Argentina. What a place.
The bus ride from Valparaíso to Mendoza was surely the most beautiful one of my life. We crossed the Andes over a pass on around 3.000 m above sea level, passed Aconcagua, the highest mountain on the southern and western hemisphere. I booked a semi cama without knowing what that means - turns out you can almost lie down flat, have enough space and can enjoy the views in the best way.
First I had a little incident at the Western Union - this is how you get cash here as a non-argentino. 250€ at the current rate was around 300.000 Pesos, and they gave me only 1000 Peso notes. I could barely fit in my bag, I thought I‘d have to go and ask for a bag…
Well, what do you do in Mendoza? First, you start with a walking tour, of course. The guide said there‘s a few stamps you have to get to be able to say you‘ve been to Mendoza: football, wine, Aconcagua, the fountain‘s performance, Cerro la Gloria for a view and fall into the watering system that, because this is South America, is often just a whole in the street. I managed to get all of them except one - guess which one is missing?
I met a fellow Austrian on the tour and we spent the next 2 days together. I haven‘t laughed this much in a while. But I‘m going too fast, let me start over. Mendoza is an amazing city. Clean, quiet, beautiful, safe, and a forest. I‘ve never seen this many trees in a city before. Without them, the climate would be unbearable. 40°C in summer are normal. Mendoza is located in the middle of a desert, but still wine is a big part of the business here. They collect the water of the snow melting in the nearby Andes and distribute it evenly across the wineries and the city‘s trees. The system is old and well thought through, it uses much less water than you might think it would.
The other Austrian and I then went to a restaurant that sells food by the kilo, then had the most expensive but certainly the best ice cream ever, and continued on to Cerro la Gloria for a view of the city and a walk in the park. They have these workout machines that mainly train your abs because you laugh so much.
The next day the real fun started: off we went to the wineries. We rented bikes - please don‘t switch gears, they told us - and started touring from one winery to the next. The first one was the best: for around 5€ we got a second breakfast consisting of loads of bread, different olive oils and spreads, Malbec-jelly (my favourite), a huge glass of red wine and a dessert wine at the end. No, biking isn‘t more fun after that.
The region we chose was mainly biking along a road, so less idyllic as you may think, but it was still nice. We stopped a few more times to try some wine before making our way back because we had to get the next stamp.
I‘ve never been to a football game. As I was planning this trip, I thought I might as well go once in Argentina - so I did. We watched Mendoza vs. Cordoba. Please don‘t ask me about the names of the teams or of the player that scored the goal. First league, that much I know.
As soon as we entered the stadium as a group of 6 tourists, the press came and wanted to interview one of us. This was more of a local experience than I expected it to be.
Latinos know how to throw a party. Here there is no spectators for the team from the other city, this has caused too many incidents in the past. I don‘t know how many songs they have about one team, but every single person knows the words and sings their hearts out. It‘s quite cool, I have to admit. People come sober, with drums, flags, tattoos and babies. The youngest fan was around 2 weeks old. No wonder people here go crazy for football if they grow up like this…
I forgot there was a game going on, I was so consumed by watching the people. There was so much going on. And when I did eventually look at the field I found the players more interesting than the ball, but well, that‘s the way it is.
During half time one of the officials was hit by something on the head. A group of police in full gear came marching onto the field and cut the game short. The fans were so sad, some had tears in their eyes - south american passion is no joke.
Lucky for us, this way we could go and see the fountain, that performs a dance of water and light and music every night. It was nice!
On my last day I decided to backtrack and redo the road I‘ve come on from Chile - I had to see Aconcagua without a dirty window in between us. These are the Andes like you imagine them. They go on forever, are incredibly high and massive. The Andes are the last thing that was created when the world was made to be what we know today - when pangaea broke apart and the nazca plate moved underneath another one. Some of the mountains have light, diagonal lines, which is the plates - isn‘t that cool?
We stopped at many view points, walked with a view of Aconcagua, drank water from a mountain river, stopped at a rare phenomenon where sulfur rich water formed a yellow layer on a natural bridge, and ended on 4000 m at what used to be the border crossing between Chile and Argentina.
I have to go back to Mendoza - one day, I need to hike in the area. But for now, I went to Bariloche, further south. The flight was 15€ more than the bus but 17 hours faster. I guess I‘m at an age now where I should think about back health…
Bariloche is a dream. A cute little city at the northern end of patagonia, surrounded by mountains. From my bed I could see the sun set over the lake. I love it. The German, Austrian and Swiss influence is quite obvious - there is chocolate specialty stores, similar architecture and even the nature is similar. But it‘s still the Andes…
I decided to go on an overnight hike to a hut, to refugio frey. I took the bus to the starting point. First, it was flat for a while, along a mountain, views of Bariloche and the lakes. I was in awe and excited about what was to come. I didn‘t want to look at pictures before the hike.
The path led me into a thick forest, yellow flowers all around, by waterfalls and creeks where i could refill my filtered water bottle without having to be worried. I ate burger buns (the smalles pack of bread I could find) with peanut butter and jam I stole from the hostels breakfast. Glorious.
Then the ascent started - and at one point, close to the tree line, the forest opened and I had a view of the rocky peaks around me. The last few meters were quite tough, but finally I could see the hut and the lake behind it, that was shining turquoise in the sun light.
I found a quiet spot on the lake, took out my book so I didn‘t bring it for nothing all this way, and read a few pages. The thought of the lake didn‘t leave my mind - i would forever regret not going in. So i promptly stripped down and jumped in in my underwear. No, please don‘t jump, the water is maximum hip deep. So i walked in and lay down in the cold water about 10 m out. It was cold but the sun was burning down and the water was nice on my tired legs.
Sunset was spectacular. The peaks were lit in bright orange, it was quiet and almost no wind at all.
Shortly after though, the wind picked up. I lay in my sleeping bad, in between a wall, a 70+ year old man (of course the only person in camp that was snoring, lucky me) and a person sleeping on the floor in front of me. The wind shook the whole hut, you could feel it.
I woke up right in time for sunrise. I was wearing all my layers but the wind was freezing and still super strong. The view was worth it, but i prefered waiting for breakfast inside with a view similar as last night: the peaks were lit in orange, but this time more subtle, softer.
Finally I had to go back. I was alone most of the time, it was monday and less people did it as a day or overnight hike. I listened to the sounds of the forest, hoped not to fall, had a siesta on a fallen tree and made it to the valley just as the bus back to town arrived.
I wasn‘t aware how much I needed this before I did the hike - those 1.5 days hiking by myself, swimming, reading, in the middle of the mountains… just beautiful.
The next couple of weeks are somewhat planned out. Prices here and the herds of tourists don‘t leave room for error, and I will have to travel faster. I can‘t tell you when you will hear from me again, but you will :) Until then, stay safe and stay fun!
