Attack of the busses!

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HI everyone, sorry it has been so long, kinda got a little slack...oopsy daisy! So where we left off last time.......

James and I on our last day in San Pedro decided it would be a great idea to sign up for the local sandboarding tour, and then to the Valley of the Moon. Yes the same name as the one in La Paz, apparently south america highly mimics the moon surface, as I am sure space travel is a common occurence down here. In fact just the other day I heard someone saying "Beam me up Scotty" but that´s neither here nor there. Anyways so as we went driving through the sand, yes through the sand in our amazing toyota van (which i am pretty sure had gold shag carpet on the dashboard) we finally arrived at the said hill. Well I kid you not it is the biggest sand dune hill I have ever seen, and to top it off, looked like it had a slope of a decent black diamond. So as the driver is giving out the boards, James naturally remembers that he is a goofy boarder, and I was pretty sure I was regular. So here we go, trekking up this hill, because there are no chair lifts, or quads to pull you up. We finally reach the top and take a candle to wax up our boards, and then comes the moment of truth......I have not snowboarded in about 5 years! So there goes James carving down the hill like its no ones business, and here I go falling a couple of times, and finding that the ride feels well frankly awkward! A couple of more passes and I realize this maybe I am not actually regular maybe I am goofy myself. James being the hero of the day then leant me his board, and with no problem at all I made it down the hill even with some turns. James then flipped my bindings back over (to where they were originally placed) and off I went. James obviously going down the steeper longer side, myself sticking to what I would refer to as the bunny hill! But when it was all said and done, I did make it down the big kid hill, and didn´t fall once, and got some turns it. Pretty proud of myself not going to lie. But I will say sand is A LOT slower than snow is and if you turn to much you end up stuck in the middle of the hill. James´rides were a lot better than mine naturally and was gtting the crowd to whistle and clap their hands at his natural abilities. Further and further he climbed up the hill always pushing the envelope, but the best was when he was boarding down the fact that he flipped his hat around and still curved all the way down. Good times.......

Anyways following this we hopped back into the shag van and carried on to some salt caves, and to the valley of the moonm, which is in fact this massive crater in the desert surround by volcanoes, and such. Got to see the sun go down here, pretty killer views really. We made it back for our typical late dinner (as they do in south america) at around 9. Most ppl eat dinner around 930 to 1130 ish. Takes a bit getting used to, as does Siesta central, BIG thing in Argentina!

The next day we boarded our bus to Salta, Argentina. And let me just say what a difference between these busses and the ones experienced in Peru, and more specifically Bolivia. It was quite refreshinhg being on a paved road, without bags falling on your heads, and without waking up to your shoes being in the aisle 5 rows back. The bus was supposed to take 12 hours and arrive at 1030pm but the next thing you know I am seeing a road sign that says Salta 115km, and it is only 730pm. It was the greatest sign one can ever see, except of course free clean banos with toilet paper! That probably beats that one, but i have yet to find that! Anyways arriving into Salta we checked into our hostel, and then Dave, Tina, James and I went out for our first Argentina steak dinner. We were not disappointed. One steak between two ppl, side order of what we thought we mashed potatoes but turned out to be fries (which is what they pair their steaks with here) and a few bottles of Malbec later, we had all forgotten about the bus, and the sometimes crappy food that Bolivia and Peru had to offer.

November 3, my birthday! YAY, so we slept in this morning and then decided to do the typical sightseeing around Salta. We walked into the main square, looked in another cathedral, and then went for a nice lunch before siesta set in. Seriously it seems like everything closes at siesta, and I don´t blame ppl cause it is soooo hot during that time you can´t even function! Anyways the one thing that didn´t shut down was the gondola up to the top of the local mountain, where you get some killer views of all Salta. Upon reaching the top there is the gorgeous manmade waterfall, that spouts everywhere to which you can relax by and cool off from the nice breeze. Salta is a very big contrast to the dry desert of San Pedro, in that it is very green, trees everywhere, and in some bits looks a little "rainforresty". James and I then went and had a nice bottle of red wine, and lounged by the pool for the rest of the afternoon until dinner time. We stayed at the hostel that night for dinner, because the hostel was putting on an Argentinian Parilla BBQ, with all you can eat meat, salad and of course wine (wine that was really good and costs $1 CAD). This meal started around 10 and was still busy well past midnight, all around great birthday couldn´t have had more fun.

Following day, we explored a bit more around town, got our tickets organized for mendoza the next day and just relaxed, as i had a bit of a headache this one. Not too much happened today, and then the next day we got ready to board the dreaded 17 hour bus ride to Mendoza!

17hours on a bus, wasn´t as bad as i thought it would be. Actually it went surprisingly fast, that being said we left in the late afternoon, and got to enjoy the comforts of leather business class chairs, which reclined almost flat, with feet rests. The only problem on this bus is that we got into a bit of a storm and for an area already muggy and with malaria rid mosquitos it turned the already humid bus into a tropical rainforest! Slightly gross, but we got to have dinner watched a movie, and after that I took a nice gravol and went off to sleep. Waking up the next morning i was excited because the clock said 830, adn we were to arrive in Mendoza at 9..........wellllllllll I knew it was bad when we reached one stop and it wasn´t ours and then they put on a two hour movie.......so needless to say the said 17 hours turned into 19. Hooray!

Arriving into mendoza was similar to San Pedro, but not quite as dry, and with nice vineyards all around. Absolutely gorgeous. We checked into our hostel, which we researched had a pool, and absolute must here. And then went for a stroll downtown, got some good old McDonalds, yummy and then headed back towards the hostel in lookout for a grocery store. Well siesta time it was and so the store was closed. No matter, James and I knew of another apparent grocery store just a few blocks up from our hostel. Well a few turned into about 20, at 4pm, and low and behold we end up at a SUPER WALMART! James and I both HATE WALMART at the best of times, and then things are done extra slow in South America, so you can imagine by the time we got out of there and back to the hostel it was about 6 and we both were exhausted. Anyways we had dinner, and got to bed early that night because the next day we were going on a wine biking tour.

Pickup was at 1030, supposed to be 930 but again Argentina time! We arrived at the first winery just before 11, and then the drinking began. followed by a short bus ride to the unloading point of the bikes, and off we peddled down the road to the next winery. Where we got more tastings and then lunch followed by a big glass of wine. So far we have tried 4 kinds of wine, had one full glass, and let me assure you the way the pour tasting wine is a lot more generous then back home. So we climbed on our bikes, and without helmets continued on, where we stopped at a local Olive oil factory, pretty cool, got to have sundried tomatoes and bread and of course olive oil, and then BACK ON THE BIKES! Where we reached our last winery and where we got to sample 4 wines, one being a dessert wine. Thankfully the bike riding aspect was over after this, but the scenery was amazing, and you could really appreciate the views, with Aconcagua in the background. Next we staggered onto the bus, and then got taken to a chocolate and licquers factory, where james had some absinthe and i had some chocolate almond drink. Needless to say by the time we reached the hostel, we had had a great day. But did it stop there oh no. later that night we went out for a steak dinner, where we polished off a bottle, and where we made the mistake of ordering two entrees. Well when the steaks came out I kid you not they looked like roasts beef in size. They were huge! We definately had left overs last night.

Today we slept in, bought our tickets for Santiago, went for a walk downtown to the Spanish, Italian, and Independence plazas, and then came back to eat lunch and lounge by the pool. Tomorrow we are arranging to go white water rafting in the mountains, and then on Monday off to Santiago, where we will be staying with one of my brothers friends who lives there.

Hope all is well with everyone at home! Sorry it was such a long one, I am sure you have skim read the whole thing! Moral of the story is we are having fun, and being safe. Talk to everyone soon

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Comments

[Steph]

What a great trip!
I'm so glad you guys are having a great time! I'm quite jealous!haha. Your seeing sooo much cool stuff, although busses seem alittle sketchy but you've made it!... well Erin, KGH is a blast.....as always :( Can't wait to see pictures. Talk to y'all soon!