Most of us said our goodbyes on leaving the evening meal, but the spanish guys were flying to iguazu, so I ended up saying goodbye in the airport. My plane was late, as expected, but as soon as we climbed above the city the weather was fantastic.. As we flew further north I could see Torres del Paine quite clearly in the distance. The flight stopped in calafate, and was late taking off; I was supposed to have 40 minutes transfer time, so by now it was looking unlikely that i'd make the next flight. We had a change of crew, [View Full Entry]

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I went to Mendoza this past weekend and had a great time. I left Santiago around 22:00, the bus ride to the Argentine border was about 3 hours, a little more, but customs took 3 hours. I got into Mendoza at 7 in the morning, and of-course nothing was open. My friend Mandy came with me, so we decided to walk around the city a little and see what there was to do. We ended up finding a cafe and had some food to eat. After the food we went to our hostel, called Pirka, which was great, the people who [View Full Entry]

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Having given up on climbing Volcan Villarica we headed to Mendoza for some vineyards, wine and bife de chorizo. This meant another crossing of the Andes which true to form didn't disappoint. The weather was typical of the mountains - as we climbed higher the snow got heavier but the sun also sometimes came out, beautiful. Then once more we'd be in mist and cloud, all four seasons in a day, again. This is the land of the Monkey Puzzle tree, there are thousands of them in the parque nacional the road passes through. They really are strange. On the Argentinian [View Full Entry]

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Pictures! [View Full Entry]

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OLA We are now in Mendoza folks and today we are both suffering from sore bottoms! We did a wine tour on bikes yesterday. We cycled about 17 miles in 37 degrees (in the shade) with lots of tastings inbetween. So im feeling rather precious but what a day , it was magnificent! Summer has come early in Mendoza it usually peaks at about 40 degrees in high summer but today the temp is about 41 degrees so it is very hot in the city. After some lunch we are heading to the park to the outdoor pool to laze about. [View Full Entry]

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Steves grubbings, The city of Cordoba, its grand old churches residing over a city full of all the trappings of a modern working metropolis; coffee shops, icecream bars, homeless people... and lots of McDonalds. We soon escaped the city setting off for the hills, first came a day trip to Alta Gracia. The childhood home of the great Che Guevara, and oddly once visited by JFK. Che´s former home is now a museum, and it turned out to be really good, his story told in photos and letters, his bicycles, toys and books, a film of local people and their recollections [View Full Entry]

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The journey from Mendoza to Santiago takes you through the Andes and is a journey which should be done during the day so you can take advantage of the amazing views. After my experiences of crossing borders, especially from Bolivia to Argentina I thought this would be a piece of cake. During my visit in Mendoza, I had bought a bag of sundried tomatoes, and when I bought them the assistant advised that I wouldn’t be able to take them into Chile. As usual, I knew best and tried to take them across the border, which makes for another story in [View Full Entry]

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We are now in Mendoza, a city wine lovers must know. It is famous for its Malbec wine. We left Santiago early towards Mendoza, the bus drive was advised to us as one of the nicest commercial drives in the country. It crosses the andes and passes the highest peak in the chain, the Cerro Aconcagua . The trip was well worth it. We took a road through a valley and up over slopes, passing little streams running of the mountains, following a worn out train track along a river, where it would enter [View Full Entry]

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Today I went horseback riding for a few hours in the second range of the Andes. It was gorgeous!!! Of course, I am very sore, since I have not ridden in many years... [View Full Entry]

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Today I toured the bodegas (vineyards, in English). The Argentinians seem to like to age their Malbecs in very large casts of French Oak that last for 100+ years. The tour of the bodegas included a feast of traditional regional cuisine. I was stuffed... [View Full Entry]

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