May 14, 2005 - Mendoza, the city of trees in the desert, and observations on Andrew

Hi all Two elements to this entry this time -- Mendoza, beautiful Mendoza -- and Sonya dons her anthropological hat to record her observations on Doiv in foreign habitats. Mendoza Mendoza is a green, leafy oasis in the desert of western Argentina. It is also however Argentina's premier wine growing region, made possible by run off from the Andes. This run off is channelled through the vineyards and Mendoza by a very old, but sophisticated system of aquaducts. Consequently you have a combination of brilliant weather (basically no rain) but...

May 6, 2005 - Mendoza, Argentina

Just arrived to Mendoza, Argentina late this afternoon. And boy does it feel good to be back in Argentina. First things first...Steak (Lomo) and renoun red wine. Mendoza is the wine capital of Argentina! Mendoza was quite the nice city, located right at the foot of the largest mountains in the western hemisphere, it is the jumping off point for serious mountaineres as well as wine fanatics. Its streets are lined with canoping trees and cobble stoned sidewalks. It was a nice little place to hang around for a bit. Overall, we didn't do all...

May 3, 2005 - Mendoza again

Well, I have not much to say about this city and coming back for the umpteenth time- I am not all that enthralled. The reason for my return was simply to meet up with Daylin and hang ouut for a day or so. We had a great day and went wine tasting at some of the bodegas---- Not up to my expectaions still and I much prefer the experience in the Swan Valley, Margaret river, anywhere in Adelaide, Barossa, Wirra wirra, Hunter valley, Capetown, France even in Italy where the wines suck! However, I can`t complain about the company and the gossip...

May 1, 2005 - ARGENTINE

Apres une soiree au bar El Diablito avec Henrika, Paul, Matt et Javier et donc seulement quelques heures de sommeil, me voila au terminal Universidad de Santiago ce samedi matin, 9.30. Quelqu'un me tape sur l'epaule : Bruno qui arrivait de Puerto Varas ! 10.00 pas de bus, 10.30 pas de bus, 11.00 toujours pas de bus, 11.30 Oh un bus ! 11.50 on part enfin, 12.00 on repasse de nouveau devant le terminal, 12.20 le chauffeur s'arrete pour demander sa route ! J'avais achete un billet pour faire la route en minibus, ce qui, selon mes amis...

Apr 27, 2005 - Mendoza

We have arrived in Mendoza! It's a city, too, but much smaller than Buenos Aires. I still am longing to get myself to a teeny little pueblito where I can learn the layout of the entire town in five minutes, where they have an amazing view of the Andes, and where I can just hang out in the garden and read books for a few days. Our last day in Buenos Aires ended up being much different than I thought. My plan was to go to a museum where they had catacombs, then to the clock tower with the free view, then to the cemetary where all the rich...

Apr 21, 2005 - Mendoza, Argentina

It's only when you come back into 'real' Argentina that you realise how good this place is. Down south in Patagonia it is cold, arid and more expensive, but the rest of the country simply is great! It helps (from my selfish touristy point of view) that they had an economic collapse in 2001 so everything is incredibly cheap. We sat down at a cafe after we got off the bus and had a beef-burger (and I mean real beef not like most of the stuff we get in England), chips and a drink for 80p. If you are thinking of going anywhere in South America...

Apr 5, 2005 - Mendoza

Well, this is my last day in Mendoza. I had somehow pictured Mendoza differently. The name sounds romantic to me, and everybody was talking about how nice it was. Somehow I imagined something a little more "pastoral". But Mendoza is a busy city. With something like 150 000 inhabitants, it has way too many fume-spewing buses for its own good. Fortunately, it also has many pretty parks where you can actually breath fairly clean air. Friday and Saturday were overcast and cool, so I walked around the city, planning some excursions, stopping at...

Mar 29, 2005 - Return to Argentina for a week

"It was one of those days... when I forgot all my cares, all my failures, all my anxieties about writing. I was exactly where I wanted to be, doing what I liked most. I was far enough offshore..." Paul Theroux. During the trip from Santiago to Mendoza, I was treated to continuous views of the Andes Mountains as we climbed up and east into the Cordillera. At one point, we climbed 27 zigzags PHOTO. The bus wasn't full, so I was able to move from side to side to take photos of the extraordinary road. At the top, we went through customs and...

Mar 22, 2005 - Bus to Mendoza

22nd March - Got to Mendoza around 9am and this dude called Max canvassed his hostel to us. Did the normal trick of where you from. Giving the answer he then saying in your local lingo "Conas a ta tu". We went with him only because Rebecca and the other girls from the Millhouse were ment to be there. The place was a dive, dorm had 14 beds. Neither of us were happy with the place. Headed into town for brunch which consisted of err yep you guessed it a steak. Honestly it looked to be around 15oz (see photo). Did the city tour that nite and...

Mar 21, 2005 - Suedamerika 6 (Navimag - Villarica - Mendoza)

hola amigos y amigas nach weiteren drei wochen voller sehenswuerdigkeiten und erlebnisse hier der newsletter 6: jaja beim zweiten anlauf hats dann mit der navimag faehre in umgedrehter richtung von puertonatales nach puerto montt doch geklappt und wir hatten 4 super tage auf dem schiff. aber angefangen hat es damit, dass wir in natales einen alten pfadikollegen von mir, naemlich omega von wangen, mit freundin mauela getroffen haben und sich herausgestellt hat, dass sie auch auf dem schiff sind... ja so klein ist die welt. somit hatten wir...

Mar 16, 2005 - Mendoza, Argentina

Argentina... Wine region... What a better way to explore than with bikes? On the way to Maipu, a small town full of wineries, or bodegas as they are called here, we hopped onto the highway by accident with our rented bikes. I guess it's not illegal because cops saw us doing it and said nothing. Of course, since we were going wine tasting, we needed ties. So we stopped at a little kid's school uniform shop on the way, and picked some up (pics will be up soon). They went nicely with our shorts and sandals. We got to Maipu after about 45...

Mar 1, 2005 - Mendoza

Hola Amy and Paddy- its off to the bodegas for some viticulture and wine tasting. HMMMMMMM Well, The Bodgas had to wait fro a few days, as e decided to hit the surrounding mountains where we went camping in Uspallata surrounded by hundreds of poplars and mountains. WE Hired bicicles and rode around in the blazing sun for a while, before we decided that it was only mad dogs and Englishmen that would attempt such stunts, and returned to the shade of our trees. We had great barbeques and drank wonderful wines, so had a great time relaxing and...