Blogs from Mendoza, Argentina, South America - page 99

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South America » Argentina » Mendoza » Mendoza April 26th 2005

(Written by Emi and Myself) "Help, I need somebody. Help, not just anybody"...after nearly missing the our 8:30 am bus this text message from Edwardo helped us get rid of our crabbiness and put us in a good frame of mind for our trip to Mendoza. Jennie and I thought we knew exactly were the bus station was but ended up asking about 4 people on the streets and literally running in hopes that Emi hadn't already caught the bus. However after 8 1/2 hours, several unplanned stops and 2 1/2 hours standing in the cold at customs we realized we should have taken El Rapido (name brand of another bus). We checked into our hostel and left for our first Argentinian dinner after meeting up with Brìan, Sam and Dave. We choose the "thumbs up" ... read more
Before
Me and the Andes
Emi and Dave

South America » Argentina » Mendoza April 22nd 2005

Monday 18th - Friday 24th April 2005 : Second and final week at Spanish lessons. Boys getting increasingly fidgety. Went on the bus to Mendoza zoo on Weds. It is within the area of the parque San Martin, on a hilly site and very well laid out for visitors but maybe not so good/spacious for the animals. Lots of big cats and bears. I took a trip to two bodegas in Lujan de Cuyo on Thurs pm. Weinert is a massive commercial operation with cavernous cellars. I tried red and white and surprisingly preferred the white. Next we went to the Familia Adrover where the family have two concrete brewing tanks producing beautiful Barbera and Cabernet Sauvignon - I know because I tried them direct from the cask. This was a much more rewarding visit. The ... read more

South America » Argentina » Mendoza April 18th 2005

Tuesday 12th to Friday 15th April 2005 : More breakfasts in espanol A bit more adventurous, asked for two coffees and two chocolate drinks with breakfast. The chocolate drinks are ‘submarinos’, hot milk with a piece of chocolate dropped in it. The following day instead of croissants I ordered tortitas which I had seen on café breakfast menus. They were not a success, being fairly heavy small disks of bread. We had some at the language school later in the week and they were much lighter and palatable. More lessons. The school changed classes, the two guys in ours moved to another class of two, now it is just us, la familia Greenwood. On Friday Rory and I stayed for almuerzo (lunch) followed by someone playing traditional tunes on guitar. The lady did not turn up ... read more
A stroll in the park
el Parque by Renoir ?
lake in San Martin

South America » Argentina » Mendoza April 14th 2005

Friday 8 April 2005 : Bus through Argentinian Chaco The Chaco is an immensely significant area. It rises only 200m in 900 km. Beginning near the Rio Parana with wetlands it gradually changes to scrub and desert. Economy is horse/cattle/goat based with what seem to be lots of charcoal burning locally. No idea if the wood is sensibly felled . Stopped at lots of towns/villages/hamlets. Very little to distinguish them to my ignorant eyes. Most dwellings are very simple, made of some brick, lots of wood and corrugated iron, with water tank on roof, wooden fences surrounding chicken-run etc As we moved West more goats, and horses running seemingly wild. Sweetened coffee for breakfast with sweet biscuits. PM triangular sarnies, all of which had some meat in. Peeled meat off and gave to Rory. Asleep before ... read more
First view of Aconcagua

South America » Argentina » Mendoza April 13th 2005

to continue from before...we spent 3 or beautiful days in bariloche. it is a magically gifted city surrounded by a huge lake to one side and then rising up to a section of the andes that is about picture perfect. we had many plans for trekking, biking, horseback riding, and kayaking. unfortunately the weather was not being very supportive. we set out the first day with big plans but spent the day wondering the town with some english chaps we had met on our epic boat journey. there was no heartbreak for alana, bariloche is the chocolate capital of the argentina and the streets were lined with shop after shop. the day was filled with alana suddenly disappearing and returning with a little bag treats. the following day after submitting to the rain we decided to ... read more
bariloche with the english
the hot springs of puenta del inca
pueta del inca

South America » Argentina » Mendoza April 5th 2005

- Food: The best helado (ice cream) yet. Lagarde bodega wine SO nice but not exported to Europe. Pepper on the food at last. - Area: Mendoza a very pretty area with tiled walks in the many green squares, even and clean paving slabs and no dog shit! Hooray - People: Very friendly indeed and chilled out. Tues 5th: Discovered new muscles when carrying my backpack for miles to find our hostel. Well I say hostel (I wanted a hostel experience while Tracy was still around to ease myself away from the luxury of hotels), it was more of a B&B and we had a room to ourselves with a bathroom. A lovely lunch and the most delicious helado yet whilst sitting in a pretty park (one of Mendoza´s many) and we managed to get a ... read more

South America » Argentina » Mendoza » Mendoza April 3rd 2005

The bus has become my new friend... and new mode of transportation throughout South America. There really isn't a train system in South America from what I've seen, and the flights are still quite expensive, so the bus is the way everyone gets around. I got on an overnight 10-hour bus ride back up to Santiago and made it into the city early in the morning. I checked back into my little guest house in Providencia (Av. Condel Guest House) and did some laundry that was well overdue. I had kept in touch with the New Hampshire Trade Mission director and offered to help them with a tourism expo the following day in Santiago. I met up with Michelle (New Hampshire International Trade Center co-director) at the Intercontinental Hotel and we set up a booth for ... read more
new friends of friends
Guest House mom
crossing the border

South America » Argentina » Mendoza April 2nd 2005

Good afternoon everyone The four amigos are warming ourselves up for an afternoon riding horses in the mountains of Mendoza, which will be challenging enough given that none of us speak horse and we don't know the words in Spanish for the various commands. Let me jump back a few days, to another country. After the initial excitement upon arrival in Santiago, Chile, we had a pretty busy few days there. Sunday was a hungover day, as we were saving our energy for Monday when we hoped to get a taste of what Chile was all about. It seems that the answer to that is...gambling! On Monday we decided to go down to one of Santiago's two horse racing tracks and try our luck. Despite being in the centre of a pretty dirty city (smog is ... read more
Studying the form...
How we imagine Judge might look in 20 years time...
One potato, two potato, three potato, floor...

South America » Argentina » Mendoza » Mendoza March 26th 2005

If you don't get that title, dont worry, its a stupid joke anyway. So Becca and I got on our clean, polished Andesmar double decker bus for the 15 hour ride to Mendoza. The busride was fabulous. They had a stewardess (though he was a man, so i don't exactly know what you call them) who served us tea and dinners and even organized a game of bingo for us. It was quite a treat. Then we reclined on our leather semi cama seats and tossed and turned while trying to sleep. Such is the struggle of a bus sleeper. Bad news met us upon arrival in Mendoza. The tourist office told us that all the hotels in town were booked up for holy week and that, basically, we were screwed. We sulked out of the ... read more
Becca and I on the Bus
Still on the bus, with bingo cards
At the concert in the park

South America » Argentina » Mendoza » Mendoza March 25th 2005

Tarzan - dit le Japonais - et Marmotte vous saluent de Mendoza, capitale de la province du même nom et paradis de Bacchus. La route pour arriver ici a été difficile mais spectaculaire. Nous croyions pouvoir rallier San Rafael à notre départ de Zapala, mais c'était sans compter avec le "ripio". À mi-chemin, en pleine montagne, notre excellente route pavée s'est transformée en sentier de roches. Disons que ça ralenti un peu l'allure. Nous avons aussi consommé quelques tonnes de poussière argentine... surtout en croisant des 4x4 pilotés par des disciples de Fangio. Marmotte s'est fait plein d'amis en chemin : vaches, chevaux, moutons, chèvres, chiens, condors et même des autruches !! Tout ce beau petit monde traverse la route quand bon lui semble, ordinairement en gros troupeau. C'est pas facile de se frayer un chemin ... read more




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