Culture shock in Argentina

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After a fairly trouble free stopover in Santiago, I hopped onto a bus to Mendoza. The bus went over the Andes and offered some decent views though not as amazing as I've read in some places (maybe I'm a little spoilt now).

Mendoza and Argentina is a world apart from Peru. Peru was what I imagined South America to be like - poor, dirty and dangerous (though not as much as the Lonely Planet makes out); Mendoza could be in Spain, the people (or at least some of the people) look European, the streets are cleaner, the town is more organised, the cars are more modern, in fact everything is more modern, it's like returning back to Europe! It's not necessarily a bad thing, it's nice to be able to rely on certain things again, for example I can now drink the tap water, but somehow I now feel less adventurous.

Mendoza is a famous wine-making region and there are also some nice trekking around the nearby mountains. Having done a lot of hiking in Peru and only just finished the Inca Trail a few days ago, I was a bit "hiked out", so I opted for a wine tasting tour even though I'm not much of a wine fan - I thought at least I'd see some nice countryside. That turned out to be a bit of wishful thinking, the day consisted of cycling down busy streets, past cars and buses, lined with buildings. Still, it was fairly interesting to learn of how the wines were made, even in a small region there are large differences, from the small boutique vineyards to the mass producers.

Being short on time (I'm going home in little more than three weeks), I decided to move on after two days and head to Salta in the North West.

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Photos

The death road
From Santiago to Mendoza, over the Andes.