Blogs from San Juan, San Juan, Argentina, South America

Into every good road trip a little weirdness must fall, and Thursday was the day for us! We left San Augustine knowing we had a bit of a slog from there to San Juan, but such is the case in driving around this country. To break up the drive, we counted on stopping in some of the small towns on the map, not realizing that often they are nothing more than a ghost town. We did find some action in Bermejo, in the form of the perpetual festival of San Expedito, the saint you call on for urgent needs (as in expedite this package--without UPS). We rolled into town and were flagged down by a helpful soul who had us park out of the sun...and then asked for $40AR ($2 US) for the service. Then several ... read more

The Argentina Bum Snake and more Adventures... Our stay in La Rioja meant different things for different folks this year, with Bob and Mary visiting a cultural Museum and finding that absolutely fascinating, they had a woman guide who spoke reasonable English and was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the museum. In the mean time, I was disappointed about the outcome of my negotiations over a late 60's VW Double cab ute, while both D Duke and Bones were caught by the infamous 'Argentine Bum Snake' it gets in some how when you least expect it and proceeds to make your life a misery....so not wanting to venture far from the hotel, they just rested, lucky D Duke had D Nurse and Bones had me!! We had planned a reasonably early start the next day, but ... read more

1 november ’11 Rustig ochtendje in San Juan, naar de winkel geweest voor onze picknick. Heel veel mensen hier zijn heel nieuwsgierig van waar we komen (als ze ons tegen elkaar horen praten). Soms vragen er gewoon mensen op straat van waar we komen  We moeten toch wel een heel raar taaltje hebben é! ’s Middags fietsen gehuurd om naar een wijn- en champagnehuis te gaan. Het ritje was toch drukker dan verwacht (qua auto’s) en bijna geen druivelaars gezien… We wisten ook niet exact hoeveel kilometer het zou zijn, dus dat was wel spannend want er stonden nergens borden. Uiteindelijk na 2u gefietst te hebben in de felle zon, een picknick-stop gehouden. De broodjes met kaas smaakten overheerlijk! En dan terug de fiets op, na in totaal in kleine 20km arriveerden we bij ‘cava ... read more

Oh the inhumanity of it all! We left Bariloche around 1pm on the overnight bus to Mendoza. Anna had done her research well. We used the company ‘Tramat’ it is the cheapest company she could find. You don’t get dinner or anything special, but since all of the buses are basically the same and we were used to making sandwiches for dinner and lunch, we went for it. Anna decided that we needed to have seats in the business section. And I am very grateful that she decided that. The seats were large and comfortable and reclined to about 150 degrees. Not like the tiny chairs in economy which recline to about 120 degrees. 16/02/2011 - Day 30 So we arrived in Mendoza at around 9am. We had had great seats, but I was unable to ... read more

San Juan is one of the most western provinces in Argentina, bordering with Chile and occupies a mountainous region. The area is dry with little precipitation and where the temperature during summer can rise to unbearable level, especially when there is a 'zonda wind' blowing through the surface of the land. It is a province in Argentina that is full of sunlight most of the time. (Note: Zonda wind (in Spanish, viento zonda) is a regional term for the foehn wind that often occurs on the eastern slope of the Andes, in Argentina. The Zonda is a dry wind (often carrying dust) which comes from the polar maritime air, warmed by descent from the crest, which is some 6,000 m (18,000 ft) above sea level. It may exceed a velocity of 40 km/h (25 mph) Source:wikipedia) ... read more