Hi, From Cordoba, we made our way toward two national parks - Ischigualasto and Talampaya. To get there, we took a night bus from Cordoba to San Juan, and upon arrival to San Juan we learned that we will have to spend there half a day as the only bus to San Augustin will leave at 14:00. So, we turned the bus terminal cafeteria to our "home" for a couple of hours - spending the time on schooling, internet surfing (luckily there was Wi-Fi in the terminal) and some playing. Eventually we made it to San Augustin, we managed to find [View Full Entry]

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San Juan is one of the most western provinces in Argentina, bordering with Chile and occupies a mountainous region. The area is dry with little precipitation and where the temperature during summer can rise to unbearable level, especially when there is a 'zonda wind' blowing through the surface of the land. It is a province in Argentina that is full of sunlight most of the time. (Note: Zonda wind (in Spanish, viento zonda) is a regional term for the foehn wind that often occurs on the eastern slope of the Andes, in Argentina. The Zonda is a dry wind (often carrying [View Full Entry]

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After a fun few weeks in Cordoba, it was time to move on. The next two weeks would be two of the most exhilarating, yet exhausting, weeks of my entire life. The experiences I had will carry me for quite some time, and the people I crossed paths with and the things I witnessed are truly unforgettable. Even if my eyes seem to be permanently red now and I literally have wrinkles that were not there before, and all that fun was expensive, I wouldn´t change a thing. Simply Excellent. -------------------------------------- I took an overnight bus to San Juan, a small [View Full Entry]

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1) A sign in the hostel bathroom tells you to keep the floor dry but there´s no shower curtain 2) You pay $40 US for a hotel, a lot in Argentina, but there´s no shampoo in the bathroom 3) The city buses are so crowded you have to trample poor old ladies just to get out (half kidding) 4) The candidates for Congressional Senator are not trusted by the average local....oh wait, that´s everywhere in the world 5) Paint is so expensive that a local orphanage could only half finish a job, and even then the paint was mixed with water [View Full Entry]

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Hiking In El CHalten to see glimpses of the famed FITZ ROY Turned to be an incredible experience. Eventhough we only had two good days of good weather, our stay in El CHalten proved to be worthwhile. To see Fitz Roy in it´s glory was something i had ben waiting for a long time. And here we were faced eye to eye...in all it´s stillness it stood tall and proud. Thousands of people come and go to see it for aday and it made me sad to know that people stand there to check off their wish list and walk away [View Full Entry]

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More El CHalten, Argentina (Fitz Roy) pictures. South Argentian Patagonia : p [View Full Entry]

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There is no direct bus from Mendoza to San Augustine de Valle Fertil so connected in San Juan. San Juan was a pleasant stop over and gave us a taste of a smaller Argentinean city. We are starting to look more and more like foreigners as we go north. In the main square, a guy asked to take a picture of our blue eyes. It actually came out really nice! Right after that, a group of school children rushed us handing us little pins with Argentina's colors on it in honor of their independence day (25 de Mayo). From San Juan [View Full Entry]

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In an effort to make up time we had skipped Argentina's San Juan region, only to realize that it contained a National Park we really wanted to visit. So we traveled 400km back north to the town of San Agustin de Valle Fertil. San Agustin de Valle Fertil is a small town surrounded by scrub land that acts as a gateway to the Ischigualsto National Park. We know it was going to be small when we boarded the bus because the parcels being loaded had only someone's name and the town's name, no street names were needed. We arrived in the [View Full Entry]

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nach mendoza ging es weiter nach san martin de los andes... unser suedlichste ort der reise. weitere plaene gen sueden haben sich im wind zerschlagen auf grund von zeit und geldmangel. allein von san martin de los andes runter zu den gletschern waeren mindestens noch einmal 1000km gewesen. von dort nach ushuaia (suedlichste stadt der welt) auf feuerland weitere 1000km. hinzu kommt, dass je weiter suedlich man kommt, desto teurer wird alles: unterkunft, verpflegung, das reisen an sich. san martin de los andes liegt direkt im seendistrikt argentiniens an den anden. daher sind auch grundsaetzlic [View Full Entry]

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San Juan lies to the north of Mendosa and like Mendosa was created out of desert by the hard work of the immigrants from Italy, Spain and Chile and of course many other places. It is no small thing to make the desert bloom and to produce such world class wines. Its other claim to fame is that it where Juan Domingo Peron came to public notice for his efforts after a disasterous earthquake in 1944. We did not find any statues to him but one to his wife Evita herself is tucked away in a small park off the main [View Full Entry]

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