http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from South America , Argentina , San Juan en-us Sat, 26 Jul 2008 08:01:40 BST Sat, 26 Jul 2008 08:01:40 BST After dozing for three quarters of the journey to San Agustin I woke up to find a landscape of rocky hills with a light covering of trees and a welcome appearance of cacti. There was an unexpected selection of accommodation touts at the bus station in San Agustin but I was soon in a pleasant pension that was half the price of anywhere else I've stayed in the country.San Agustin definitely warr http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/San-Agustin-del-Valle-Fertil/blog-296721.html Next stop after San Juan was a night in a tiny town called San Agustin de la Valle Fertil where we headed to access the Parque Provincial Ischigualasto also known as the Valley of the Moon. The Park is known for its weird and wonderful moonlike rock formations bleak moonlike appearance moonlike lack of vegetation not much except for a few crazy prickly desert plants and especially th http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/Ischigualasto/blog-296225.html Two and a half hours of travel on a virtually empty bus got me to San Juan a sunny city of broad streets and finally shops with flipflops. Though this was really only a waypoint on the route to the national parks further northeast I figured I'd stay a night in the hope of catching up on some sleep. The area is supposedly on a faultline with as much potential for a Big One as California bu http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/San-Juan/blog-294859.html Jen Hi guys. At the last update we were in Mendoza. Mendoza is a really cool city. I liked it much better than buenos aries maybe because its smaller and more relaxed maybe because its built with large squares to be earthquake proof or maybe its just the wine On the first day there we just had abit of a chill out session wandering around the city we checked out some art galleries and t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/blog-280515.html Mendoza Argentina Mendoza contains many famous internationally recognised vineyards and wine producers. So what do you do in wine country You take a wine tour. We took an afternoon wine tour to 2 bodegas wineries including the Bodega La Rural Winery and Don Arturo winery and an olive oil facility called Pasrai. The La Rural Winery has a museum which displays machinery carriages presses ant http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/Ischigualasto/blog-270210.html After our stay in Santiago we caught a night bus to Mendoza ARG. Big mistake. At 3 in the morning we had to cross the boarder which ment waking up and having our passports stamped and our bags checked. This took quite awhile. We arrived in Mendoza around 8am caught another bus San Juan. Got there in the afternoon grabbed another bus to San Agustin. This is a very small town with nothing going http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/San-Agustin-del-Valle-Fertil/blog-254433.html From Malargue we headed back to San Rafael spotting the cosmic ray detector tanks along the way and detouring by the very scenic Caon Atuel. Tthen after a quick lunch hit the road to get to Tupungato for the night. This is about 60km south of Mendoza where we actually wanted to go but as it was the big harvest festivalvendimia weekend there was nowhere to stay..Anyway we were happily bowl http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/Barreal/blog-253785.html Fully laden with food snacks fuel and water we set off early from Mendoza bound once again for Uspallata. No we havent gone mad Uspallata forms a natural crossroads where the road from Chile meets the two routes to Mendoza and the road northwards towards San Juan and beyond. Previously we had taken the fastest route to Mendoza and now we were returning to Uspallata along the isolated and http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/San-Juan/blog-253050.html What I first took for broken glass buried in the dusty road turned out to be mica loads of it. In the unrelenting midday sun in this small town the dirt streets sparkle as though littered with jem stones. Its sunday and many kids are outside. I can hear them now while sitting in this room which lets out into the street typing at the computer. When I went for a walk earliers I saw girl http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/San-Agustin-del-Valle-Fertil/blog-216871.html One large awakening of the imagination for womankind. Valle de la Luna or the valley of the Moon is a desert. I have never seen a place like this up until now. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/Ischigualasto/blog-216865.html Ill admit Im having quite a few language difficulties here. Its my fault but what else am I supposed to do I just got wallow through the difficulties and try to learn something. I guess Im really writing to vent some feelings... I had such a frustrating day on this account At first I was very happy to be in San Juan. The streets are cute the city is clean... whatever. I am only paying http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/blog-216430.html 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 followe http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/blog-202910.html Hallo Ihr Lieben daheim im warmen Europa Wie versprochen melden wir uns von unserem naechsten Stop in Argentinien Nach Mendoza und dem nicht so erfolgreichen Trip zum Aconcagua wie wir berichtet haben haben wir uns auf den Weg nach San Juan und dem ldquoParque Provincial Ischigualastordquo auch bekannt als Valle de Luna Mondtal gemacht Die Fahrt mit dem Bus war fuer a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/blog-182865.html WEEK 11 THE DESERTOur bus from San Juan to San Augustin de Valle Fertil was delayed as a metal strip from the bus twisted and shredded an inner back tyre. We limped and rumbled along to a 'gomeria' wonderful term where the tyre was replaced . Fortunately we were only a few miles from San Juan we could have been in the middle of the desert on our 4 hours journey north. This is the first brea http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/Ischigualasto/blog-132097.html WEEK 10A short bus journey for 2 hours from Mendoza to San Juan.Much of Argentina is uninhabitable because of the the arid desert conditions in the lee of the Andes. Towns only exist where water is available and where land can be irrigated. Towns are located many hours apart with only occasional small settlements in between. As a result national bus lines only run between large towns and local bu http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/blog-130197.html So we left Uyuni and headed towards Chile using the scenic route so we would be able to see a lot more dramatic scenery. The drive would take two days taking in two lakes and the atacama desert at its best. We left Uyuni a little later than intended as we were promised hot water in the morning and it never came luckily Vicky and I had an shower the night before but for those who hadn't a pyjama p http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/blog-121905.html The highlights of a weekend in the province of San Juan with Ral his Spanish workmate and a local guidedriver in no particular order... LA DIFUNTA CORREA SHRINE SAN JUAN PROVINCE Photos at least mine do not do this place justice. The name translates as The Deceased Correa Correa being a surname. Originally a small shrine devoted to a popular semipagan mythical figure it has grown int http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/blog-116266.html What could be a better way of escaping the winter snow than a trip to Argentina I did not realize just how big Argentina really is and since it is spread out north to south you can pretty much pick your climate.First stop was BA busy streets clean sidewalks the atmosphere is Europe only cheaper. McDonalds is promently featured at the Plaza de Mayo but everywhere else are sidewalk cafe's http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/blog-115552.html After four days in Mendoza sitting in Parks drinking red wine and sampling various of the citys fantastic icecream parlours I felt like I was in danger of never leaving. I knew I had to leave but not before one last Argentinian Steak Two girls from Sydney and new York respectively had the same idea and so we jeaded to a really nice restaurant for the obligatory mammoth steak and red wine. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/Ischigualasto/blog-105671.html In the 1840s a civil war raged in Argentina the porteos against the interior of the country. One woman named Deolina Correa set out with her infant baby and supplies to follow her sick husband serving as a soldier in the war. After her food and water ran dry she soon collapsed in the desert dead. When were body was found those there were astonished to find that her infant baby was still a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/Difunta-Correa/blog-99338.html La Rioja though dull by day turned out to be more interesting by night. By then wed settled down in the store room that the hotel owner had set up for us to use and temporarily settled our stomachs with some rather dubious yellow candyfoss from an enthusiastic and talkative street vendor. We coped with this by adopting the standard British approach when confronted with an excitable person firs http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/Ischigualasto/blog-75518.html Caught the bus from San Juan striaght to Valle Fertile to await the others before doing the tour. A wee mix up and the others headed to Salta to wait for us. So we spent the first day in the only 1 of 2 restaurants in the village. After drinking a few beers we decide to order food to find everything we want is not available and although they did show us a big menu they in fact only have one cho http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/Ischigualasto/blog-64992.html Left Mendoza with Bo Max and Lorna to head for Valle Fertil the Fertile Valley which is just north of San Juan. The others were due to meet up with us in San Juan but they ended up going straight to Salta instead after being too drunk after the paragliding to understand the plan. We went straight to Valle Fertil and found the cheapest hostel ever at only 8 pesos a night it turned out it was o http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/Ischigualasto/blog-63243.html Voyage jusqu' San Juan et premier rel dsert argentin cool.. jusqu'a ce que l'autobus tombe en panne et reste sur place au milieu de nul part pendant 10 heures.. rsultat je n'ai pas pu aller directement San Agustin et je fut oblig de dormir San Juan.Mais voil que l'auberge est merveilleuse et il y a une excursion jusqu'a la Valle de la Luna disponible partir de San Juan en plus il y http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/blog-60952.html We spent a couple of days in Mendosa the main wine growing region in the country. We enjoyed tasting wine at a few of the Bodigas around Mendosa as well as time spent strolling in the park. Unfortunately whilst in an internet cafe our small rucksack was stolen with two cameras and Angus' passport. Don't worry we still have one camera to entertain you with photos. We did get to have a ride in a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/blog-51404.html Leaving the twisty roads of the Andes crossing behind we arrived at San Juan back in Argentina.Having chosen a hotel within walking distance of the bus station we decided to give a taxi a miss and started to make our way there only to find the city's prostitutes as soon as we turned the corner lining the street behind the station. Bit of a shock as we thought we may have just wandered into a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/Ischigualasto/blog-40030.html Have just returned from a twoday tour to a couple of UNESCO National parks north of Mendoza. The hostel Im staying at in San Juan organised it for me through a local tour company but since there arent very many tourists around here at the moment there were only three of us on the trip. The other two were a lovely Belgian Flemish couple but the driver was quite unpleasant which put a slight da http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/blog-29724.html Oh my god theres a knock at the door Its only 7am but today we are going to Talampaya Park north of Valle de la Luna. We have been told it is equally as good but totally different with regards to scenery.After our long and bumpy bus ride we arrived at our destination in the scorching desert heat. We were told that the best and cheapest way to see the park was by mountain bike15 pesos3 quid http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/San-Agustin-del-Valle-Fertil/blog-23180.html Everyone has left the hostel We are all aloneYesterday we just relaxed and chilled by the lake and of course went for a walk. This place is red hot its not rained for 7 years hence its the desert. This is beginning to be a problem for the locals the river is dry yet they still hose their little bit of grass and pathsWe are still here because we are waiting for more people to come so we can http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/San-Agustin-del-Valle-Fertil/blog-22747.html San Augustin is in the middle of no where again. Its landscape is very dry desert with mountains. We like it its very friendly. On the coach we went through all the little mountain villages and they live very poorly here the houses ae not much more than huts.We woke up nice and refreshed so we hired 2 bikes from the hostel Campo Base. We were told to go to a little village called La Madajit http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/San-Agustin-del-Valle-Fertil/blog-22365.html