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Published: March 10th 2010
Way to Mendoza
Crossing the AndesOnce again, this blog-entry is written "out of my mind", because I don´t have any written information, as I "lost" my diary in Lima ...
Well, finally it was time to leave Chile again and return to Argentina, to explore the north of the country. My first station was Mendoza, but already the way from Valparaiso to Mendoza was an adventure. First: The landscape is stunning and impressing. Second: The bus broke down in the middle of nowhere. :-) But this was no problem, as I met two travellers from the US and they had a good bottle of red-wine and I the had an bottle-opener ;-) So the waiting-time was short and funny :-)
When I finally arrived in Mendoza I had no idea where to sleep, but already when I left the bus, the people started to give me leaflets and I already had decided to go to one place nearby, that offers also free wine of Mendoza :-) - when I started to chat with an elderly man and he explained me much more about town and also that the place, where I was going to, was in the middle of the "red-light"-district ... of
course he had also some options of hostels and because he was very nice and could offer me a place right in the centre for a even better price, I went walking with him to the hostel. The hostel was nice, but they could only offer me two nights - this didn´t bother me, because somehow I wanted to continue and not spend too much time in Mendoza. So I went out to the main plaza at night and I have to say, I really felt like "being at home". The Argentinian culture is different - everyone went out to the plaza at night, talking, laughing, having fun, sharing a mate, ... I really enjoyed this.
The next day I went to explore the city, which is quite nice, but also quite hot :-) No wonder, because it´s a city within the "desert". But therefore, they have "water-rills" all over town and the town itself is very green with lots of trees (and therefore thanks god lots of shade ;-). I made an excursion to "Difunta Correa", this is some kind of shrine for a local "saint". The history has it, that she followed her husband through the dessert,
while he was fighting at an war. Finally she died in the dessert and they found the baby alive still drinking from her breast ... It´s an interesting place, full of "temples" and "thanks-tags" all over.
The next day I continued to Valle de la luna (the moon-valley). Although it´s a little bit "difficult" to reach via San Augustin del Valle Fértil, it´s really worth the journey! The landscape is stunning and the tour to there really great. We spent some hours visiting the valley and some places are really "spooky". For example the place with all the small "stone-balls" laying at the ground and at this place there´s also an absolute silence - you don´t hear anything! It´s already almost oppressive! I met a couple from Switzerland and a French guy there and we made the tour together. Now where I already can understand some Spanish and have met lot´s of French I even begin to understand parts of the conversation, when they speak French with each other - funny :-)
After that beautiful experience, I continued on a "rally" through Rioja y Catamarca till Tucuman. "Rally", because I didn´t want to stay at the first two
Mendoza 3
View from the townhall towns, because I didn´t find things that to do, that caught my attention there. But I visited the towns and spent some hours at each. As you can tell by the photos, they are quite nice. I was very tired, because the bus from San Augustin left there very early (I guess at about 3 or 4 in the morning) and it was just a simple bus, without any comfort, so I couldn´t sleep. In the bus from Rioja to Catamarca I was so tired, that I fell a sleep. There have not been many people in the bus (about 5) and I was sitting next to the window, having my small bag at the seat next to me. There was one man sitting on the other side of the gangway, also at the window of his side.
While I was sleeping, I suddenly felt a light touch at my shoulder, but I was so tired, that I just thought "no, I don´t want - let me sleep". But a few seconds after, I felt again something gently touching me, so I thought this is suspicious and opened my eyes, just to see, that the men at the other
Mendoza 4
Watering-rills are all over town - it's more or less a green-spot within a desert. side of the bus had changed his seat and was now sitting next to the gangway and that my bag was turned from the position I left it in such a way, that it now faced him. He also was holding on to the hand-rest of the seat at my side of the bus (suspiciously close to my bag). This little thief was really trying to get into my bag, whilst I was sleeping! Now I also remembered, that when I sat down, I was taking off my digital-camera from my waist-belt and putted it into my bag and whilst doing this I realized, that the man on the other side was watching me. So I quickly grabbed my bag and checked all the contents and luckily there was still everything inside. The man on the other side of the bus acted as if he would not have recognized anything jawed and stretched his arms, like a very suspicious "excuse" for why he had his hand on my side of the bus ... I putted the bag on the floor to my feet and stepped with my feet on it and slept again - I would for sure recognize, if
he tries to access the bag once again, but he didn´t.
Shortly before we arrived at the bus-terminal, the man stood up and went to the front-door of the bus, as if leaving. But then made a gesture like "oh, I´ve been mistaken" and returned to his seat - also suspicious, so I decided to be more careful. When the bus finally stopped, I did let the other people get off the bus first, but "surprisingly" the man now had all the time and didn´t show any sign of getting of the bus. But when I finally stood up, he immediately stood up too and was leaving right behind me - so I took my bag in front of me, instead of on my back, because I didn´t want to give him any chance to try to rob me again. What an Idiot - he must have realized, that I had realized his attempt to rob me, but still he was trying. So I left the bus and went to receive my big back-bag, when I realized, that the guy was following me - that was very strange, because I saw him entering the bus and I knew, that
he didn´t have any luggage! I was thinking "He won´t be that dumb and try to rob me again (third attempt)?", but while I was thinking this, I realized, that he stood very close behind me (and there was no need to do so, because there was plenty of space and almost no other people) and when I was looking down to the pockets of my trousers, thinking "No, he can´t be that dumb", I saw his hand trying to "enter" in my pocket! What an absolutely unscrupulous and dumb person! So I turned around quickly and pushed him away from way shouting an angry "por favor!" at him. He immediately turned away and started running like hell ... Such a big idiot - anyway it would have been the wrong pocket, at the side he tried to get anything I just "store" the city-map :-) This was my first experience, since I´m in Southamerica, that someone tried to rob me and it was an big idiot, not really skilled - thanks to god ...
Finally I arrived in Tucuman, where I did find a nice hostel and went out to see the town and in the evening to
meet up with an Couchsurfer. Very friendly from her, because she was going to leave the city for a journey in a few hours and so she came already with her back-bag to the meeting, to show me round a little bit and left after eating directly to take the bus. She also connected me to other Couchsurfers and gave me the details of an pub, where the Couchsurfers will meet tonight and one of them will sing with her band. I went there and it was a really nice evening. The band was good and I met lots of Couchsurfers from Tucuman (and all over the world ;-) and it was great fun talking to them. They continued to a club later on, but I was too tired to come with them, so I went to the hostel to get some sleep.
The next day I left Tucuman to go to Tafi del Valle, a very nice small village within the mountains with a lovely countryside. I ended up at an nice hostel and met an Argentinian Couchsurfer there with whom it was very nice to talk and visit the village. One day I made an excursion to
the Ruins of Quilmes. The public transportation isn´t that good, so I had to take a bus early in the morning and tell the bus-driver, that he will let me get off at an junction, from where I will have to walk the last 3-5 kilometres in the burning heat. There did pass by a few cars, so I tried my luck with hitch-hiking and after a few attempts I succeeded and a young couple of a French girl and an guy from the US, both studying in Buenos Aires, took me with them. They´ve been very nice, so we visited the very interesting ruins of Quilmes together. The story of the ruins was really interesting and they still make up for an imposing impression. Very sad the history, that when they finally have been besieged, all have been walking thousands of kilometers to Buenos Aires (leaving many of them dead on the way) and there´s still today a district of Buenos Aires named for them - Quilmes - the place where they´ve been brought to and forced to life from then on. Luckily the couple was going to Tucuman this day and Tafi del Valle was on the same
way, so I could go back with them by car, much more faster and didn´t have to wait for hours for the evening-bus passing by to get back to my hostel. We went to have dinner on the way and at the end even gave a lift to an old farmer, we met on the way. Those two really have been very nice and surprise, surprise: Also members of Couchsurfing! :-)
Finally I continued to Cafayate to meet a good friend there - Pablo from Buenos Aires. I´ve met him at an Hostel in Uruguay and then stayed at his home in Buenos Aires for 3 weeks. Now we met again to spend some holidays together in the north of Argentina and enjoy the beautiful countryside together. We stayed at a nice hostel and met lots of nice people, so immediately it formed a group and we went to do things together. Once we went to an wine-tour - obligatory, when you stay in Cafayate :-) And it was really interesting and lots of fun. The other day we made the tour to the Quebrada de Cafayate - this was really astonishing! This are different stone-formations at gorges and
the colours and formations are just impressing - look at the photos, there are just no words to describe the beauty!
It was great fun, travelling with an "old" friend and we continued to Catchi together and also Carola (a very friendly girl from Germany) joined us - but this again is another story ...
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Avi Mastov
non-member comment
Quilmes
Poor people of Quilmes :-( Now I know why that beer tastes so bad. It makes you sympathise with their suffering.