Oct 3, 2005 - Mendoza!

Hi Everyone! Well our awesome G.A.P tour has finished and after saying goodbye to everyone we flew to La Paz then Santiago to continue on the "Get in My Belly World Tour"! After crashing in Santiago for the evening and making us a decent feed of Nachos we caught the bus today to Mendoza. The ride itself was awe inspiring as we had to cross from the Pacific coast through the Andes. This trip was like going through a permanent field of snow with concrete shelters where drifts form. Awesome stuff! After a brief stop at the border to get a few...

Sep 21, 2005 - Mendoza, Argentina

A great Asado (BBQ)was a good end to Pucon and we caught a night bus to Santiago, Chile's famously smoggy capital city. We arrived...it was very smoggy...we left...for Argentina!! Actually we didn't desert Chile more 'felt a need' to visit Mendoza province with it's Bodegas (wine farms) and the surrouding scenery *Aconcagua Mountain* (Southern Hemisphere's loftiest peak 6990m) and Uspallata (home to Brad Pitts 7 Years in Tibet!) which cannot fail to impress. In our usual style we have chosen the best Hostel in town (Winca's) and enjoying...

Sep 14, 2005 - Mendoza

Wir stecken wieder einmal fest... diesmal wegen des Schnees auf dem Pass nach Chile. Ja, richtig, Schnee. Hier ist der Winter naemlich wieder eingebrochen! Doch Mendoza ist eine angenehme Stadt um zu verweilen. Schliesslich kommt der beruehmte argentinische Wein aus dieser Region. Da musste gleich ausprobiert werden! Gestern machten wir einen Ausflug in zwei Weingueter (Degustation war natuerlich inklusive :)) Heute stand ein Stadtrundgang auf dem Plan. Wir sind davon ueberzeugt, dass Mendoza die gruenste Stadt auf Erden ist - so viele...

Sep 10, 2005 - Don't cry for me Argentina, the truth is I cannot leave you...

On Friday we got a 6am bus from Cafayate to Tucuman that arrived at lunchtime and had to wait in the bus station until 5pm for our next bus to Mendoza. The first bus went through the mountains and although it wasn't too far from Cafayate, the journey took a long time, as the roads were very windy. The bus station at Tucuman, particularly the cafe was awful - the service was very poor and the facilities were disgusting. Our second bus from Tucuman to Mendoza wasn't much better and we had a woman with 3 children sitting behind us - the older...

Sep 5, 2005 - Mendoza

Leaving Chile, we wound our way down the east side of the Andes into the valley of the midwestern Argentine province of Mendoza. With a large European population and a relatively successful economy, Argentina marks the 4th country on our trip and also a place we plan to spend a fair amount of time (maybe 6-8 weeks). Soccer, the Tango, Evita, gauchos, juicy steaks and fine wines. Yet I am fully aware that, once again, my experiences here will no doubt reshape my stereo typical notions about this country. We seem to be headed in the right...

Sep 3, 2005 - La Parva

In the mountains.... will write and upload soon.... promise... and apologies for taking so long... having too much fun. -P Haha... I have to leave that disclaimor! Ok....from Viña to Santiago, Jason was piloting his Toyota 4-door Hilux (I really want one of these!) while Howie had shotgun with myself, Manuel and his sis in the backseat. Jason bought dulce de leche cakes at the toll stop and we were in ecstacy. After dropping off the siblings in Santiago and delivering a T-shirt shipment (Jason and Manuels' business), we were off to the...

Aug 13, 2005 - Trip to Mendoza

After being in BA for two weeks, it was time to get out of the city and experience the campo. So we - Me, Alex, Dave, Liz (GW), and Andrew (Brown)-- decided to go to Mendoza for the weekend. The Mendoza provice is basically a desert located just to the east of the Andes Mountains on the border with Chile. The Haipu Indians turned the area into an ideal area for wine-growing with their irrigation techniques. When the Spanish, Portuguese, and later Italian immigrants arrived in Argentina, they needed their wine and began developing Bodegas in...

Aug 10, 2005 - Mendosa

I mentioned we booked the rest of our stay ion Argentina with a travel agent for the sake of time and convenience. We were not looking forward to the long bus rides ahead, but the agent assured us the buses were big and comfortable. Turns out he was being modest! They are called Carma buses. Huge, double decker cruise liners with big seats that recline about 170 degrees -- not kidding! Some of the buses even have leather seats. Top top it all off, they served us a 3 course dinner and breakfast! -- and the food was good! And they showed 3...

Aug 8, 2005 - Skiing Las Lenas

well we finally got around to going skiing and needless to say it was brilliant, the sun shone for most of the time and we managed to get 3 days in by taking the night bus there and back (only 14 hours!). i must admit that scott's technique did improve GREATLY over the 3 days, it was made easier by the fact that there were no trees or other tricky obstacles. i'm very upset though that i didn't manage to capture one incident where he ended up sticking head down into the snow with his legs sticking straight up and his skiis also sticking...

Aug 6, 2005 - Mendoza

On Thursday evening it was finally time to leave Buenos Aires. At around seven o'clock I sat in my first class seat on the nightbus to Mendoza. First class because I could turn the seat into a real bed. After a warm meal and a Hollywood movie in Spanish with Spanish subtitles, I transformed my seat into a kingsize bed! About 10 hours and 1070 km later, we reached the bus terminal in Mendoza. Blue sky, clean and fresh air,..., but nobody told me that it's so freezing cold! After I found my gloves on the bottom of my backpack, the search for...

Aug 1, 2005 - The Andes, Argentina

We woke up to very heavy snowfall that had been coming down for soemtime already. Stepping outside into the additional 6 or 7 inches of snowfall made the landscape even more beautiful, but made skiing next to impossible. The lifts weren't moving and the runs were close to empty which was a clear sign that skiing was unfortunately off. We grabbed our chance and caught an earlier 12pm coach back to Mendoza, sadly taking an hour longer due to the snowfall. As the journey progressed the snow faded into heavy rainfall, until finally we were left...

Jul 31, 2005 - Los Penitentes - The Andes, Argentina

We got a cab at 6ish for our 7 o'clock coach departure. It took us 165km West from Mendoza along a long road into the great range of the Andes. Our altitude swiftly rose and we were soon surrounded by snowed topped peaks and steep ravines, and valleys all ranging from yellows, to ochres, to pinks and reds, and even black in the horizon. After three hours we reached our destination - Los Penitentes, a ski resort not far from Aconcagua the tallest mountain in the Andes and South America. Both the scenery and snowcover here is excellent. Our...