It was actually not Mendoza where our trip started, but Buenos Aires. Not so much interested in big towns though, we gave the capital less than 24 hours including a walk and an ice-cream, before taking the first bus and heading to the west.
 |
| Buenos Aires, Plaza de Mayo |
Argentina is a huge country - the distance north to south is about 3600 km, which is something like four times the length of Spain. Even if you might not necessarily travel from top to bottom, chances are that you'll still have to cover pretty huge distances. There, you have two options: to fly or to take a bus. We opted for the bus, and - even after spending 136 hours in them - I still totally recommend doing that (see my praise below). You get a sense of distance and space, have more flexibility, plus can take advantage of the overnight travel.
Buses, oh the buses
Fair enough, I just came from the context of Ugandan killer-buses, packed with people, objects and animals, with (mostly) insane drivers and no schedule. Still, the Argentinean long-distance buses are (literally) worlds apart.
Forget about sharing the space with half the village. In Argentina, the buses are *comfortable*. Even the normal "economy" (semi-cama) class is better than the average bus I knew; not talking about the "business" (cama), which is possibly superior to its plane equivalent. I've even heard of the existence of first class, where you can make the seat completely flat.
No more peeing in the bush (or not peeing at all). Buses have a toilet, yay! :) A major plus for me.
Gone are the street vendors cramming roasted meat sticks through the bus window into your eye. Here you get food on board, at least usually. Though in this case the Ugandan street food might have been better than the Argentinean bus food, at least it comes on neat trays.
Movies. Though I’m no fan of American blockbuster pieces, on a 20-hour journey even those are welcome. Occasionally they put a decent one, and if you're lucky, the screen is not 10cm from your face and the speaker above your head doesn't blast out at you a war movie at 6am. I don't really have a Ugandan equivalent for this, as my only experience with video on a Ugandan bus was a loop of three local music videos during painful 6 hours.
Safety. Argentinean drivers can’t really indulge in rallies overtaking at insane speeds fuel trucks on a narrow broken potholed road, which seems the favourite pastime of their Ugandan counterparts. Here the buses automatically make a sound or display a warning (to the passengers!) if the driver overspeeds!!
I think you might get the picture why the first bus ride seemed like a fairy tale. What might be a bit worrying is that after a 28-hour trip we almost felt too lazy to leave the bus, so comfortable we were.
There is a down side, of course - be warned that the buses possess air-conditioning, and use it to re-create an Antarctic atmosphere. Take ALL the warm clothes you have if you don’t want to freeze to death before reaching your destination.
Fair enough, I just came from the context of Ugandan killer-buses, packed with people, objects and animals, with (mostly) insane drivers and no schedule. Still, the Argentinean long-distance buses are (literally) worlds apart.
Forget about sharing the space with half the village. In Argentina, the buses are *comfortable*. Even the normal "economy" (semi-cama) class is better than the average bus I knew; not talking about the "business" (cama), which is possibly superior to its plane equivalent. I've even heard of the existence of first class, where you can make the seat completely flat.
No more peeing in the bush (or not peeing at all). Buses have a toilet, yay! :) A major plus for me.
Gone are the street vendors cramming roasted meat sticks through the bus window into your eye. Here you get food on board, at least usually. Though in this case the Ugandan street food might have been better than the Argentinean bus food, at least it comes on neat trays.
Movies. Though I’m no fan of American blockbuster pieces, on a 20-hour journey even those are welcome. Occasionally they put a decent one, and if you're lucky, the screen is not 10cm from your face and the speaker above your head doesn't blast out at you a war movie at 6am. I don't really have a Ugandan equivalent for this, as my only experience with video on a Ugandan bus was a loop of three local music videos during painful 6 hours.
Safety. Argentinean drivers can’t really indulge in rallies overtaking at insane speeds fuel trucks on a narrow broken potholed road, which seems the favourite pastime of their Ugandan counterparts. Here the buses automatically make a sound or display a warning (to the passengers!) if the driver overspeeds!!
I think you might get the picture why the first bus ride seemed like a fairy tale. What might be a bit worrying is that after a 28-hour trip we almost felt too lazy to leave the bus, so comfortable we were.
There is a down side, of course - be warned that the buses possess air-conditioning, and use it to re-create an Antarctic atmosphere. Take ALL the warm clothes you have if you don’t want to freeze to death before reaching your destination.
Mendoza is a region of wine. 70% of Argentina's wine production comes from there - and you can see that. Where else would you have a wine-coloured fountain on the square...
... or free wine in your hostel EVERY evening?!
 |
| That's right, free Malbec from 7pm to 9pm! |
In addition to the wine, it's a truly pleasant place.
|
|
Really a perfect one for a tranquil celebration of the end of the year, with the corresponding meat and wine. Surprisingly, tranquil celebration seemed the keyword for the Argentines too, at least in public. No fireworks (they are forbidden anyway), no crowds gathering in the centre (in some areas there seemed to be more street dogs than people on the streets), and the people having dinner in the restaurants outside seemed little bothered that a new year started in the middle of their meal. I quite liked that, actually.
And on the first day of 2015, we headed for a small trip towards the Andes.
And on the first day of 2015, we headed for a small trip towards the Andes.
 |
| Potrerillos |
|
|
Colonial bridge over the river Picheuta
From the precordillera we passed to the cordillera frontal...
...and finally towards the main Andean cordillera, with the view of...?
...and finally towards the main Andean cordillera, with the view of...?
Need a small hint?
That's right, Aconcagua - the highest mountain in the Americas. Or at least view of the part of it which wasn't in the clouds. We made a small walk around the Laguna de Horcones, at 2950m...
... and at the end we stopped at the Puente del Inca, a colourful natural bridge formed over the river and thermal water spring.
Now this might be sacrilegious, but there's one thing that I enjoyed in Mendoza even more than the wine: the cherries. With January as the high summer they were all around, and we correspondingly stuffed ourselves with them, before taking another bus direction... Bariloche and Patagonia!
 |
| Don't disturb the ducks |
... and at the end we stopped at the Puente del Inca, a colourful natural bridge formed over the river and thermal water spring.
|
|
Now this might be sacrilegious, but there's one thing that I enjoyed in Mendoza even more than the wine: the cherries. With January as the high summer they were all around, and we correspondingly stuffed ourselves with them, before taking another bus direction... Bariloche and Patagonia!
I just loooove your travel reviews! Completely different story from the one you can see/read/hear from books/guides/people. Can't wait for the next post :)
ReplyDelete