South American Adventure so far

Hola Amigos,
So four days in and i´m finally getting around to starting this blog thing. Don´t know how it´s going to go because i´m already finding a lack of time and sleep to be a problem, but i´ll do my best to get something down as often as possible. Tonight it´s our last night in Mendoza before we head over the Andes 2moro to Santiago de Chile. So here is a quick recap of the story so far....

Tuesday 17/11
After spending the night in the Sydney IBIS Hotel and getting about 3 hours sleep because we wanted to start acclimatising to the time soon change as soon as possible, we were off to check in. Flight from Syd to Ack was uneventful and felt pretty quick and after a few hours with the kiwis we were off to cross the pacific and travel back in time over the date line. Flight felt like it went forever and there seemed to be no end to the little picture of the plane flying over blue water with nothing ahead or behind. When we eventually did reach South America the view coming into Santiago was incredible. The Andes surround Sant. are unbelievable, covered with snow, seem to stretch on forever and just make it feel like a couldren. After a few hours in Sant. it was onto the last quick flight to BA which got us in around 5 or 6pm i think. Managed to someone find a shuttle into town that took us right to hotel which was nice. Hotel was an apartment type thing all very nice and new. We then decided we needed to head out for some tea and to get money out and to buy bus tickets to Mendoza for the following night. All of which turned out to be difficult tasks. No atm´s seemed to be open which meant no food and tickets were confusing but eventually my awful spanish got us 2 overnight tickets to Mendoza we found an atm and got some decent food from a shop in the huge bus complex. Then walked back to Apartment. Major sight of the day other then the Andes was crossing Av 9 de julio which is the widest street in the southern hemisphere of South America..maybe both i was arguing with Thomas about which and now i´ve confused myself, anyway at some stages its pretty much 20 lanes rights through the centre of BA with the famous oblisk in the middle.
Fell fast asleep as soon as we got home obvously.

Wednesday 18/11
Today woke up early then we would have liked to check out and left our bags there to be looked after while we spent the day walking around BA focusing on the Recolleta area as thats where our Apartment was. Highlights included Recolleta Cemetary and seeing Eva Perrons Tomb as well as a large number of former Argentinian Presidents. Then it was a quick stop for breakfast/lunch before we took in this gaint silver metal sculpure thing i guess it is off a flower which actually opens and closes its petals at sunrise and sunset which given its size is quite and achievment...google it to check it out. Then checked out an Art Gallery this home design mall..not sure why...walked down a fair bit of Av 9 de julio to the Oblisk and then down to Av Florida just to check it out so we knew where to go and what to see on our return to BA. Then back to hotel after a pretty long and tiring day of walking. Picked up bags and slogged it down the 30 minute walk to the bus station with me realising that if i dont lose weight ( the backpack not me) before Mexico i´ll be in serious trouble. Had a few hours waiting at bus station watching some french ppl get pretty concerned about nearly getting knocked out of World Cup by Ireland which was amusing before our AndesMar bus arrived at 815pm to take us to Mendoza. We have second class tickets which were really good cos you get meals, wine and a seat the folds out pretty close to a bed...travelling round in buses appeared to be a good option for the trip. Just after i had spoken this thought of course the food arrived which is up there for worst thing i have ever tasted, think it was meant to be heated but wasnt and yeah just not good, which has not been the case for all the other great argentian food we have had so far. Anyway a few hours out of BA some time during the night a horrendously awesome storm hit with torrential rain that i was concerned didnt make our crazy driver stop and lightening that light up the whole sky. That eventually subsided and we all settled into the 14 hour trip across Argentina. Didn´t get any sleep really..not sure why, may have been the very loud snoring man behind us...

Thurday 19/11
Arrived in Mendoza the next day again fairly tired now going on 1 decent nights sleep in the last 4. Booked tickets onward to Santiago for saturday straight away all in spanish which seems to be improving out of necessity because quite few ppl speak any english. Walked through Mendoza with ridiculously heavy bags again to Hotel which was again a good find. Mendoza is an amazingly beautiful city right in the foothills of the Andes and we spent the day exploring San Martin Park which is a huge park bigger then the city itself, pretty much impossible to walk to many of the places which we of course felt neccesary to prove wrong...in my opinion now we were prob wrong. After a lot of hassle and a trip back to hotel (using a cab which we discovered are a brilliant cheap way to avoid dying from exhaustion) midway through to rest we caught this little shuttle bus that took an hour tour round the park and up the Cerro (hill) in it which has a big statue thing up top with a great view of mountians and Mendoza. Had some great argentinian beef for me and chicken for Thomas and then crashed fairly early as rafting 2moro.

Friday (2day) 20/11
Up early to be picked up for rafting after a nice hotel breakfast. On way out to base camp got pulled over by the Argentinian National Guard who looked like a paramilitary unit sent to take us out. Searched the van and all our bags for who knows what and after checking passports let us go with a salute which i thought was nice. Eventually arrived at Argentina Rafting´s base camp which is an awesome big ranch set up right at the base of the Andes with a great view of Mt Conagua on the way in. They do lots of stuff like rafting, kyaking, repelling and other adventure things. After meeting our guide Diego and gearing up we bused it up river to starting point. Thomas and I were in a raft with an American couple and our kinda english speaking guide Diego who seemed like a cool guy. Rafting was decent, water really cold straight from Andes snow but great on a hot day. Only cat 2 and 3 rapids because water was fairly low but they get up to massive cat 5 in a month or so which would have been great. Still had some decent waves and drops and piked up a cd of all the photos taken of the trip. Finished up at the ranch for lunch and chilled for an hour or so before getting the bus back to Mendoza passing a lot of the great, expensive looking wineries on the way for which this region is well known. Back in town we had a hour or 2 break at hotel before heading back into town to check out a cool mueso and then some of great parks in town which are incredibly beautiful. Then enjoyed tea around 8, which seems to be the earlist an Argentine will consider eating and then strolled home to where i am now.

Anyway it seems i´ve typed a fair but do i hope it doesnt get boring but i´d better jump into bed now as its nearly midnight and up early for bus again 2moro.
un beso,
Sam

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Part of trip: South America/Mexican Adventure

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