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Published: January 18th 2010
Over the past few months we have often asked ourselves 'what exciting place will be for Christmas? And what will we be doing??'. Well it was a few days before Christmas and we still had no answers for these questions. And so a plan was devised to leave Chile and race through central western Argentina for the silly season.
Just a couple of hours out of Santiago and we were already high in the Andes with the bus slowly climbing up amazing snow capped mountains on a clear blue afternoon. Another few hours on and we were in our Christmas destination - the hot, flat, and leafy Mendoza, wine capital of Argentina! With a few days left until Christmas we were planning on touring a few of the vineyards to see the sights, and also to stock up for the big day. However the ridiculously large and tasty Argentinian steaks (seriously, think of the biggest and best steak you've ever had and multiply it by 3) and delicious red wines tempting us at every corner meant that we never actually left the city's limits. The plan for Christmas day amongst some new found friends at the hostel had been that
everyone would supply a dish or two and we'd have a big feast and party around the hostel pool. And so we stocked up on supplies at the supermarket and in the process got our dose of Christmas shopping madness.
A fairly quiet Christmas eve consisted of starting on the Christmas day wine supply, until midnight when the streets began to pop and bang with do-it-yourself firework displays. For almost an hour there was a constant explosion of fireworks from street to street. Back to the wine and games of cards and all of a sudden it was 4am and time for bed! A late rise on Christmas day showed the hostel to be almost empty...what happened to all our friends we thought? Just Jen and I for Christmas then?... But no, Bill (a very funny Chinese born Englishman) rose a couple of hours later, a couple of American sisters returned (after having to spend Christmas morning in hospital for a minor emergency, poor things), a German couple who didn't like the party at their hostel came to our, and two of our new Argentino friends - Berto and 'Numero Dos' (the 2nd best rockclimber in Argentina) turned up
Boxing Day in Parque General San Martin, Mendoza
with Jeff sporting his 'Christmas present to the world' moustacheas soon as they were able to escape family commitments. And when another Australian couple from Perth rocked up later on we had a substantial gathering. But wait, it appeared that just about everybody else had been caught out by the early closing of the shops on Christmas eve and so nobody could get any food. And so in the spirit of the loaves and the fishes we stretched all our food (thankfully we had overcatered for 2) and somebody found a service station that sold bread and wine and a great Christmas lunch was had by all! We were particularly happy with the reception that the two locals gave to our choice of wine purchases, apparently these were very good choices of brand and type. And so we decided not to tell them that they were just the cheapest ones we saw on the supermarket shelves. And so the afternoon became quite a boozy affair until we had finished all our wine and drunk the hostel out of its beer supply. Somebody made the call that it was time to go out, so we fancied ourselves up a bit, and hit the night strip for a few more beers
and eventually got around to a 1am dinner - which is normal behaviour in these parts - and finally crashed to a well deserved bed. Even without multiple family does and presents and noisy kids, Christmas still managed to be a long, tiring but very enjoyable experience!
Another late rise on Boxing Day was very pleasant. As was our leisurely day spent strolling out to the massive park and lake on the outskirts of town. Here we got pleseantly lost searching for the football stadium which was custom built for the 1976 World Cup which Argentina hosted. We climbed through and ajar gate to let ourselves in and tried to recreate the scene of the stadiums 15 minutes of fame. Feeling that we hadn't yet eaten ourselves silly over the Christmas season we made the decision to hit up the local all-you-can-eat buffet (called a 'tenedor libre' which translates to a 'free' or 'liberated' fork) and ate stupid amounts various meat types and all sorts of salads. Really, the way any boxing day is usually spent, just minus the cricket on tele...
The next day was spent with all our Mendoza friends sitting around the tiny hostel pool
travelling in style, part 1
Argentinian buses are amazing! Dinner, breakfast, free wine! dangling our feet in an attempt to cool down, before it was time to sadly say our goodbyes and get on the overnight bus. With Christmas now well and truly over we were very glad that we had chosen Mendoza as our spot, and were so happy that we had met a great group of people to spent the silly season with! Now, what will we do for New Years???
Some really luxurious bus rides had us in the windy, cold, but charming lakes district town of 'Junin de Los Andes' (not to be mistaken for 'Junin' - 20 hours in the other direction, which we almost boarded a bus to!). Here we braved the elements and set up tent right near the snow melt river and practiced our cold weather camping in the middle of Summer. We had planned to trek in a nearby national park, however it turned out the logistics were too difficult for our time frame, so instead we just wandered along the river, and up to an interesting set of sculptures on the hill above town. These intricate wood carvings were a mix of traditional christian stations of the cross, spiced up with relevant
travelling in style, part 2
the long, flat road between Mendoza and Junin de los Andes examples from the local history of the region and the fate of the areas indigenous inhabitants.
Next we bypassed the very popular Bariloche for something a little more relaxed, the organic-hippy-type town of El Bolson. Here we enjoyed the local food and crafts markets (including our first taste of South American microbrewed beer), camping again on the outskirts of town, then undertook a big say walk in the surrounding hills. This walk had us high above torqoiuse blue rivers, staring down the rock shaped like a man's head, sniffing wildflowers and crossing bridges in various states of disrepair, followed by a less pleasant road walk back into town. An overnight stop in Bariloche, and then back into Chile for the end of year celebrations.
Puerto Montt is a dirty old port town and probably not on the top of the list for NYE celebration destinations. But surely, we figured, there'd be some fireworks over the harbour, a big gathering in the town square, and revelling into the wee hours!?? After all, South Americans know how to party, right! Our first wander through town on the nye afternoon showed a few of the local well and truly into the
welcome to the lakes district
'where water passes, there will be life' spirit, stumbling and vomiting all over the footpaths. But it appeared they wouldn't have the stamina to last into the night. By 6pm almost all of the bars in town were closing, rather than opening, so we returned to the comfort of our abode (a spare room in an old lady's house) feeling somewhat deflated by our prospects. We set off around 10pm to search for the party, only to find empty streets, an empty harbour and empty town square. The last resort was a lone bar that was open. Thankfully the beer was nice and cold, and by 11.55pm there were a few more people inside, and the staff were handing out silly hats and eye-masks and party-blowers, and all of a sudden we had ourselves a party!! And so looking ridiculous we began counting in the new year in spanish and shaking hands and hugging everyone nearby, saying 'Feliz Año Nuevo!'
We were back in bed around 1am I'd say. Not the most exciting NYE we've ever had (and we've spent one in Adelaide!), but jeez, what a year 2009 was!!! From hindu blessings in Indian temples, to rocking out at Glastonbury, tracking down jaguars in the
jungle and climbing up and down Andean mountains, this was a very special year! Oh yeah, and we got engaged, I keep forgetting about that.
The next morning we were down at the docks boarding a container/cruise ship through fjords and the open sea, further south into the wild and windy southern wonderland of Patagonia. Read more about that in the next blog. But for now, a very belated 'Feliz Año Nuevo' to you all and we hope 2010 is just as good, if not better!!
Jeff and Jen
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