For the Easter holidays we were a group of 10 people who went to Mendoza in Argentina. This city is just on the other side of the Andes more or less on a straight line east of Santiago. Argentina is known for their good wine and quality meet. After the crash of their economy in 2001 Argentina went from one of the most expensive countries in South-America to one of the cheapest.
We went by bus over night and spend about 4 hours at the border waiting for all the other buses and cars to be accepted into Argentina. The border crossing is the only one in this region which means it is hugely travelled. The Andes makes it hard to make other routes and it is a way of controlling the flow of people, and not a convenience for the travellers.
We arrived at 06:00 (military time) at Mendoza and caught a few hours of sleep before heading out into the city. The city itself is not a beauty but it offers a lot of activities so we chose to go exploring some vineyards and olive-farms. It was very interesting but also very touristy. At least we got to taste a lot of wine and could look forward to eating ourselves senseless in Argentinian meat. That same night we had booked a table at what most people would call a meat palace. They had a 7 meters long barbecue and 8 huge buffet tables. We were eating for 5 hours….
The second day we went shopping,combined with drinking at whatever bar we passed. Everything is cheap in Argentina and we all doubled our amount of luggage. At night we went partying hard and got home at 5 in the morning.
The third day we passed at the hot springs just outside of Mendoza. The water is heated by a nearby volcano and the springs are very popular. Four levels of different tempered pools, the hottest being at the top. We spend all day there and made a barbecue in the evening. It is very common for the locals to come here and pass the day dazing in the pools and make barbecue in the evening. We talked to a family which had come from Buenos Aires to spend the Easter in Mendoza. They were super friendly and they made us try all the different kind of meat they were barbecuing. It is amazing because it seems every one in Argentina is an expert on meat. We got long lectures describing where from the meat were, how it should be prepared and what to eat it with. Thy were very catholic and as soon as I told them my name, the mother, a huge woman, came over with her Bible and started praising me…. She obviously did not know me very well but took me for a saint and was blabbering a lot of biblical verses of how Saint Jacob did this and that. I felt guilty immediately and had to drink a lot of wine before the guilt was gone.
That same night we got on the bus home to Santiago. We had to spend 5 more hours at the border… the longest bus ride I have ever taken.
Pictures: Mendoza Day 1
Pictures: Mendoza Day 2
Pictures: Mendoza Day 3