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Published: September 27th 2007
Tom and I left Mendoza and headed for San Juan a few hours north. After a few hours in the town and discovering we were sharing a room with a bunch of oldies, we decided one night would be enough. Though in our one night there we still managed to down a few nice bottles of red... Mendoza is the home of wine, 70% of Argentina's wine comes from Mendoza. Tom and I found a nice bottle and then followed it by a couple more made by the owners of the hostel. Was a fun low key night!
The next afternoon, after spending a lazy day lying in a park in the sun, Tom and I headed to the bus station to catch a bus to Barreal, a town small Tom had read about that sounded appealing. When we arrived at the ticket booth the man told us the bus was fully booked. Shattered, at the thought of having to spend another night in San Juan, Tom and I sat down with our packs to discuss our options. When we decided we would book the bus for early the next morning we returned to the booth. We told the man
Sunset
on our bus trip to Barealwho prceeded to write out tickets for the 6pm bus that night. We were confused as two min earlier he had said it was booked... confused but excited about our next adventure we boarded the bus to Bareal. A bus ride that was supposed to take 3hours took five. We traveled on bumpy, dusty, unmade roads and stopped in some very random spots along the way. We were dropped on a road in the middle of nowhere surrounded by tall, old gum trees, at about 11pm. The hostel we had been told about by a guy in San Juan, was thankfully lit up so we made our way over to book in for the night. We walked around the perimetre of the hostel to find no one there. A few of the rooms were unlocked so we picked an empty one and made ourselves at home. A bit cheeky but we were tired and wanted a cosy bed for the night!
The next morning there was still no one at the hostel so we decided to venture into town and explore. We discovered Barreal was a small country town with vast bare areas for miles and miles. Though it
was surrounded by the most stunning views. The majestic Andes on one side and a very rocky mountain range on the other. WOW! The town tho very quiet was just breath taking. After using the little Spanish we both have we found out there was a place we could hire bikes to get around. We walked for what seemed like km's and finally made it to the bike hire spot. A sweet lady who owned the accom and bike hire showed us the bikes we could choose from. They were in fairly good shape though we had to manage without brakes. We headed back to the hostel and found Micial, who maintained the hostel. He was quite shocked to see us and even more shocked and embarrassed that we had slept there the previous night. Funny stuff. We rode our brakeless bikes to a farm and asked about their horse riding excursions. The owner Calos was lovely and spoke very slowly for us. He had to prepare the horses so we headed to town for a beer and some empanadas in the sun, what a life. We had a 3 and half hour horse ride through the rocky mountain range.
The secure cupboard door in our hostel room
the night we slept there with no one knowing! It was a challenge for me as I am not too keen on horses and it was Tom'd first time riding, so it was loads of laughs for both of us. Our guide, sadly I can't remember his name, was very sweet and Tom and I though neither very strong in Spanish managed to communicate with him really well and the three of us had a lot of fun together. The ride was pretty sketchy in spots and my horse, being super slow and lazy, wasn't the most reliable on the steep slopes. It was clear to us that Tom's horse knew who was boss and enjoyed leading him into water filled ditches and prickly bushes and both horses stopped every few metres to munch on the wild plants. It was incredible being on horse back surrounded by the Andes in the middle of nowhere with nothing or no one for km's, was a strange but peaceful feeling. The sun was hot, the sky was blue, the air was clear and there was no sound but the hooves of the horses, just amazing!
After 3hrs of riding a horse I was dreading hopping back on my bike, ouch it was
painful, though much quicker than walking. Tom and I enjoyed a beer in the last of the days sun and then made another home cooked meal. Bareal is known for star gazing and wow were they beautiful. We lay under the stars that night for a couple of hours, with a cold beer close by! They were incredible, a blanket of stars covering the night sky, and again not a sound for km's.
Day two in Barreal... we visited the local bakery, which became our morning routine, and bought fresh rolls, eggs and cheese. Tom cooked up a delish breaky which we devowed in the morning sun. After a painful ride back to the bike hire we returned our bikes, as we only hired them for 24hrs. We decided to test out our rock climbing skills. We climbed some very shady rocks, at times preying we wouldn't slip. It was a little dangerous, but that made it all the more fun... when we reached the top of one of the highest mountains we felt satisfied and proud of our achievement! We headed back and I cooked shepperds pie for dinner, yummo! After another trek into town to check our
bike troubles
Tom fixing his bike chain emails we thought we'd finish up the night with a beer... how unusual. 3 beers and many a laughs later whilst playing cards and listening to an old skool radio station we hit the sack. Such a great day and night!
Day three in Barreal... we woke late and had another fresh bakery breaky in the sun. We decided to head off for another challenge trekking the rocks, though I realised I really wasn't feeling up to it this time. I lay back on a rock in the sun while Tom explored a little further. The stillness and quietness of the air and the warmth of the sun was something I had never experienced. Now I understand why lizards in the desert sit for long periods of time soaking up the sun. I ended up joining Tom on a less adventurous yet just as fun rock climb. We came to a velley like area with green rolling mountains, only when we got closer we dicovered the mountains weren't covered in green grass but greeny blue very small stones, something I'd never seen before. We thought it would be fun to write our names on the mountains with large rocks,
as we had seen done elsewhere. That night we were sitting in the dining room listening to our fave radio station, practicing Spanish and reminising about our few days in the beautiful Barreal. Micial came in to have a chat and ended up joining us for a beer... then came one of his friends, Martin. We decided to move into the reception area where Micial had all his music on his computer that he wanted to share with us. They lit a small stove fire that heated the room instantly. It was so cosy and the beers were going down a treat! Tom and I were having a blast trying to converse in Spanish, it was a real test. Not long had we been there that Alexi another of Micial's friends joined us. The five of us sang and danced to all sorts of music. They introduced us to heavy metal, reggae and hip hop Argentine style, with some old faves like Bob Marley, Pink Floyd, RHCP and Lains you'll love this... Matisyahu! Was so much fun! We also checked out Martin's pics of his trek in the Andes last November. We asked all sorts of questions about it, as
the pics were just stunning, and came to the decision that we would return in November to join Martin and some other locals on an Andes adventure. We made a packt and are very excited about it!! We headed out to a local bar and somehow managed to speak Spanish and communicate with a bunch of random locals the entire night! It was perfect, couldn't have been better! I was one of 4 girls in the whole bar. The town is full of boys, nice looking ones at that, but lacking in females... but as you all know I love being one of the boys so I had a great time hanging with the local guys!
The next day we woke feeling super seedy but happy after such a fab night on the town! We packed up slowly and hung out with Micial and Alexi before hitting the road... it was sad to leave though we are looking forward to returning in late November!
My appologies for spelling Barreal wrong in some of my photo captions 😊
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