Argentina from Salta to Bariloche

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I know its been quite a while since the last blog entry but we've been pretty much non-stop since we got to Argentina, and its been quite difficult to find the time to write my diary, let alone this blog. But here we go, hopefully I can remember it all!

The border crossing into Argentina was PAINFULL to say the least, queues to beat the band and Bolivian border control who didnt know their arses from their elbows, or perhaps they enjoyed sending gringos in the wrong direction, I dont know. We had heard that Argentinian buses were a dream, but we ended up on Flecha Bus, which is basically a creche on wheels - you know how I love those kiddies!

We eventually made it to our first Argentinian desintation, the city of Salta and it was lovely. Very European and First World, which was (at the time) a welcome relief from Bolivia. Sometimes you just need a few comforts. They had proper shops, where you could buy anything you wanted, and proper restaurants and bars! Woo hoo! We spent the first of our two days there wandering the city, drinking wine and eating cheese, and went out that night to 'Bar Street' - a whole strip full of restaurants, bars and clubs. It started out very civilised but ended up in a lock-in which some local blokes (one of whom looked like Mike Skinner) until 7.30am! It was great fun, but day two was a total write off - sorry museums, sorry Teleferico etc. We managed to get a late check out from our hostel and dragged our very hungover bodies to the bus station, where we caught a 10pm Andes Mar (i.e. very nice) bus for our 20 hour bus trip to Mendoza. The feckers switched us all to a jaysus Flecha Bus about an hour into the journey. There went our assigned seats (try hunting for free seats on a dark bus where everyone else is asleep, its fun!), and you guessed it, it was full of screaming kids.

Mendoza was lovely, once we'd found somewhere to stay. Gone are the days of just rocking up somewhere and getting a room. ALL of the hostels were full. I thought we'd be spending our first night on a park bench, but luckily we got a cheap hotel that had aircon and TV! The aircon was great, as it was roasting hot. Mendoza is even nicer than Salta, bigger but the streets are nice and wide and lined with trees so its a really, really green city. There are four smaller plazas all arranged around the larger Plaza Del Indepencia (if my Spanish is correct). The plaza gets jammers at night with stalls and street theatre, and it seems like the whole of Mendoza goes on a giant family outing. The streets are full of the coolest retro cars you have ever seen - really old Ford Falcons, Renaults, Fiats. Some are in great condition, but others are clapped out pieces of crap that would never be allowed on the road at home - they are great! I took millions of photos, only a few wee samples make it on to the blog! Who did we meet on our first day but Mick and Ev, so we went out to Mendoza's equivalent of Bar Street that night, but it wasnt quite as boozy as Salta was. We had a wine tour - on bikes - to do the following day!

We headed out to Maipu, one of the 'famous' areas for wine tasting and tours in and around Mendoza. Now the area itself wasnt the prettiest (Gachet it aint) and apart from one winery, Familia Di Tomasi, which was excellent, the tours where tours in name only. You paid a few quid to taste some frankly rubbish wine. Having said that, we were on the backpacker budget tour, so in fairness they were hardly going to give us their best vino. Most places only offered Malbec at tastings, and even at Tomasi, which wasnt a rip off and maybe did give us decent wine, we decided that maybe we just dont like Malbec. This, you must understand, is unacceptable in Argentina, and you cannot say this out loud. Or you will be killed. We tasted some other local varieties at restaurants, and they were gorgeous! We ran into Ben & Jo again on the wine tour. And if they werent supposed to be in Chile, I think they would have really thought we were stalking them. If you are serious about wine, the bike tour is not the tour for you. If you want to have a laugh, it is great fun.

The following day we went abseiling in the mountains outside of the city. Despite my fear of heights, it was brilliant fun. I think being strapped into a harness (steady!) calmed me down. It definately felt safer than being strapped into a sleeping bag a la the Swoop in NZ. We started off with a small hike up to the walls which were 12m, 7m and 45m respectively. Yes, that's right - 45m. There were two things wrong with the scenario. The first was the frankly gorgeous Argentinian girl who insisted on abseiling in nothing but tiny denim shorts and a yellow bikini top (Simon didnt mind this so much...) and the second was the fact that you have to lower yourself backwards, yet standing, over the edge of a cliff. My brain was screaming NO! to that, and also PUT SOME BLOODY CLOTHES ON! to the girl in the yellow bikini. Our instructor was great (he later took his top off too, but I was okay with that), so I felt really safe and the first two were a breeze. On the 45m however, I was shitting it. Completely and utterly. It was so HIGH! Si went first, because he is brave and likes to chuck himself off high things, and I followed not too long after, and with seriously trembling legs made it down the wall. It was brilliant! Id so do it again! We finished off our time in Mendoza with a bike tour of the city. It was a Sunday, which was great because Argentina still operates on Catholic time, which means ALL the shops etc close down on Sundays so there is nothing else to do. The streets were pretty much car free and we got to appreciate the city in all its leafiness. We cycled up to the big park above town and chilled out with a nice cold beer. That night we had a 'posh' dinner out with some local (and yummy) Pinot Noir. Mendoza had been good to us.

We caught an Andes Mar bus with Mick & Ev to Bariloche and this time they didnt make us change to a crappy bus, but I did dream that the bus was highjacked and that we had to flag down an Flecha Bus instead...issues. Argentina just kept getting better and better. While I liked the European feel of Salta and Mendoza, I wanted to SEE the Argentinian countryside and feel like I was in another part of the world again. Bariloche itself is a nice enough town, but it is extremely touristy (yes, I know we are tourists), trying to masquerade as a Swiss Alpine Village. Yes, it is set on a huge lake with mountains all around it, but the wooden 'chalets' and St. Bernards with barrells round their necks (while extremely gorgeous and squeezable) are not really necessary. The icrecream and chocolate is outstanding though. It is really the surrounding scenery that makes Bariloche wonderful. You dont need to venture too far out of town to get a taste either. First of all let me say that we sayed in a brilliant hostal, Pudu, which is owned by a young Irish couple Emma & John, and their B.A. friend Leo. They went for a snowboarding season and ended up buying a hostel. They also have a dog, Mila, which is always a bonus. Its a bit of a party hostel, and was half full of Irish, which was actually great (bar two head-wrecking 'mad' brothers who didnt sleep for 56 hours at one point. All in moderation lads). We had a great time there, alternating sight-seeing/healthy activities with boozing/recovering. You see? Moderation. They do a mean Asado (BBQ) night at Pudu!

First on the outdoor list was a nice short hike up Cerro Otto near town, which gives you spectacular views over the lake and its surrounding mountains. The weather was cracking and it was hot work. We did the lazy thing and got the cable car back down to the bottom. I didnt freak out in this one. We also went canopying or zip-lining, which isnt exactly hard work, but its a great way to see some of the local scenery. And it is brilliant, squealing fun! Then we went for a full day 22km hike up Cerro Cathedral to Refugio Frey. That was a beautiful hike, the scenery took us through burnt forest, where the charred bark has fallen away from the dead trees and they stand naked and silver above lush new growth that is pushing up around them, views over Lago Gutierrez, through a cool green forest (with woodpeckers), past a little climbers/hikers hut built under a great boulder with a massive cross outside (maybe it serves as an outdoor church?), and then up, up, up to Refugio Frey and the craggy peaks that surround it. The return leg took us the same route for half of the way, where we turn off and followed the Lago Gutierrez trail instead. That part of the trail was exposed to the sun and was tough work, but eventually we got back into some forest again, and finally made it to the bus stop, where we gratefully fell onto the hard seats of the bus. Our second last day in Bariloche was spent cycling the Circuito Chico (well 26km of it, not all of it) which takes you on a lovely loop through some of the area's nicest scenery. We had a fairly overcast day for this, which was great for the cycling (a lot of up hill) but not so great for the photo taking. We had lunch on one of Lago Nahuel Huapi's playas, swam in the 'Hidden Lake' which was fresh, but not not jaysus freezing, viewed Mount Tronador from the famous and exclusive gardens of the Llao Llao Hotel, stopped at a roadside cafe (read trailor) for fresh rasberries and visited the incredibly beautiful and moving Cementario Del Montagnes. This is a cemetary high up in the hills for muntaineers who perished on climbs, and also for people who simply loved the mountains and wanted to be burried there. It is backed by a sheer granite rockface and has beautiful views over the surrounding mountains and lakes. There are graves for people who lost their lives on local peaks and plaques paying tribute to those who lost their lives on peaks as far away as Nepal. One grave had a photograph of the man in question standing on a snowy mountainside, enscribed with a message to him from his friend. It made me cry. Im welling up right now just remembering it! Anyway, it was a beautiful way to spend our second last day, and Id really recommend the rental co. Bike Cordillera, the bikes were great and me arse wasnt too sore the next day! That night we had a big one, and our last day was spent chilling in recovery in Pudu! I may have sent some incoherant Facebook message to people that night. I do aplogise if you were one of them.

Next stop Patagonia! We decided to head down to Patagonia via the 'magical' and 'legendary' Route 40. The journey takes two full days, and magical it aint, but that's for the next blog!

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Photos

Refugio Frey at Cerro Cathedral
Bariloche

Si and a HUGE bottle of Heineken
Start of the night - civilised

A little later
Trying the local tipple with our friendly lock-in barman