reading my blog at 12 pm (Argentina) / 4 am (Switzerland)?? You're planning a trip to Córdoba? Visit the Parque Nacional del Condorito! Already the bus trip to the Sierras is amazing (2h) and having around 25 degrees compared to the 34 in the city is very nice. The hiking through the park is comparable to a Niederhorn trip, but there's just silence, no people, and an endless view. (Un)fortunately, we didn't see any pumas or snakes. However, after 2h we reached the canyon where the condores fly. It's one of only a few places in the world, where these birds ... read more
View + Condor
El Condor Pasa
Condores

South America » Argentina » Córdoba » Córdoba March 10th 2011

After the cabalgada yesterday, I needed a relaxed day in the city. First I visited the museo de la memoria, which is about the people that were killed during the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional (70s/80s) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Reorganization_Process http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Perla_(centro_de_detenci%C3%B3n) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_War). Unfortunately, some of the museums here aren't very informative and I didn't learn a lot about what happened and why. However, the museum is in the building where the people were jailed and tortured and one could somehow feel that very nasty things happened there. The museo histórico provincial Marqués de Sobremonte shows the life style of upper class Cordobeses in the 18th/19th century. Unfortunately, photographs aren't allowed. The only cool places at the moment in the city: shopping centers, museums, and cine... read more




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