Andrew and I got a 7.5 hour bus to Mendoza, Argentina. On the bus we met Anna and Alex, a British couple. We talked for hours which kept us entertained, especially during the 2 hour wait at border control. The Chile and Argentina custom officials sat next to each other in a glass booth which made things easy. The whole place was under cover with driving lanes due to heavy snow fall in the winter. We passed a few ski fields, currently with no snow. The mountains were very impressive, so many different types of rock in different colors. Some of it looked much like Huaraz in Peru and San Pedro in Chile.
We decided to adopt our new friends and they became our roommates in our 4 person dorm in Mendoza. We went out for dinner at 10pm which is when Argentina’s population dines. The streets were buzzing with activity. We ordered what we thought was meat pizza but turned out to be more of a meat loaf! Afterwards it was very difficult to sleep due to the extreme humidity and heat. I was sweating and sticking to the sheets which wasn’t pleasant. Mendoza also has an abundance of silent mosquitoes… damn pesky things!
The following day was my 26th Birthday. We went to the supermarket and stocked up on loads of tasty treats. Back at the hostel, next to the pool in the sun, the boys cooked a BBQ. We were joined by a young American guy called Eric. The 5 of us drank, ate, swam, played cards and talked well into the night. Alex and Anna even got me a cake! It was an excellent birthday with excellent company. Slept a tiny bit better but it was still disgustingly hot in our room.
We had originally wanted to leave the next day but all the buses to Bariloche were booked out so we extended our stay another night. We considered hitting the many vineyards and winery tours that Mendoza is known for with Anna & Alex but Andrews not a fan of wine and I only drink a little white wine from time to time so we decided not to spend the money. We wondered the main centre’s streets and checked out their little plazas. There isn’t much in the way of interesting or old architecture due to a large earthquake in 1985. Because of that, the city was rebuilt with large wide streets for evacuation purposes in case it happens again. The streets are lined with large trees so it’s still pretty nevertheless. There are loads of shops and cafes – Argentina has a large café culture like a lot of places in Western Europe. That afternoon we enjoyed escaping the extreme heat in the refreshing pool. It got up to 38 degrees with no wind…. Another restless night… how we longed for air conditioning!
Our hostel had been punished by the government for not having a receipt for one of their past guests. Apparently this is illegal and it’s required to bribe the tax officials to get out of trouble. The owner of the hostel refused to do this so they were given one weeks warning that they had to pay a large fine and their hostel had to be shut down for 4 days. If they were caught with guests, they would be given an even larger fine and shut down for 2 weeks… ouch! So the next day we had to leave the hostel by 8am before the officials came by to put a CLOSED sticker on their door and to inspect the property. Luckily we were allowed to store our bags there for the day as our bus didn’t depart until 9pm.
The streets were absolutely dead until lunch time. After lunch, everything closes for a siesta and the streets are deserted. In the evening, it’s difficult to walk down the main street as there’s so many people! Argentina is definitely a nocturnal country! The 4 of us walked to the park and sat in the shade by a lagoon reading for a few hours. This day at least had a nice breeze. We then walked through the large park down a non attractive path to Cerro Gloria, a lookout point. After walking up it we discovered that it wasn’t much of a lookout point as the trees covered the view to the city. At the bottom of the hill was a zoo with cheap entry so we decided to check out. We didn’t think it would be very big but it was massive and our feet were already sore from all the walking in the hot sun. We saw some toucans – the coolest looking animal ever! It looks like their plastic and their beaks are just stuck on, and they make a bizarre noise. One of them was very friendly and came right up the edge of the cage to nibble at us. There were loads of big birds & monkeys, African animals such as wildebeests, an elephant, deer etc and loads of big cats like a panther, jaguar, lions, a tiger and pumas, plus bears and farm type animals.
We got a taxi back to the centre for a late lunch and lay in the main Plaza in the shade for a siesta. Usually each city has a church and museum surrounding the main plaza, here was the first place we had seen on this trip that was not like this, there were only big fountains. There were a group of guys practicing parkor there which was interesting to watch. Went back to the hostel to collect our bags then hung out at an ice cream shop before the 4 of us got our bus to Bariloche. We were quite astounded to be forced into paying a tip to the guy who put our bags on the bus. Argentina is one of the more expensive places in South America, yet it was the first to demand a tip for this service. Even our bus driver to Mendoza asked for a tip! We pay enough for the damn buses here as it is!
We were told that the bus would take 15 hours. Didn’t get consistent sleep but that’s normal on a night bus. Like our San Pedro bus we were given a sweet biscuit for breakfast… we were given more on our shorter day bus to Mendoza! Mid morning we discovered that we weren’t even close to our destination. Our journey ended up taking 20 hours and I was not impressed. If I’m mentally prepared for how long a bus is going to be then I can endure it but this was annoying. The bus stopped for long periods of time constantly and it didn’t feel we were progressing and the views were nothing special. For the first time this trip at a police stop, they brought sniffer dogs onto the bus to sniff our luggage. I would’ve expected that from places like Colombia, not here! I had looked forward to an afternoon to relax and make a hiking plan in Bariloche but we didn’t arrive until dinner time. I had email reserved a 6 bed dorm room for the 4 of us which was just as well as the place booked out. We shared with a young Australian girl and a Swedish guy.
That night Anna and Alex went out to one of Argentina’s famous Parillas (Asados) – basically a type of BBQ. We couldn’t really afford to go and I’m not a huge meat person so we cooked all our meals. Dining out in Patagonia isn’t cheap! Argentina is known for its steak and Alex and Anna came back raving about it. They said one portion could feed 2-3 people! You can order steak the size of 2 plates! Basically at these types of restaurants, you order a big plate of meat, and if you want salad or fries, you have to order it separately. Sounded excellent value if you’re a steak lover!
We were very fortunate for our timing in Bariloche. There is currently a volcano spewing ash out of nearby Chile and 4 days ago, Bariloche had been smothered in cloud. Lucky for us, it cleared and we were rewarded with a stunning day of bright blue skies. It was hot – but comfortably unlike Mendoza. (On a side note, that volcano was saw smoking in Banos, Ecuador exploded a few weeks after we left!) The 4 of us got a local bus to Puerto Punales and went on a roughly 12km hike through the trees around part of the large stunning Laguna Nahuel Huapi in Argentina’s Lake District which is at the beginning of the Patagonia region at an elevation of 2200m.
We stopped at look out points to take photos of the crystal blue waters and had a picnic at Villa Tacul on a pebble beach at the lakes edge surrounded by wilderness. We walked out into the water thigh deep but didn’t brave it any deeper as the inviting tropical looking waters were at an arctic temperature. Our basic trail map didn’t mark a different route we could take back so we winged it and found another track up a random road. It lead us up the steep Cerro Llao Llao and once at the top we were presented with the mind blowing sweeping view over the lake, surrounding mountains, wild bush and little islands. It was absolutely breath taking and totally worth every second of that tedious bus ride. It reminded me a bit of Canada. We met an American family and chatted for a bit. We wanted to do some kayaking here but the prices were astronomical. If you want to do activities, do it when you’re still in Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia! Outside of those places aren’t cheap. We could’ve rented bikes here too but the paths we explored didn’t allow bikes so it was much more spectacular walking.
The next day Andrew and I went to Villa La Angostura, a little village just over an hour away from Bariloche. Like Bariloche, it had loads of fancy chocolate shops and swiss chalet type buildings but it was much much smaller. I had wanted to visit the Los Arrayanes National Park and do the 12km hike out to the peninsula through the strange trees but it was incredibly expensive to enter and get the boat back so we hiked up to view point instead. It was very pretty but we had been spoilt the day before and it was hard to match it. We could see the Volcano puffing away in the distance however and it was bizarre seeing the mountains covered in ash. It looked like grey sand dunes sitting on tip of a mountain’s forest. The paths weren’t well marked here and the trail at one point seemed like someone had just gone bush whacking. We climbed through tight bush that rained ash on us as we disturbed them, and over large fallen trees ending up at the top of a 50m water fall. We couldn’t actually see the waterfall but we could see where the water dropped off the steep edge. We kept getting dive bombed by large scary looking horse flies, very irritating. On the way down following a stream and getting a bit lost, we walked through ankle deep ash. It was no longer in the air, but it had settled and the town’s residents had piled it all up into heaps along the road side.
Here we stayed in a 6 person dorm but only shared it with 2 others who we didn’t actually meet. The next morning we walked down to the lake front and the water was so calm and clear you could see the bottom, very pretty!! Afterwards we got the bus back to Bariloche and arrived at the same time as Alex and Anna. They had done a hike up to a refuge and stayed the night next to an incredible lagoon. Villa La Angostura was nice to see but in hindsight, it wasn’t worth spending the extra money to go there, we should’ve gone with the others. But you don’t know unless you try!! That afternoon we all walked around Bariloche having a nosy at the expensive chocolate shops, got some ice cream and then relaxed back at the hostel. Unfortunately we couldn’t get beds in the same 6 bed dorm room. There was a party going on downstairs and people were coming and going from the rooms so we didn’t have the best sleep. When we all got up at 5.45am, music was still pumping from the streets below.
We were up early for our bus to our next destination - Deeper into Patagonia. And good timing too, the wind had changed direction and the ash was coming back!
History Lesson - Argentina stretches almost 3500km from Bolivia to the most southern tip of South America and is almost the size of India. It is home to the most southern city in the world, which is very close to Antarctica and it has the highest peak in the continent. It has a wide array of climates and landscapes from painted Andean deserts to massive glaciers. It’s expensive for a backpacker but it’s still cheaper than Europe and the states. In the cities it feels like you could be in Europe – the people are well dressed, fair skinned and the streets are clean and colorful. After years of boom, Argentina’s inflation remains high and the economy continues to sputter. The country teeters on the edge of a recession yet they do a great job of hiding this fact.
In 1536 the Spaniards turned up in search of Silver. The Querandi managed to drive them away into Paraguay but they returned in 1580 and established Buenos Aires. In 2010, Argentina celebrated its 200 year anniversary of independence from Spain. Afterwards there was a civil war between those in Buenos Aires (Unitarists) and the country folk (Federalists). In 1829 a man came into power that catered to everyone but he created a secret police that was used for torture. The first president in 1852 forced this dictator from power. Argentina’s new laws opened up the country to foreign investment, trade and immigration. In the following decade’s sheep, cattle and cereal products were exported and prosperity arrived making Argentina one of the richest countries in the world at the time. However the industrial sector couldn’t adsorb all the new immigrants so the gap between the rich and poor grew.
Juan Peron (Evita’s husband) became President in 1946 and improved things but abused his power at the same time. When Evita died and then eventually, he died, the country went back into chaos. In 1976 military rule prevailed once more. A guerilla group was formed and foreign businesses were bombed, executives were kidnapped for ransom and tortured, and banks were robbed. The government retaliated and killed anyone they suspected to be a Guerilla. An estimated 30,000 people died during this Dirty War. During this time, Argentina attempted to take over the Falklands Islands but lost to Britain.
A new president in 1989 started to set things right again but almost made the country bankrupt. In 2001, the country went through 4 Presidents in 2 weeks. The peso managed to settle at around 3 to the US Dollar (it’s just above 4 now) and because of Argentina’s suddenly cheap exports, the economy began to grow again and could pay off some of its huge debt. Nestor Kirchner was President for a term and then his wife took over for a term as the first women president for the country. The economy is still shaky but it’s heading to stronger grounds.
Argentina has a reputation of being stuck up and snobby. They undergo more cosmetic surgery and physcoanalysis than anyone else in the world. They lived in rich country and watched it plummet into being a third world country, yet they still have pride. To me, Argentines have been very friendly. Especially compared to some native people in other countries…!
