Mendoza, Cordoba and Valipariso

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From Buenos Aires, I hopped on a night bus to Mendoza, arriving there early in the morning. The nightbus was great, a Don Otto bus, complete with fully reclining beds, movies and pretty good food. My first day in Mendoza, I went white water rafting down the river. This was my first time rafting. The river bed was apparently quite low, which I actually was happy about, given that I had no prior experience. Made it down the river safe and sound! The next day in Mendoza, I went to the Pascaul Toso winery outside of town. It was absolutely beautiful, and I was lucky enough to be a small private tour with only two other people. Learned a lot of interesting things about the winery and wine in general. Am definately excited to pick up some Pascaul when I'm back in Vancouver - they make a wonderful Malbec. In January 2010, they are also introducing a sparkling rose into the Canadian market, which I will definately also have - it'll be fun for a girls night out!

The next day, I went on another winery tour, this one more geared towards backpackers. Set out with a group from the hostel (including Danielle and Leon), and we rode our bikes to three different wineries, as well as an olive plantation and a chocolate shop. The wineries were very interesting as well. Before going to the olive planation, I never knew that so many olives are needed for one small bottle of oil! So it was an educational day all in all. Also, during the tour, I got some AMAZING news!!! My friend Aylene passed her Uniform Final Exam, and will now be a chartered accountant. Had a quick chat with her from a vineyard, was so great to hear her wonderful news, congrats again Aylene!

One of the highlights of Mendoza was going to Don Mario's, a steakhouse that someone at one of the wineries recommended to us. Amazing! My steak was absolutely massive but managed to power through most of it. Since then, I have been to many a steakhouse in Argentina, and while the vast majority have been great, this one was definately the highlight - see picture below!!! 😊 After Don Marios that night we went to an amazing outdoor club about a half hour out of the city. The next day proved to be quite a struggle - Danielle and I had booked ourselves on a tour to go up to Aconcagua national park. This was, of course, before we decided it was a great idea to stay out dancing all night. We managed to make it to the tour with no sleep, and I'm glad we did, because the sights were indeed spectacular. Just a lot of sleeping on the bus though to recover from the night before!

After Mendoza, I headed up to Cordoba, which was also a great time. Stayed in Cordoba for a couple of nights, exploring the city, there's a lot of beautiful buildings and interesting museums to see. What I really wanted to do in the Cordoba region was go to an Estancia. Johanna (a girl I met at the hostel in Cordoba) and I went on a two day horsebacking riding tour to a family's estancia about an hour outside of Cordoba. It was an absolutely amazing experience, it was just Jo, me, and the guide (Marcelo), and we got to get quite a few hours in of horseback riding. We also had a wonderful asado at night, and got to enjoy our meal overlooking a small river that runs right through the family's property. Amazing! Marcelo was a really interesting guy to talk to, he had lived in the UK for a few years as a professional polo player, but returned to Argentina because he loves his country so much. I've met numerous Argentines throughout my travels that have gone abroad for a few years as they can find jobs that generally pay quite a bit more abroad, but it seems that most of them wind up returning to their country as they miss it so much. I can fully understand this - the country itself is absolutely beautiful, and the people are amazing. I'm finding it hard to leave Argentina and I'm not even from here! 😊

After the night in the Estancia I headed back to Cordoba for one more night, then took an epic bus journey over to Valipariso in Chile. I had to take a day bus all the way back to Mendoza, then another bus overnight to Valipariso. Arrived in Valpo quite early in the morning, around 6 am. The taxi driver took me to the hostel, and because it was so early no one was manning the reception desk. Told the taxi driver I could just wait outside for an hour or so but the driver was adamant that the city was not safe. Believed him when I saw a rather sketchy looking character come walking towards us, so had to wake up the worker at the hostel to let me in. Once I got to the hostel I took a quick nap. Had lunch with the hostel owner, his wife, and one of his friends that was a chef. The chef cooked traditional Chilean food, and it was amazing! After lunch, one of the guys that I met at lunch, Ricardo, that lives next door to the hostel walked me around the city and showed me the sights of Valipariso. Chileans are known for being incredibly hospitable and nice, and the folks I met at PataPata Hostel in Valipariso went above and beyond to make me feel welcome in their hostel and their city. Walked around Valpo, and even took the old traditional train around the city!

After Valpo I headed off further south to Chile, to start my journey through Patagonia!

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