Argentina
Facts:-
Day 188 continued - Friday 13th January 2006 - on to Salta
In La Quiaca we made our way to the bus terminal and realised we had very limited choices to get to Salta. We opted for the 8pm Balut bus (arriving in Salta at 3:30am!)
We had a hour to find some dinner, but after unsucessfully going to 6 restaurants - none of which were serving dinner yet (!) we went back to the bus station café. Even there our order of omelettes (chosen for their ease of preparation) didn't arrive in the half hour we had available before boarding our bus. So we went hungry (with just a few Oreos to keep us going)!
It was only when boarding the bus that we found out that the 7½ hour journey was on a bus without a toilet! - we guess that is how they managed to cram 55 seats on the upper deck. The seats themselves were allegedly a "semi-cama", but with no leg room for Ian. Fortunately he did manage to put his legs in the aisle and get some sleep - mostly exchanging kicks with other passengers as they passed!
In any case, this was not a good introduction to the Argentinian bus network, about which we had heard such good things!
Day 189 - Saturday 14th January 2006 - Salta
So, at 3:30am, we arrived in Salta. Unfortunately there had been no delays! We caught a taxi to a nearby hostel (we didn't realise quite how nearby until we were paying for a trip - not much more than around the corner!), but it was full. We wandered a little further and found a place with availability, but only dorm beds. Given the time, that was pretty tempting, but we decided to keep going as we didn't really want to be looking for another hostel again later in the morning. Eventually we found an available double room at the Hostal Condor Pass. It seemed a bit on the expensive side ($50 Pesos per night, about $16.50) especially as there was so little of the night left! but at least breakfast was included and we were told we could check out at any time, so we could have a lie in.
So we crashed out, finally emerging around 10am and enjoyed our breakfast of fresh bread, butter (no margarine in sight!) and good fresh coffee for Nikki.
After a quick walk around the centre of town to find a cashpoint, we returned to the bus station to book our onward trip to Puerto Iguazú. We spent a while checking out our options, but soon realised that there were not as many services as we had expected (only one direct service a day, and no "cama" options at all). Of course, by the time we had decided to book the most expensive (and direct) service, it had sold out for the next 3 days! So, quickly before any other buses could be filled up, we booked ourselves seats on the next available (13-hour!) overnight bus to Resistencia. Even this service wasn't available until the following evening, so we would at least have some time to explore Salta.
Back at the hostel Ian noticed that the TV in the small living area was still showing live Premiership Football and so settled in to watch Liverpool vs. Spurs (doubling the audience in the process). Meanwhile, Nikki went out in search of a laundrette.
After a "stunning" 1-0 Liverpool victory, we popped around the corner for lunch at a pavement café. After that, we bought a couple of CDs to supplement our small and poor CD selection - one (James Blunt) wasn't even a fake! but unfortunately it also came with a proper price tag. Then it was time to find an internet café with a a decent connection so we could back up all our Peru and Bolivia photos.
Inexplicably, the LP made no reference to a steak restaurant in Salta, so that evening we had to go and check out some options for ourselves. Not surprisingly that was pretty easy (even at our budget, there was almost too much choice). However, the first place we decided on wouldn't serve us beef, only veal. So we left in seach of (dead) cows!
We had previously eyed-up a place just down the road (Parilla y Restaurante El Charrúa), which served us decent steak (Nikki's, smothered in a roquefort cheese sauce, being especially appreciated) and Argentinian red wine. But, with so much choice, we did have the dilemma of deciding how much to spend on wine! We finished dinner with an ice cream sitting in the plaza, watching as several wedding couples rushed around the picturesque setting for those all important photos.
Earlier in the day we had moved rooms in the hostel, so we now had a double bed and went back for a well needed night's sleep.
Day 190 - Sunday 15th January 2006 - still in Salta
We enjoyed the hostel breakfast again and wandered out to find virtually the whole city closed - it was Sunday after all, but it was a shock, as all of Central and South America so far had opperated on a 7-day week. However after a little aimless wandereing we did find a open supermarket, where we bought some picinic supplies.
We planned to ride the cable car from town up San Bernardo hill, so headed that way. At the top, we appreciated a good view of the city and the pretty gardens surrounding the cable car terminal itself. Here there were plenty of man-made waterfalls, that provided good photo opportunities. We wandered around what little there was to explore up there before settling down in the sun and heat of the day for our picnic of bread, cheese, salami and, of course, some more Argentinian red wine!. Before we finished eating, we had to move spots to hide from the sun. But soon, we were heading down a paved "staircaise" back to town. We stopped in the plaza again and finished our picnic, tucking into a fresh pineapple. With some time still left in the day before our bus left, we killed another hour or so on the internet before returning to the hostel to change and repack our backpacks and prepare oursleves for the long journey ahead.
After a walk to the bus station, we settled into our large and comfortable seats at the back of the lower deck of our Norte del Bis bus. We had so much more room than we had been used to in Peru :-) However the rubbish sandwich dinner was not quite what we had hoped for.
Day 191 - Monday 16th January 2006 - journey to Puerto Iguazú
We woke after a surprisingly good night's sleep - OK we had been woken by stopping at every bus station since midnight, but at least there had only been three! On arriving at Resistencia bus station at about 7am, we went straight to the ticket counters to see how soon we could get a bus to Puerto Iguazú. Our choice was between a bus leaving at 11pm and another at 9am - guess which one we chose?
After a small breakfast upstairs in the bus station, we boarded our Rio Uruguay bus and settled into our front row top deck seats. There was so much room! You could even put your feet up near the windscreen for extra leg room :-) But we did have another 10 hours on a bus ahead of us :-(
OK, so 10 hours turned out to be 11½, but Nikki thrashed Ian at Scrabble and we "enjoyed" a rubbish lunch. Nikki also won a tutored game of chess before we "enjoyed" a rubbish snack.
Eventually at 7:30pm, after a total of 25½ hours of travel since leaving Salta, we arrived in Puerto Iguazú. Hooray!
We checked out some LP-recommended hostels, but they were all either full, or too expensive. But we did find a hospedaje next door to one (Hospedaje Familiar - "de Marie"). We actually had a pretty poor room, with a bunk, a spare camp bed taking up most of the space and a couple of (soon dead) cockroaches for company, but were promised that we could swap rooms and get a double bed the following day, so we decided to stay.
We were very hungry, so went straight out for dinner. We found a Parillada eat-all-you-can for $15 Pesos (about $5), which we thought was worth a try. Ian ate three plates of lean beef and chorizo and salad galore. We also enjoyed some wine, but were unsucessful in ordering a second litre, so went home.
Day 192 - Tuesday 17th January 2006 - on to Brazil!
We had decided to go to Brazil for the day. And it was only a $1 Peso (about $0.33) bus ride from Puerto Iguazú to Foz de Iguaçu...
Next
Day 192 continued - Tuesday 17th January 2006 - back in Argentina
As earlier in the day, we needed to get our passports stamped at Argentinian immigration, but there was still no sign of Brazilian immigration. While at the border, Ian jumped back off the bus to change our remaining Reals into Argentinian Pesos.
Not only would the office not accept our coins (they were all of 20 feet over the border after all), but the guy on the counter calmly slipped our 50 Real note (about $20) into the desk drawer and tried to exchange only the remaining Reals! As we didn't really have a good feeling for how much money we were trying to exchange, it was fortunate that Ian had spotted this and insisted in getting the 50 Reals back!
We got off the bus to get some breakfast supplies (and red wine!) and showered. Clean (but still far too hot) we waited for the rain to pass (which it didn't) before heading out for dinner to a restaurant that had been packed the night before. However, we were the only diners (again!). We had over-salted, but pleasantly different south-east asian food accommpanied by a couple of tasty caipirinha's (we had been to Brazil today after all!)
Day 193 - Wednesday 18th January 2006 - Cataratas Iguazú - Day 1
Our stale bread rolls for breakfast didn't go quite as well with our butter and jam as hoped, but we were soon off to the Argentinian side of the falls.
Unfortunately, we had quite a long wait for a bus - we must have just missed one, so didn't arrive to the Parque Nacionale Iguazú until 10am. We decided to go straight to the top of the "Gargantua del Diablo" (Devil's Throat). This required a couple of trips on the narrow guage railway followed by about a 1km walk on a metal boardwalk, from where we spotted a large caiman, just below. As we approached the falls, you could hear the roar and then see the water disappearing over the edge. But soon we were faced with the enormity of the Gargantua del Diablo itself!/
The viewpoint area virtually overhung the enourmous drop down to the river below, but you couldn't see the river itself as the spray was everywhere - even though we were above the falls, we occasionally got soaked as the wind changed direction. We took loads of photos, looking out from various different parts of the viewpoint and got even wetter - but again it was quite pleasant as the sun was so hot.
Eventually the crowds got too much for us and we walked back, stopping for an ice cream before catching the train back. Next we walked the upper trail (translated as "superior walk"), which took us along the tops of many of the smaller falls. We continued to be impressed by the sheer size of most of them - but we were always grateful for any bits of shade we could find. After a salty cheese and ham baguette for lunch, we walked the lower trail (?nferior walk"!) down to the boat over to Isla San Martin.
Now we got really hot waiting for the short boat crossing and were looking forward to cooling off with a paddle on the "beach" on the island. When there, we did have a dip, but it was really shallow and not so refreshing as hoped. We climbed the steps through a small forest to the top of the island (only about 100m, but that was plenty in this heat!) Then, nearby, got a great view of the San Martin falls (the second largest after the Gargantua del Diablo). At least the spray here was refreshing.
By now it was quite late and it took us quite a while to get back to the entrance, where we were lucky to catch a bus just leaving for Puerto Iguazú. Once back, we booked our bus to Buenos Aires and then enjoyed a nice cold beer on the terrace of a nearby restaurant, but by the time we had showered it was raining again.
We went to a Parillada restaurant for dinner and had some pretty good steak (so far we had been a bit disappointed by the quality of Argentinian steak) in mushroom sauce, with some red wine (of course!). The evening seemed expensive, but the bill only came to $60 Pesos ($20), which wasn't really that bad!
Day 194 - Thursday 19th January 2006 - Cataratas Iguazú - Day 2
We had decided to spend a second day on the Argentinian side of the falls and got up a little earlier, breakfasted and were on our way soon after 8am.
We decided to start the day walking the Macuco trail (a forest walk /nature trail). At first, we saw little (although the birds and insects were certainly making plenty of noise), but then Nikki spotted a small mouse and Ian saw some sort of large rodent scurry across the trail. After a little more than an hour the trail took us to a hidden waterfall (apparently where the Iguazú falls used to be millenia ago, before they eroded their way back up the canyon to their current position). The way back was much more exciting. Nikki heard a large bird nearby and after some watching and waiting, we saw a couple of Toca toucans, with huge bright orange bills. A bit further, we saw another (possibly one of the same pair) pearched in a tree above the trail. It was much more cloudy today and we expected that was why the toucans were more active than the day before.
We finished the walk and returned to the main tourist area, but even on the way there we saw 2 more toucans. An american couple were also there watching them and they lent us their binoculars and giving us a really good view.
We had decided to get the "Green Passport" combo (a truck ride through the forest, an extended speedboat ride on the river and a slow boat float on the upper falls). Just as we were about to book it started to rain. But as we were planning to get wet on the boat, we decided to join the tour leaving immediately. Unfortunately, we had been expecting hot sunny weather, like the previous 2 days, so didn't have our waterproofs with us!
The truck took us back into the forest, but wasn't very exciting as we went along the track far too quickly and all that was pointed out were some trees. We were dropped near the river, where we walked down to our power boat, which whizzed us up the river towards the falls. First, we were taken forwards, and then backwards, right under one of the smaller falls we had seen clearly from the brazilian bank a couple of days before. Then, after a quick look in the general direction of the Gargantua del Diablo, which were far to powerful to approach, we came around towards the huge San Martin falls. We were taken up close to the falls, and although we didn't get anywhere near right underneath them, visibility was zero as the spray hit us and we got completely soaked! Then we went back again and as the rest of the tourists were Argentines and were clamouring for more, we went back a third time :-)
Back on dry land, we tried to dry off, but it was still cloudy, so we were a bit chilled. We went to the cafeteria to change into some dry clothes and to get some Milanesa sandwiches for lunch (the day before, we had investigated the LP-recommended buffet at the Sheraton, but it was far more expensive than our budget could cope with), before heading to the Devil's Throat one more time, which was just as impressive the second time around. On the way back we finished our combo tour with a serene river float, where we spotted a couple of small caimans.
By the end of the 30-minute ride, it was raining again. After catching the bus back into town again, there was no sun (or beer) available on the restaurant terrace today, but we decided to eat there anyway, sharing a Mixto Parrillada kebab, together with some more red wine :-)
Day 195 - Friday 20th January 2006 - on to Buenos Aires
After a lateish breakfat, we spend most of the day online, sorting out the hundreds of photos we had taken of the falls and searching (unsucessfully) for a hostel in Buenos Aires. We enjoyed a gnocchi lunch and picked up our bags just in time for our 4pm bus departure. We had opted for a "cama" bus and not only were we served a cold plate of food, but also a plate of hot food, sodas, wine and even champagne. We also had nice wide seats and even movies in English (and only Spanish subtitles!)
Day 196 - Saturday 21st January 2006 - Nikki's birthday in Buenos Aires
We both had slept well and after breakfast on the bus, we arrived at Retiro bus terminal in Buenos Aires a little ahead of schedule. We checked out the availability and prices for various buses to Mendoza and then caught the metro (once we found the station!) to the south of the city centre to try and find a hostel.
The first hostel we tried virtually laughed at us when we asked when we asked for a room without a reservation. This was not a good sign! We gradually worked our way from hostel to hostel into the centre of town, the best offer had been of "maybe a place in a dorm if you come back later". We lost count of how many "nada's" we heard, but by the time we were on about our 12th hostel ("Hostal Santa Teresita"), we found a room :-). By the time we had been to collect our backpacks, which we had left at one of the other hostels and returned it was 12 o'clock and 4 hours since we had arrived!
Ian still had no birthday presents for Nikki, so after a quick milanesa sandwich lunch in a parilla around the corner, Nikki went to get her hair cut, leaving Ian about 1½ hours to find something! He was worried that that wouldn't be long enough - especially when lots of shops spotted earlier in the day turned out to be closed on a Saturday afternoon. But in the end, once he found the main shopping streets, it was no problem. He spent far too much money, but most of Nikki's presents would be useful later on the trip - books on Mendoza vineyards and wine, some 60s and 80s CDs, some wine and a llama fingerpuppet (brought all the way from Bolivia). Nikki returned from the hairdressers, relieved to have managed to communicate how she wanted it done, albeit with the help of magazine pictures, and excited at all the presents she had to open.
One of the reasons we had been rushing through so many places for the last month or two was that we were trying to meet up with John and Jane. And now in Buenos Aires, we caught up with them near the end of their holiday. We walked across town and found their (very plush looking) hotel.
It was great to see some faces from home (after only 196 days!). We all went to a restaurant in Recoleta and drank some wine, which seemed to annoy the waiter, who clearly wanted us to eat too. We moved onto a restaurant from John's Footprint guidebook, which we found after a couple of false turns. We may have been the youngest diners by about 20 years, but the food (steak) was good, as was the wine.
Fortunately, Ian didn't have to help Nikki home (a la New Year celebrations!) and we even managed to walk off some of our dinner (we hoped) on the way back to the hostel.
Day 197 - Sunday 22nd January 2006 - picnicing in Recoleta and Tango show, Buenos Aires
Nikki got a bit of a lie in, while Ian unsucessfully looked for a hostel in Mendoza on the internet. We had agreed to meet John and Jane at their hotel after 11am, but it wasn't until nearer 12 noon that we had managed to walk to their hotel, stopping for some picnic supplies en route.
Nikki had read in the LP that the parks in Recoleta and Palermo were popular on a Sunday, so that's where we headed. We passed through a busy craft market and had to walk across lots of small grassy areas before reaching the rose garden. We weren't sure whether we were allowed to sit on the grass, but there didn't seem to be any signs warning against it and a few other people were there, so we settled down. As usual we had too much cheese and wine, but luckily John and Jane helped us out and we all enjoyed a pleasant picnic until a park warden came and moved us on. Clearly we shouldn't have been sitting on the grass!
We walked around a small boating lake and on the way back, we stopped to look in the Japenese garden. It was very small and didn't seem to be very Japenese! There were lots of enourmous Koi carp.
It had been a long day already and we neede to go back to the hostel for a rest. Nikki had a snooze, but Ian decided he wanted to finish some of the "tasks" we had outstanding on the internet.
We met John and Jane for a tango show in the evening at El Viejo Almacen . This started with dinner across the road - we seemd to arrive a bit late and certainly finished eating late as the waiter guiided us down to the theatre and pushed us into the front of the queue.
The theatre was quite small and we had a front row balcony table, where we enjoyed some champagne and gin and tonics. The show was a mixture of dancing and music. We assume the dancing was tango, certainly the very quick footsteps were very impressive. The musical interludes were presumably to give the dancers a rest. The first was a Englebert Humperdink look-a-like crooner, then there was an Andean pan pipe interlude and finally a female vocalist (she was apparently 85 years old, but could have passed for 55 easily!) There also seemed to be a guest appearance from a different tango pair before the regular dancers were back for the finale. The show finished bang on midnight and we had the luxury of sharing John and Jane's taxi home. :-)
Day 198 - Monday 23rd January 2006 - Buenos Aires
After breakfast, Ian wandered around the city centre trying to find some information about local football games. We had hoped to see either Boca Juniors or River Plate play, but it was after the end of the regular season and only a few South America Cup games were taking place. In any case, finding where tickets were for sale proved very difficult. The only option we found was for a "tour" (basically transport and tickets to the game), which was expensive. In any case the only game soon was a River Plate game in 3 days time and all the replica kits (which we wanted to wear) were ridiculously expensive. All this time Ian had also been carrying our laundry, expecting to find a laundrette easily, but eventually only finding one in the next street to our hostel.
We headed back to the same parrilla restaurant for lunch, but our chicken sandwich just wasn't up to the quality of the $5 Peso ($1.60) milanesa the day before!
We decided not to wait around in Buenos Aires to see the River Plate game and instead went back to the bus station to buy our tickets to Mendoza.
We met John and Jane again in the evening (it was Jane's birthday) and went for some micro brewed beers at the Buller Brewing Co - our first proper beers since the Queen Vic in Quito! Ian really liked the stout.
We took a taxi to the old port (Puerto Madera), on the way our taxi driver (ZZ Top look-a-like) kept us entertained - driving without headlights, pointing out buildings of interest, but generally less keen to watch the road as he was to chat to John, who was in the front seat. Jane chose Restaurante Sorrento and we enjoyed the food (boys: mixed kebabs, girls: pasta (smoked salmon and caviar for Nikki!)) and a really nice wine (Norton Perdriel Cabernet Sauvignon). Then back at their hotel we said goodbye to John and Jane and gave them a small bag (no where near as much as they had brought out for us!) of stuff to take home.
Day 199 - Tuesday 24th January 2006 - on to Mendoza
We tried to book ourselvees a hostel in Mendoza over the internet, but failed to find a room - so it looked like we may have some walking around town when we got there!
We tried one of the many "tenedor libre"(eat all you can) restaurant for $10 Pesos (about $3.30) for lunch. The noodles were good, but Ian particularly enjoyed the jelly and ice cream - big kid!
We went and sat in a grassy square for a while, writing some of this diary. Then it was back to the hostel, Ian used the internet, Nikki snoozed in front of the Australian Open tennis on TV.
A little later it was back on the metro to Retiro, for our bus. Unfortunately, we caught the train in the wrong direction! and had to retrace our route - fortunately we had only gone a couple of stops!
For our final long bus journey in Argentina, we had booked ourselves on a luxury bus (a Royal Suite) with Cata International. Basically we had seats that reclined almost completely and again we were at the front of the upper deck, so could stretch out further. They also served some decent food and wine, finishing off the meal with some really good raspberry fizz and Bad Boys II in Spanish. We both slept very well.
Day 200 - Wednesday 25th January 2006 - arriving in Mendoza
We arrived at Mendoza's bus station at 9am and expected some difficulty in finding a room. We left our backpacks in the Lagare's Hostal, which at least had a dorm room available and continued searching. Finally a guy on the desk in the Confluencia Hostal took pity on us and phoned a few other more remote hostels and found us an available double room in a newly opened hostel :-). Unfortunately it was some way out of town (20 blocks north), but when we reached the hostel Wine and Sun we were only too pleased to stay there. So it only took us 3 hours in the heat to find a room today!
We definitely needed a shower by now. After a very good lomo (steak) sandwich for lunch in the market, we looked around for some rafting and/or cycling activities. In general we were not very impressed and decided to return to where we had earlier left our bags and enquire about the tours they advertised.
We had earlier walked passed a number of restaurants in the centre of town and returned to one (by bus - it was a long way to keep walking to and from our hostel!), which served pretty good steak and wine (definitely a theme here for our Argentinian diet!)
Day 201 - Thursday 26th January 2006 - Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza
Once again our inclusive breakfast was really tiny. But it gave us enough energy to go back to the Lagare's Hostal to book a number of trips.
Then we caught a bus from the terminal south to the suburb of Lujan de Cuyo. This is one of the main centres for wine production in Mendoza and we hoped to hire some bikes to cycle around some wineries. After about 40 minutes we arrived, but we weren't sure where to get off and ended up staying on the bus too long and having to walk back! In any case, there was no tourist information and no places to hire bikes! So our plan for the day was somewhat scuppered!
We had a reservation for a tour at Bodega Norton (where Nikki's birthday wine was from) and decided to catch a taxi there. But we coudn't even find a taxi! We ended up delaying our tour time, eating some lunch from a pavement café and asking them to book us a taxi.
As we had rearranged our tour time, the security guard at Norton almost didn't let us past the gate, but once inside we admired some of the vineyards, picturesqely set in front of the snowy Andes. It turned out that we had a virtually private tour (in English), although a couple of Dutch joined us after a few minutes. Albert gave us a very interesting and informative tour of the large winery (one of the oldest in Mendoza, having started in 1895), then it was back to the bar for tastings. We were very disappointed to only receive 2 tastings, as we had hoped to find something we particularly liked and could buy in the UK. Surprisingly we preferred the Sauvignon Blanc to the Cabernet Sauvignon, bought a bottle and chatted to the Dutch couple. They recommended another new hostel near the centre of Mendoza, where we could probably get a double room.
We decided to walk back to the centre of Lujan de Cuyo and see if we could pop into another winery for tastings. However, all we passed was a sign to Terrazas de los Andes, and we decided to check it out, even though we knew it was set back from the road. It turned out to be more than a kilometre off the road and by the time we arrived, it wasn't even open for tastings :-(. We continued walking - which turned out to be further than we had expected, but at least as soon as we arrived in Lujan de Cuyo, we jumped on a passing bus going straight back to Mendoza.
Nikki was exhausted and had blistered feet, so Ian decided to cook pasta in the hostel. It smelt and tasted good. :-)
Day 202 - Friday 27th January 2006 - Rafting the Rio Mendoza
We had booked an activity day of zip-lining and rafting on the Rio Mendoza and our transfer arrived just before 9am.
By 11am we were kitted out in harnesses and tasteful pink helmets and making our way up a small hill to the start of the zip-lining course. (The tour was actually described as a "canopy tour" - interesting as there wasn't a tree in sight!)
The course only consisted of 6 cables, the first of which was very short. But by the third, we were both persuaded to try one line in a "superman pose" - that certainly gave our stomach muscles a work out! The last 2 cables were long and reached across the river and back. The final one was 450m long and Ian tried to video it, but with his hand on the camera coudn't control his direction in the breeze.
After all that excitement, we had a couple of hours to relax in the sun and get some food (steak sandwiches again!). By 3pm we were having our rafting briefing, being kitted out in full wetsuits and on our way up river in a bus. Diego was our guide and with us were Skimmer and Gill (from New England) and Lenus (from Sweden). The river was very fast flowing and looked the colour of chocolate milk (more like brown water rafting then!). After our last rafting experience in Costa Rica, we were pleased that everyone in the boat seemed to want to have a good go and we were soon on our way. We were going quite well, even having to stop for some of the other boats to have additional practice sessions! Then some canoeists fell in and Diego had us chasing a paddle down river, paddling as hard as we could for at least a couple of minutes, but seemed like longer! We managed to retrieve it at the second attempot and needed a rest to recover. The short course was now almost finished and after a couple more sections of rapids we were on the final float home. Ian and Skimmer jumped in and experienced the icy waters to their full - Ian was soon out again, having acquired some mud from the water under his contact lens :-(.
Thanks very much to John Alexander for "sponsoring" this part of our trip!
Back at the Argentina Rafting site, we were (rather unusually) persuaded to buy the photo CD of our day, before our transfer home.
After showering, we headed out just across the road to El Establo for an hour of pool on the best and cheapest tables we had seen for a long time (including in London!). Then we walked back into town and ate at another pavement Parrilla restaurant, where we stocked up on meat, meat and more meat (and red wine, of course!)
Unfortunately, we had lots of diary entries to type up and other online research to do, so it was a late night on the internet, before another hot and noisy night - at least Ian remembered to put some ear plugs in today!
Day 203 - Saturday 28th January 2006 - Posada Salentein
We were breakfasted and packed early and had dropped one backpack and some other stuff at another hostel, which we had booked for the following night. Today, however, we were treating ourselves (actually we were spending our wedding present from Claire and James Walter - thanks!) to a very extravagant night at Posada Salentein (about an hour south of Mendoza). This was the winery where the red wine for our wedding meal had come from and it seemed a good way to celebrate our 8 month wedding anniversary!
We went to the bus terminal and asked at the information desk how best to get to Bodega Salentein by bus (we knew of 2 routes). But the woman there was of no help at all. We just decided to take the first bus leaving on one of the routes. This took us to Tunuyan in about an hour, where we soon discovered that the only way onward was a taxi. This wasn't a great surprise! Our car wasn't exactly in tip-top condition either, even for South American standards! and the driver turned out not really to know the way (even though we had a small hand-drawn map). We stopped a couple of times for directions and made it there with no problems (other than the windscreen almost falling out on the un-metalled road!). When we arrived, we were really glad that we had not tried to catch a bus or hitch as the Posada (guesthouse) itself was 3km from the road and the Bodega (winery), which would not have been a pleasant walk.
It seemed rather odd to be arriving with a backpack in a clapped out old taxi to such a exclusive looking palce. But we were welcomed warmly and even given a lovely bottle of Sauvignon Blanc to drink with our picnic lunch that we had brought with us (our wallet didn't quite stretch to full board!).
We knew we would only be staying one night, so wanted to use as many of the facilities as possible and so had e-mailed our plans ahead of time. However, no one seemed to know anything about them. This didn't prove to be a problem, as we joined Randy (from Ontario) on a private tour of the Bodega. José, our guide, showed us around the ultra-modern winery (it is only 6 years old), built in the shape of a cross to signify the community of monks that used to live on some of the Bodega's land. As it was the weekend, there was no activity at the Bodega itself, but we got a comprehensive tour, including seeing the stylish cellar, where barrels of the premium wines were arranged in several tiered circles. We visited several dedicated wine tasting rooms and used one of them to taste a number of wines ourselves.
We tasted 3 wines and decided that the Malbec '04 wasn't the wine served at our wedding (we couldn't remember exactly what was served, but decided that it must have been the '03). José was called away as our tour had been so long - we had had too many quesstions. Eventually, we left and Hugo drove us back to the Posada.
We headed straight to the pool, disappointed to find that it was only filled with about 1m of water, but had a paddle and grabbed the last 2 remaining sun loungers for a bit of relaxing. The sun was very hot and we didn't realise how late it was, when suddenly at about 6pm we were spurred into action by lots of sprinklers that suddenly came to life and sprayed water over the edges of the pool area!
We were quickly showered and ready for dinner (we weren't really making full use of our lovely room "Chardonnay"). We settled down and tasted the first of many Salentein wines (a Chardonnay, which to us tasted like a Sauvingon Blanc - just as the Sauvignon Blanc at lunch had tasted like a Chardonnay - what do we know!).
Before dinner, we chatted to Sue and John, farmers from North Wales. Then we were seated and served kid (baby goat) and some part of a cow - apparently traditional Parrillada food in this part of Argentina. We weren't really very impressed as we had been looking forward to some fabulous steak or something similar. But when Nikki asked specifically for a lean piece of meat it was pretty good. Ian must have continued to look really disappointed, because after asking unsucessfully for some lean meat a couple of times, he was brought a couple of chicken breasts - at least he had some food to go with all the wines we were sampling!
Meanwhile, the debris from Ian's plate somehow found their way into the mouth of a puppy and its mother, Luna. Dessert was strawberries and cream (we didn't think that 'pumpkin dessert' either translated well or would taste too good!).
Throughout the evening, we had been plied with numerous wines, the first of which (after the Chardonnay) was a "San Pablo" label - apparently this used to be available at Marks and Spencer! However, by the next morning we needed to consult our little wine notebook to remember what others we drank (and how many)... It turned out that we had also drunk bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and some Malbec '03 (our wedding wine, we think, but difficult to be sure at 1am) and a glass of El Portillo Extra Brut. Randy and us were the last ones standing (OK - sitting) and stumbled to bed sometime before 2am.
Day 204 - Sunday 29th January 2006 - back to Mendoza
OK, so we didn't get up as early as planned, but Nikki had tried to go for an early morning swim, only to find that here was now only a couple of inches of water in the pool. So she had gone back to bed and we slept for a few more hours.
We made it to breakfast for 9:30am, expecting this to be good timing for the horse riding we had rearranged for 10am. However, it turned out that our new scheduled time hadn't been passed on to Hugo or the stables. Nevertheless, Hugo arranged for us to go up to the stables. There we were led slowly around some of the Bodega land (mostly orchards forming part of Finca San Paulo) with our mounts (Ian: Cultura and Itarela: Nikki). These horse were certainly some the best fed and groomed we had seen since the start of our trip. They might not have been the tallest, but were certainly the widest and we were glad that we were riding for only about an hour and a half!
That gave us time to head up to see some fantasic views of the snow-capped Andes across the orchards. the horses were going slowly and so every so often we had to encourage them into a trot or canter to catch up with our guide. Eventually we arrived at a small derelict building, which after some difficulties in translation we realised was where the local monks had used to live (at first we couldn't work out why "monkeys" would live here!).
We returned by a different route, again crossing a river a few feet deep, that the horses didn't seem too keen on and then along a very long tree-lined avenue, which was very pleasant. However, just before the end Cultura got spooked by a dog and shot off away towards the trees - Ian only just had the strength to reign him in.
Thanks to Claire and James Walter for "sponsoring" this part of our trip!
Back at the Posada, we took a few photos before leaving (a group of tourists had just arrived to stay, so we asked if we could get a ride back to Mendoza in their minibus, that was otherwise returning empty, but the driver wanted $150 Pesos ($50) which was a non-starter! We persuaded Hugo to drop us back at the Bodega, where we had arranged the day before to pop in and buy a bottle or two of wine. However, after we reached the Bodega, we realised that it was closed. Hugo had already driven off, so we tried to see if anyone could be summonded from inside, to no avail. We had also hoped to telephone for a taxi from inside, so now facded a long walk / hitch. We walked to the security guard post, who was unable to telephone a taxi for us also, but we were told that a bus should be passing any minute! We though it was unlikely - we hadn't seen any vehicles pass for over 20 minutes, but we went to wait. After another 15 minutes or so, with no vehicles heading in our direction, we decided that if we saw another vehicle before a bus, we would try and hitch.
Amazingly the first vehicle to pass stopped for us and the young driver (who had been mountain biking high in the Andes! - we had a bit of a chat, until our Spanish capabilities ran out) dropped us right outside the bus station in Tupungato about 20km away. We only had a little over 30 minutes to wait for a bus to Mendoza - just enough time to buy some cheese, ham and stale bread for lunch! It was a Sunday after all.
We were back in Mendoza by mid-afternoon and soon enjoying a tasty ice cream on the plaza. We checked into Hostal Punto Urbano (the one recommended to us by the Dutch couple we had met at Bodega Norton) and settled in. Ian immediately found that the bed frame was broken but amazingly the hostel had a spare one in the cellar, which we left them to fit while we searched for an internet café
Back in the hostel, Ian sat on the bed and felt it creak horribly, so rested a drawer from the cupboard under the weak point and ignored the problem (we couln't bring ourselves to tell the management that their lovely new beds were actually no good!). We enjoyed our bottle of Norton Sauvignon Blanc in the pretty patio \garden before heading back into the centre of town to a good Italian restaurant. By now Nikki was even sufficiently over her hangover to have some more wine :-)
Day 205 - Monday 30th January 2006 - cycling in Maipú, Mendoza - Day 1
The hostel owner had given us directions for catching a bus to Maipú, another of Mendoza's wine making areas. We didn't find the #170 bus he mentioned, but eventually worked out that any bus with a #171, #172, #173 number would take us the right way.
Again we were hoping to cycle around and visit some wineries. But this time we had emailed ahead and "Bikes and Wine" were expecting us! Neverthless, when we got off the bus, there was no activity at the small outfit where we expected to pick up our bikes. Eventually we managed to wae up an old guy living in the attached house, who told us that it wouldn't be opening until 11am.
After walking to the closest winery (Cavas del Conde), which turned out to be closed to the public - apparently until tomorrow, we headed a little further to Bodega La Rural. Here we joined the 10am tour. At first it looked as if it would be quite a small tour, but eventually over 30 people turned up. It was a bilingual tour for a change and we also were shown some of the highlights of the attached wine museum. A particular highlight was an original "ox-skin lagar" - basically a near complete ox skin in which grapes were crushed by feet, then the bung in the ox-anus was removed and the all the grape juice would flow out! Again we were disappointed only to be given 2 wines to taste and even those were "special" wines for tour visitors only and not for sale outside the winery.
So we headed back to Bikes and Wine, hoping it would be open. It was and we arranged with Gustan to hire bikes for 2 consecutive days. We had planned to cycle quite a long way, all the way out to Bodega Zuccardi and decided we still probably had enough time.
We bought some very stale sandwiches and water from a nearby store and popped back into Bodega La Rural for a wine to accompany them. Eventually we set off on some very quiet and scenic (if not very flat!) roads. Our first stop was at Bodega Don Bosco, where we had time to eat our lunch before being taken on a very informal (and private) tour at this winery and school for trainee winemakers. We were able to taste one wine and also taken out to see the vineyards (our tour had been in Spanish and we hadn't understood the explanation of why we coudn't visit the vines today - it turned out to be because they were being flooded - a traditional way of watering the vines). We bought a bottle (not the one we tasted) and headed onto Bodega Zuccardi.
We had more distance still to go than we had already cycled, so tried to keep up a decent pace. But our map wasn't that good. We were a little unsure when the road turned into a track, then into a path and then turned across the highway. But on the other side was another road, just as our map showed. Anyway this route eventually took us to Zuccardi. We even arrived without getting too wet, which was a surprise, given the large dark clouds looming ahead of us for most of the cycle!
We had arrived in time for the last tour of the day and together with one other couple were shown around the usualy array of winemaking machinery. In addition, here, we were shown an area where the winemakers "innovate" with unusual grapes or combinations of grapes. Onc again these wines were only for sale and tasting in the winery itself, but in addition, we were able to try 3 or 4 other wines. These were far superior to the othehrs we had tasted today and we were even allowed to taste some additional wines. We selected a couple of Malbecs to try, eventually buying a bottle of one of them. So that was a good way to finish the day, but of course we hadn't finished!
Our guide at Zuccardi phoned Bikes and Wine to say that we wouldn't be back until later than expected and we headed back, retracing our 25 or so km route home. This took us more than another 2 hours and so we didn't get the bikes back until 7pm, where we left them with the old man we had woken earlier that morning!
Back in Mendoza, we headed back to the market and tucked into more really good steak sanwiches. Ian also enjoyed a dark beer, but we were soon in bed as we were absolutely knackered!
Day 206 - Tuesday 31st January 2006 - cycling in Maipú, Mendoza - Day 2
We knew which bus to catch today, so were in Maipú before Bikes and Wine opened again. Once again Cava del Conde was closed so we waited on a little bench in the sun, soothing our sore bits from yesterday's cycling!
However, we were soon on our way. We had decided not to cycle the route Gustan had prepared for his "tour" (in any case 2 of the wineries were closed to visitors and we weren't able to eat at the delicatessen as planned), but rather decided to head into the centre of Maipú and visit Bodega Lopez. This was a pretty touristy place and we were glad to miss some of the introductory video (in Spanish) and join the tour. The tour was also in Spanish, but as we were seeing much the same things as at other vineyards, we pretty much knew what our guide was saying. In addition, though, we did get to see an operational bottling plant, which was interesting. We took some photos with some outsize wine bottles before our 3 tastings (a Chardonnay, Malbec and a Cabernet Merlot), which were all pretty nice.
We cycled a little further on to Bodega Giol. This winery still made wine the old fashioned way (i.e. mostly low quality), but it's wines are no longer popular, so the huge winery only produces a little wine these days. Nevertheless, we got to see some of the vats and barrels used in the process and tasted a couple of wines. At the price they were, we could see why the wines are not that popular!
We were already quite late, so we headed straight to CarinaE, where we planned to have lunch. We were delighted when the owner met us and was happy for us to skip the tour and head straight for the tastings. We even opted to pay $5 Pesos (about $1.70) so that we could try all his (six) wines. We had a good chat with the French owner who had not been in Argentina long (about 3 years) and enjoyed all the wines (including 3 malbecs from different terroirs).
We ordered some delicious ham sandwiches and bought some lovely and fresh rosé to accompany them. Then also finished off a plate of cheeses. Before we left we chatted to an Austrian guy who had also hired a bike from Gustan.
We decided that there was time to squeeze in one more vineyard before they closed. Unfortunately we chose to go to Viña El Cerno, where we got the most unfriendly welcome for ages. We managed to void the tour and tasted 2 (only 1 each!) very average wines.
Thanks to Jo and Jason Pelly for "sponsoring" this part of our trip!
By the time we left, Nikki's bike had a complete flat tyre, so Ian cycled it the 5 or so kilometres back, which was very uncomfortable. But once again, we were soon on the bus back to Mendoza.
Ian really needed a haircut and eventually settled on a 8 Peso (about $2.70) offer (all the 5 Peso places had long queues!). We also had to check the internet to confirm our accommodation in Tahiti, which had been very difficult to find (and every expensive even then!), so it was very late by the time we went for dinner (a set menu at a corner streetside restaurant) and ate some average steaks.
Day 207 - Wednesday 1st February 2006 - wine tasting in Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza
The morning was one of tasks, stocking up on toiletries while they were still at South American prices, editing photos on the hostel reception's computer and sending emails as internet access was likely to be limited for the next week or so, while travelling across the Pacific. We bought some picnic food and enjoyed a relaxing lunch in the hostel's garden
For the afternoon. we had booked ourselves on a gourmet wine tour. We expected to visit 3 wineries, but didn't know which ones. We were really hoping that they would not be ones we had already visited. We were the first picked up and as it turned out the only English speakers on the tour. But at least the tour was heading to Lujan de Cuyo and not to Norton, so we would get to see 3 different wineries :-)
Our tour started at Fabre Montmayou, where we saw their 100-year old vines (which they seemed expremely proud of!) and the usual fermentation and cellaring areas. Then we tasted a couple of wines. They were really good. We almost couldn't believe that the Semillon Chardonnay was for sale at only $10 Pesos (about $3.30), so bought a bottle! - Apparently it is also imported into the UK by Oddbins - keep your eyes open!
Next stop was Alta Vista and our guide, whose English was very good translated most of what the winery guide was saying (we think we picked up most of the details from the Spanish anyway :-)). We also visited the cellar, which made for a nice photo. This winery was also French-owned and they were firm believers in the terroir principal (making wines from grapes grown in specific areas). So much so that they made 4 malbecs, 3 from different vineyards and the fourth a blend of the first three. Unfortunately none of these were available for tasting. Both the tastings were very nice but we couldn't buy and more - the white wine was a Torrentes, a grape we had not come across before.
Next it was on to Cavas de Condo, a very small place with vineyards, but no fermentation or cellaring capabilities (they hired someone elses). Most of their grapes were Syrah, originally brought over from South Africa onlky a few years ago. Hewre we were given a wine tasting "lesson", where we were supposed to use all our senses (first: hearing, as the cork pops; second: sight, the colour etc; third: smell - our guide seemed to miss this one out!; fourth: foretaste, swirling the wine around the mouth to prepare it for the rest of the wine; fifth: aftertaste: slurping the wine so that it could make you cry! - Ian was dissapointed not to be ablke to use his touch sense! but quite what dipping his finger in would have told him, who knows?)
We were taken through their little cellar to a room where a feast of typical "pre-barbeque" food was set out for us. it included breads, cheeses, lots of different vegetables in oil and several salamis. Of course this was accompanied by more Syrah! It was a very tasty spread, but not quite the `free-flowing wine with a somelier teaching us which wines went with which foods and as much food as you could eat evening` we had been sold! - Oh well, good old latin american tall stories would soon be behind us!
Thanks to Claire and James Walter for "sponsoring" this part of our trip!
So we got home earlier than expected, which gave us the necessary 12 minutes to scoot around the corner to the post office, arriving just as they were shutting the door. We were allowed to wrap our parcels inside and were pleased to get rid of some heavy stuff including a couple of books before we packed our packs again as well as sending home copies of some more photos!
We also wanted to send some postcards, but finding them was not easy and finding stamps seemeed beyond us. So instead, we finished off the day with some yummy raspberry and lemon ice creams.
Day 208 - Thursday 2nd February 2006 - on to Chile
We had managed to arrange an early breakfast and left the hostel by 7:50am to walk to the bus terminal for our minibus to Santiago, Chile. Ian detoured to the post office to post our postcards and then rushed to get to the bus on time. There was no need, though, as there were so few passengers booked on our bus, that the staff were trying to round up some more! Eventually we left at 9:30am, only an hour late!
Unlike our last minibus experience, with 15 people in a Toyota Land cruiser, this was luxury. There were only 2 other passengers sharing 12 large seats with us! Unfortunately our driver seemed to be trying to make up for the lost hour and careered around too many bends. Somehow Ian managed to sleep a bit, but the emergency style braking seemed to wake Nikki every time she nodded off.
After a while we went past where we had rafted and a few hours later went through the international tunnel and into Chile
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