Sleepy San Rafael

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With Lauren´s arrival to Mendoza we made some plans to visit San Rafael, a town three hours from Mendoza. We caught the 10.15 bus from Mendoza and soon arrived into the town. After finding a hostel to stay in, we tried to find our way. Fortunately a kind man who worked at the cinema walked us to the right place as we really weren´t having much luck.

The hostel was great, with a BBQ and patio area. We even had our own room, a complete luxury when you´re travelling! After leaving our bags in the room we headed off to explore.

The town was deserted and we soon found out it was a public holiday in Argentina. Nobody had told us! We found one of the few cafes open, grabbed some lunch and then continued to explore and admire the closed shops.

However, we did have fun at a very exciting railway museum (!) and in a shop that sold homemade goods. The homemade goods consisted of bags and corks with San Rafael scrawled in black marker pen across the top. Quite hilarious! And lucky for you, I didn´t buy any of these as gifts! Somehow we managed to fill the day with eating ice cream, looking at handbags and lazing in the different squares. We spent the evening on the patio chatting and of course drinking our Organic wine from Mendoza.

The next day, we found out (using our best Spanish) from the hostel guy that we could grab a bus to Valle Grande, renowned for a beautiful lake and river. We had planned to see an amazing Laguna Diamante whilst we were here but unfortunately March is classified as Winter here (despite it being 30oC) and so the roads heading to the laguna were closed due to ice (!). Mmmm.

Anyway, we were more than happy to jump on a bus early the morning and find ourselves in beautiful countryside. I have to admit, we didn´t quite know where we were going but it worked out well. We found a tour group offering three activites for a very reasonable price so chose white water rafting, canopying (zipping on ropes through trees) and a relaxing canoe to the beach to end with.

The white water rafting was great. Very relaxing with just a few mild rapids to make us scream. We rafted for about 2 hours wearing some amazing waterproof trousers. I wish I could have bought a pair home.

Unfortunately, towards the end of the rafting a huge storm started so we weren´t able to complete the other activities. We also had three hours to kill until the bus arrived to take us back but after chatting to the owner of a restaurant, she kindly offered to take us home. It was a shame but Lauren and I plan to meet up later so hopefully we´ll get a chance to do the other acitivies some place else.

We cooked a great meal (if I do say so myself) at the hostel and we grabbed an early night to catch our 8am bus back to Mendoza the next day. After arriving at Mendoza, I had another hour to wait until I caught another bus to Salta, 20 hours north of Mendoza, where I plan to do another week of school. Which is where I leave you now......

Hope everyone is well. xxx

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Photos

Valle Grande
Where we were supposed to canoe to the beach

Emergency assistance...
with a flat tyre