Don´t Cry For Me Argentina 15 - 21 August (Mendoza, Tucuman, Salta, Corrientes)

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Boarder crossing between Santiago (Chile) and Argentina - I may have been naive but I didn"t realise we"d be passing right through the Andes to get there. Was having a nice snooze, then opened my eyes to see a massive snow-covered mountain out the window! Our bus and loads of other buses and heavy transports, laboriously wound and zig-zagged their way up the steep mountainside.

The customs and boarder control of both countries is actually located in what looks like a large shed perched right in the middle of the montain range. At least when we all lined up to be processed we were under cover, because it was extremely cold. The Chilean personnel processed my passport with a grunt. On the other hand, when I presented at the Argentinian control, both the man and woman behind the counter were busy singing a repertoir of some popular song and greeted me with big smiles. I also got a "bye, bye" when they were finished with me. First impressions definately do count - if these guys were so happy in their little cold office then their country must be pretty good, right?

Mendoza - I arrived at Mendoza about 9pm at night (will have to stop doing this). Very stragely I couldn"t find a taxi to take me to the hostel I had selected - maybe I"d spent too much time getting some money and they"d all taken off. Luckily the Hostelling International courtesy pickup car was just leaving so I went with them, even though i"m not really impressed with HI. Apart from a couple of breakdowns along the way (the van looked like something was about to fall off), we made it there in one piece. I paid too much for a double room (no singles available), but didn"t care cos I was tired.

I ventured out to find a milkbar as there was no-where left open to eat except potentially expensive restaurants. Near to the hostel on the main street I came across a very weird mini-market. There was not much to buy in there as all, at least that wasn"t suspect or past use-by date, but there were literally hundreds of eyes watching me, which is a bit unnerving at night. The owner is a taxidermist and has decorated his small shop with heaps of stuffed animals, reptiles and god knows what else. He has a newpaper article about himself proudly pasted up near the cash register....

(Addendum to this story is that the next day I went there again to ask the kind man if I could take some photos of his animal kingdom. The first thing I saw was one of his henchmen kneeling on the ground, hastily trying to scrub a pool of blood off the floor! The first thing came to mind was that some macabre animal gutting & stuffing exercise had been going on in the middle of the store. Second thought was that the guy had been stocking the shelves and had probably spilt some Red Bull or rasberry cordial....). You choose...

Next day I spent exploring the city which was bigger than I"d imagined and also quite chilly. Can"t wait to head north and get warm again. Again, it was quieter than I expected and not really buzzing at all. The Plaza Independencia was enormous with a big fountain. There were also modern shops and pedestrian malls with European-style outdoor eating on the sidewalk.

That night the hostel organised an "all you can eat" pasta & disco night to be held at the sister hostel across from the plaza. As i didn"t want to lose my passport etc, I locked them away in my backpack and left them in my room. The pasta night was fun - we stuffed ourselves with pasta, bread and cerveza while watching Michael Jackson"s "Thriller" filmclip followed by the essential Rugby match.

Next day soon as my eyes opened I felt sick to the stomach. Moneybelt was still safely locked in my pack (which was in turn locked with wire to the vanity) - only problem was that the keys to the padlock were actually IN my moneybelt! Of all the stupid, dumb things to do. I had visions of having to call a locksmith in to break into my pack, missing my bus etc etc. Oh thank god for that little hole in the top of my pack where the stitching is giving way. Spent the next 20 mins poking around inside with two fingers and finally extracting my money belt out the tiny hole enough to remove the keys!

Spent the day, or at least 5 hours of it, literally on my feet, though this wasn´t the plan. I went to visit the park, but soon realised that it is absolutely MASSIVE and that everything on the map is just heaps further. I have never been in a park this big. Started off OK and found my way to the zoo - thought it might be an eye-opener and it was. Some animals seemed to get it fairly good, while other were in dire circumstances in small, cruel cages with no greenery whatsoever. Ever wondered why some people are born into poverty in, say, India or Africa, while others are born into royalty? I was very sad to see an unfortunate condor sitting in his cage which was too small to even attempt to take flight in. Just a week or so ago I had seen his relatives gliding majestically through the Condor Canyon in Peru.

Also then walked to the Cerro de la Gloria (probably got the name a bit wrong as don´t have my notes), which is actually perched ontop a hill. After coming down I realised I was miles and miles away from where i had entered the park. No taxis in sight, so had to trek for about two hours through park, park and more park, to make it back before it started to get dark.

There is actually meant to be a hop on-hop off bus which drops you at interesting points around the park. Now i get why they have it, though of course it was nowhere in sight when i needed it...

Tucuman - not overly impressed by this polluted city, after about 4 hours looking around i was bored and wished i´d booked an onward bus that night. There are bustling shopping malls and pedestrian walks, which i have to admit at least are not so sleepy as the last couple of places i´ve been. There is also a very nice, leafy main plaza - the landmark "Casa de Gobierno" is very beautiful and apparently gets lit up at night. I also visited the "Parque 9 de Julio" which is also very large - was careful not to stray too far this time!

Lonely Planet says "you are still likely to see horse-drawn carts from the countryside rattling down the streets..", which is why i was unprepared for the city like feel of Tucuman, i thought it would have more of a small country town feel to it. However, i was about to totally bag Lonely Planet when I actually saw a horse-drawn cart going through the park...no idea what it was doing there! See the snap to prove it...

Salta - Weird breakfast served on the bus trip to Salta consisted of 5 different packages of crackers, one sickly sweet, and nothing whatsoever to spread on them. Apparently this is normal - how can they function on this?

Yay, this is a city I really liked. Friendly people and best pizza & banana milkshake in whole of S.A. Firstly the hostel I stayed in was not a depressing four walls and a bed, and the owners seemed really friendly. The town has a touristy but pleasant feel to it, and I felt very safe walking around and not having to worry about hiding my camera. There is a beautiful, leafy plaza, ornate churches and cathedral, colonial architecture as well as pededrian shopping malls.

Within the Parque San Martin there is a lake with paddle boats, ice-cream and fairy floss, small market stalls and a "telerifico" which leads up to Cerro San Bernardo. This is a lookout from which you can see the whole of Salta and its surrounds. Was a bit discomforting that a couple of minutes after hopping into the cable car a message sounded to the effect that if you have any "technical difficulties" on your trip, don´t worry we have an engineer on hand to fix it..! By this time, we were way too high to jump out..!

Salta Day 2 - Getting sick of city hopping and needed to see some of the countryside. I booked 1/2 day horseriding with "Sayta". The whole day was fantastic. Myself, and two other girls got picked up and we drove about 40 minutes to a farm near the town of Chicoana which is getting into "gaucho" (cowboy) country. We ate breakfast while we waited for another couple of tourists to turn up. We rode around the countryside and up the main drag of the town for about 3 hours. Lola, my horse, was very sweet but did not seem to want to go at fastest a slow trot, and even then was inclined to keep slowing down despite my efforts - it was obvious who was in control!

When we came back Enrique, the ower, and helpers had cooked what looked like a couple of whole carcasses on the BBQ. The BBQ lunch with salad was massive and, typical of Argintinian meat- lovers, you were expected to consume copius amounts of carne washed down with red wine! Enrique was a real character and his farmhouse and his collections of guns, tobacco boxes, antique kitchen utensils and everything else under the sun was amazing. I highly recommend this day trip (email:[e-mail])- very friendly people, nice horses and worth the $97 pesoes

Corrientes - got the night bus which was a bit of a nightmare. Corrientes is not much more than a convenient stopover between Salta and Puerto Iguazu. It has an attractive main plaza, though completely deserted when i visited, a pedestrian shopping mall, park, riverside, the usual. Unfortunately when i visited a lot of stuff was shut, i'm not sure if it was a holiday i was not aware of or what. Think most people were down at the riverside fishing which their thermos full of mate on hand. PS. This is the place where i had the most tasteless jamon y queso tostadas ever! / ham and cheese toasted sandwich.

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Photos

Border crossing
Vehicles winding their way through the mountains to the border crossing(taken through bus window)

Mendoza1
The fountain in Plaza Independencia

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Some friends looking on in the corner milkbar...this is only part of one wall!

Mendoza3
This is so cruel. I won´t forget you old girl.

Salta 3
Having a massive BBQ with Enrique and the group at his ranch

Salta 4
Exploring the countryside around the farm. Its not me in the photo, but I´m taking the shot from horseback, I promise..

Corrientes1
The main plaza - the place was dead, only about 2 people there!

Corrientes2
The riverfront - the place for fishing and mate drinking. Every second person had their personal thermos of hot water for making mate..