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Published: February 5th 2010
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Mendoza
Puente del Inca - natural sulfur bridge formerly used for wellness treatments until an earthquake destroyed the nearby fascilities in 1995. Our stay in Mendoza was short and the tours were not so sweet. We arrived via the overnight bus from Cordoba at approx. 8:30am. The ride was decent enough and we were once again happy to find the hostel we booked to be ready and waiting. We did arrive however to be surprised by the fact that the hostel we were staying in was a ¨youth¨ hostel, thus making us feel a little old and awkward. Fortunately, other than the party atmosphere kicking in with loud music at 8am and lasting til after midnight, we didn´t feel too out of place - there were actually people older than us staying there too 😊
We were disappointed to find the tours offered were not as diverse or optimal as we expected. There was no rock climbing that we saw advertised (despite the city being located amidst a large region of mountains), and the rafting was not highly recommended due to the low water and minimal rapids. We decided to go on what we thought was a full day of trekking through the High Andes, despite the cost of $25 USD/person. We were quite disappointed when, first the bus was almost an
Mendoza
The hostel we stayed in... notice something off? hour late picking us up. Then, the English-speaking tour guide did not show up and we were not given the chance to reschedule our tour or obtain a refund. Only then to discover that it was not at all a day of trekking - it was a bus tour (or I should say a bus ride) through the mountains (the guide did not speak a word of English), with only a short 400m walk through the ´Parque Provincial Aconcagua,´ which we had to pay the entrance fee to. We did however stop to see the sulphur bridge at ´Puente del Inca´ which was interesting but they no longer let you get anywhere near it or the church behind it. They also didn´t stop for lunch until 5pm and finally returned us to the hostel at 9:15pm (13 hours after our morning departure and 3 hours late). We were not the only ones who were upset by the waste of money so we complained along with 2 Americans and were surprised to actually get some sort of results - the company offered an AR.20/person discount off the 1/2 day wine tour for the next day...
We should have known better
than to go through the tour company again. The bus was of course late picking us up but only by 40 minutes this time. While we were taken to 2 different wineries as well as an extra virgin olive oil factory, the tours were rushed and we were herded around with far too many people to make it enjoyable. Also, the wineries were exceptionally stingy when it came to the tasting which was (of course) a disappointment. Overall, the tour was overpriced even with the discount - should have rented bicycles and done it on our own as recommended by others who had done it that way.
Next we are heading to Valparaiso, Chile and hope the border crossing won´t be too terrible - we have spoken to a few people who experienced up to 7 hour waits, full bus searches and reciprocity fees costing upwards of $140 USD. We have searched the internet and haven´t been able to get a definitive answer as to whether Canadians need to pay if arriving by land. We´ll hope for the best...
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steve
non-member comment
looks awesome
Hey guys all good still? Looks like you guys are having a lot of fun. Are those donkeys you are on or horses? Stay safe and have fun!