Blogs from Mendoza, Argentina, South America

(Day 339 on the road)I have the feeling that this is going to be a tough blog entry to write. Put simply, nothing extraordinary happened in the last four weeks in Argentina. No Machu Pichu to stare at in awe. No lost city to discover in the remote jungle. No 6.000m-high mountain to climb. No death road to bike down. No multi-day camping trips high in the Andes. No vast salt desert to drive through. No volcano to scale. No close encounters with tame wildlife. Put simply, no major highlights to write about - compared to virtually all my last entries. Instead, I discovered a northern Argentina full of pretty landscapes, with appealing and (fairly) orderly cities, and with a sophisticated and educated population. In fact, travelling south after spending many months in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru ... read more

It’s going to be difficult to leave here - beautiful views, delicious food delivered at all hours of the day, dishes done, reading, relaxing. Oh, and there’s puppies, maybe I forgot to mention the puppies?! Another relaxing start to the day with breakfast in the garden with a beautiful view of the mountains. Managed to find some energy to drag ourselves to the stream to cool off/get trampled on by wet muddy puppies doing zoomies. Pretty much the same. As relaxing as that was, lunch called and wine was offered…so naps were required. Some more relaxing and reading before the horses were saddled up and ready to drag the (ever increasing) loads into the foothills. Another beautiful ride with stunning views, this time accompanied by Leela, who possibly regretted her decision about 5 minutes in but ... read more

Mendoza 12-17 januar Vi trodde vi ville komme fram i mørket og hadde derfor bestilt henting på flyplassen denne gangen også. Men nei da, her skinte sola og varmen slo mot oss da vi gikk ut av flyet (23-32 grader gjennom døgnet). Hotellet, Urban Hostel, var en stor skuffelse og kan ikke anbefales. Malingen flasset av veggene og badet var under enhver kritikk. Alt virket skittent og nedslitt og skuffelsen var stor. Vi hadde håpet på å treffe andre ryggsekkturister som kunne gitt oss noen tips på veien videre. Dagen etter «rømte» vi over til et trestjerners hotell som heter Carollo Gold, http://www.hotelesgold.com.ar/index.php/es/inicio/hotel/1 . Det ligger sentralt til i et trygt område og er veldig bra. Prisforskjellen, fra 260 kr til 470 kr pr natt, er absolutt verdt det. Frokost er også inkludert. Den første ... read more

The wine province of Mendoza is world famous. The Norton Malbec is one of my regular purchases from Costco in Calgary so it is only natural that we would seek out the Bodega for a wine tour. Sandy and I had a private tour of this histlorical winery culminating in a light pizza lunch and wine sitting on old barrels in the cellar surrounded by thousands of bottles of mature wines, some of the more valuable bottles locked behind iron gate. Back at our B&B we were treated to a bottle from 1975. What a wonderful 2 days in Mendoza.... read more

We are sitting in the Santiago, Chile airport looking at the snow caped Andes and waiting for the plane to Houston. And trying to think about how to wrap up this trip in words. Our final day began at Finca Garciarena with a great breakfast including local fruits and home made pastries. Then we were notified that indeed Pablo had arranged a tour for us at the Museum of the Disappeared. We made our way to the metro police station where about half of the building was now given over to a tribute to the 600+ individuals that we "disappeared" from Mendoza alone during the late 1970s and early 80s. There were 10,000 dissents who vanished from Argentina during this period, with thousands more surviving when the junta was finally driven from office. (By the way, ... read more