A walk in the park

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I peeled myself off of my sheets early this morning and went to shower. It was unbearably hot last night, too hot to get a good nights sleep anyway as the ceiling fan didn't really have much effect in my little corner of the room. I was also plagued by the noise of the late night traffic and the weekend revellers as my dorm overlooked the main road. Feeling a little more refreshed I headed downstairs in search of a cup of coffee and something to eat. I was obviously the first person up this morning as the hostel resembled the Mari Celeste and as I walked through to the common room I found a pot of coffee and a pot of hot water on the counter, next to some apples and coconut biscuits. I chuckled to myself and was hugely thankful for the steak that I had bought last night, as an apple and some biscuits just wouldn't cut it.

Once my stomach was satisfied it was time to wander into town and do some sight seeing. Although I had read that there wasn't that much to do within Mendoza itself, I did want to see the city and what few sights it did have. My first priority however, was to guarantee that I had my transport and accommodation for the rest of the trip sorted. I had got confirmation through from Green Toads Buses that my trip was ok, but I was yet to pay for it and still needed to book a couple of hostels before I could relax. Thankfully it didn't take very long and I was soon on my way to San Martin park.

I strolled through the city, taking in more of Plaza Independencia and the smaller Plaza's that surrounded it. Everywhere I walked there seemed to be another oasis of greenery, whether it was overlooked by shops or by apartment buildings. All of them were in very different states of repair, with varying degrees and qualities of graffiti which in some cases added to the charm of the small parks. As I walked up Aristides Villanueva, filled mainly with restaurants, bars and the odd hostel, I began to get a bit peckish. I stopped at a small cafe and grabbed a coffee and a slice of lemon meringue pie to take with me to the park.

The buildings that overlooked the park were almost entirely houses. Many of them looked very European in design with the odd one resembling a more modern version of a hacienda. There was a small river between the pavement and the houses, over which many had built entrances to the garage; this was clearly the money end of town. Once I had reached the park I found a quiet spot in the shade of a tree and sat down to escape the rising heat. My lemon meringue pie was delightful, more chewy than crunchy, but the base was amazingly creamy! I whiled away almost two hours just relaxing and enjoying my coffee whilst I blogged.

Feeling energised I went into the San Martin Park information point to grab a map. My Spanish had clearly started to improve as I was able to not only ask for a map but also ask how far things were as well as how long it would take to walk. Feeling rather pleased with myself I began the five kilometre walk to Cerro de la Gloria , the highest point within Mendoza. It was a gloriously sunny day with hardly a cloud in the sky. It wasn't as warm as it had been when I arrived yesterday, but it was warm enough to force me to take my top off while I walked. The park seemed to be a lot busier than the city not only filled with people out running and families enjoying the long weekend but also with cars and taxis.

My walk up the long dirt trail took me past some of the larger open areas of the park as well as taking in the veledrome and the zoo. I could see some of the animals as I passed the zoo to get to the base of Cerro de la Gloria, and although they didn't look malnourished the enclosures did look massively over crowded. Not wanting to waste time on an attraction I could see anywhere in the world I headed straight up the path to the hill to the top of the hill. It was a fairly steep, concreted path that wound it's way up the side of the hill, with a spectacular view at each turn. As I got to the top there was an amazing view over the western side of Mendoza with the Andes in the distance. Sadly the view over the city was obscured by a line of trees and the hill was a little too steep for even my nimble legs, to get a decent picture.

Eventually I reached a road that lead to the the San Martin monument. It was adorned with plaques from various organisations and people with the city. I continued the walk up the steps with put me at nine-hundred-and-eigthy metres above sea level and was greeted by a huge monument depicting scenes from General San Martins army of the Andes and their war of independence against the Spanish. It was quite something to look as I took my many touristy photos.

With time drawing on I made my way back down the hill and jumped into a taxi back to the park entrance. My feet were aching from having done such a lot of walking, and picking my vibrams to do it in probably wasn't the wisest move. Once back at the entrance I walked down to the Fountain of Continents to get a few snaps and take in a little more of the park.

Hungry and tired I made my way back to the hostel and grab a bite to eat. I had seen a lot of fast food franchises around the city called 'Mr Dog' who clearly specialised in hotdogs. Not being picky about what I ate and wanting to try the local food, I decided to venture in. Fortunately I got a glimpse of the kitchen and did a quick u-turn so as to forego any chance of an upset stomach. I continued down Avenue San Martin and came across an alternative hot dog joint called 'Manso Pancho'. I was still ravenous and knowing full well that the supermarket was likely to be closed given it was Sunday, I decided to risk it. From what I could see Manso Pancho was far cleaner and the staff better turned out than Mr Dog had been. I skimmed the menu until I found something that looked familiar and ordered a 'Super Pancho' with a litre bottle of Andes beer. I was soon presented with a footlong hotdog bun containing not one, but two hot dogs, two slices of ham and melted cheese. The girl serving could obviously tell I needed feeding so piled it high with salsa, olives, onions, sauce and what can only be described as broken up bits of McCoys crisps on top. I didn't really know where to start, to say it was huge was an understatement, never mind having a litre of beer to try and finish as well!

Having managed to finish my mammoth meal I waddled back to the hostel with my beer in hand to relax and spend my evening catching up on blogs until my eyes simply couldn't stay open any longer.

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