Tuesday 26 February 2013
Mendoza to Santiago Chile
Not much to say here but the journey from Mendoza to Santiago Chile was pretty spectacular crossing the Andes mountain range through winding roads with massive drops!!!
Mendoza... where Malbec replaces ham and cheese
So after pretty much the worst journey so far we end up in Mendoza with high expectations, we had heard from a lot of people that it is a great little city with lots to offer.
Well, we were not dissappointed....
... We had a hostel in mind, Hostel Laos, we catch a taxi there and see whether they have any rooms available, no says the chap but we do have a roof terrace with a matress that I can let you sleep on for free for the night, however tempting a free night seemed we kindly declined and found ourselves another hostel, a prviate room this time, so no snoring and farting for a night, well for me anyway, Jo may tell you differently...
Mendoza had been devastated by an earthquake a while back which meant when they rebuilt the city they allowed for extra wide roads in the event of another quake that the buildings would not cave in on eachother. This means that Mendoza is perfect for restaurants and bars to flood all the customers onto the wide tree lined pavements, giving it a good vibe all round.
The first night we took it easy and went to treat ourselves with a proper 'hot dinner', to our surprise and delight our steaks arrived with veg, actual fresh veg and best of all no cheese in sight. Wolfed down comes to mind thinking back about this meal! It was around midinight when we finish our food and the streets are getting more and more full with people wanting to have a beer or two, so we did too...
We had to move hostels again the next morning as the one we were staying at was full, my brief to Jo was find a cheap hostel with a good crowd. We arrive at 'Backpackers Mendoza' after having found a 4 for the price of 3 nights offer, we're lead to our room, open the door and 2 bunk beds are crammed into the smallest room, barely room to open the door! Hey it's cheap so what do expect..
A few winny moments from Jo later we've packed our bags in the lockers and we are off out to explore Mendoza. We walk around seeing the city which is really beatiful, everyone seems very relaxed and chilled, maybe it's because the whole of Mendoza is surrounded by nineyards!
We head to the park, again very nice, full of cyclists, rollerbladers, runners and various other fitness fanatics. With me and Jo being exactly that, fitness fanatics, we head straight over to the bike hire for a 2 hour work out....
.... 30 minutes into our bikeride and a small incline, I'm wet through with sweat and Jo is having a fit throwing her bike to the ground with shear hatred of the poor equipment we had been loaned. Tempers calmed and fits out of the system we head off round the park, and hand our bikes back 2 hours later!
So we get back to the hostel and decide to have a kip after our extensive work out, the room was hotter than the sun so we diceded to have a beer at the hostel bar. We met some great people here, two three Yanks, two of which were wine makers from California and the other a student studying in Chile, accompanied by Mariana and Diego from Argentina on their holidays....
A couple of beers later, Mariana decides to cook on the BBQ some chicken and chorizo sauasages, perfect to accompany the beers...
Bloody excellent was the food and we were all pretty pissed at this point. Diego from Argentina who could not speak a word of English, asks politely whether he can take his top off with Jo being the only lady around, Jo of course has no problem with this and off he goes and takes his top off and straight away at the top of his voice starts chanting his local football team River Plates songs. What a legend this guy was, als the first supported of Christina Kirschner we had come accross and when asked why he said in Spanish 'She is the president for the people'.
We had agreed that night to do our own tour of vineyards in the morning, as Anton the American chap had lived in Mendoza before and he would take us around.
9am my alarm goes off, hungover to shit from the night before, I look at Jo and hope that she calls the day off so that i can stay in bed recovering, but no we still went and i am glad we did.
Half an hour on a local bus and we head to bike rental, this time higher spec ones, and off we go. There are 11 of us all great people and all hungover from the night before!
We spent the day cycling around gorgeous vineyards, with the first giving us a tour of where the wine is made and best of all the tasting, Malbecs, Cab Savs and blah blah.... I'm no expert so they all tasted bloody good to me. If you ever buy Malbec from Argentina, it is likely to be from this region Maipu Mendoza.
5 vineyards later and over 20 wines tasted each we are all pretty sozzled at this point, with the last stop a beer brewery. Exactly what I needed so we all had a beer in the sun with some empanadas, served by some ladyboys, 100% man dressed as woman serving us all beer. A nice way to finsih off the day!
2 nights on the piss and day 3 now a right off, the 4th day we decide to go to Potrillios Dam, an hours bus ride away. The dam supplies the natural water to Mendoza, obviously a result of the dam is a stunning lake set in the beginnings of the Andes. Not a bad way to spend the day in the sun....
Well, we were not dissappointed....
... We had a hostel in mind, Hostel Laos, we catch a taxi there and see whether they have any rooms available, no says the chap but we do have a roof terrace with a matress that I can let you sleep on for free for the night, however tempting a free night seemed we kindly declined and found ourselves another hostel, a prviate room this time, so no snoring and farting for a night, well for me anyway, Jo may tell you differently...
Mendoza had been devastated by an earthquake a while back which meant when they rebuilt the city they allowed for extra wide roads in the event of another quake that the buildings would not cave in on eachother. This means that Mendoza is perfect for restaurants and bars to flood all the customers onto the wide tree lined pavements, giving it a good vibe all round.
The first night we took it easy and went to treat ourselves with a proper 'hot dinner', to our surprise and delight our steaks arrived with veg, actual fresh veg and best of all no cheese in sight. Wolfed down comes to mind thinking back about this meal! It was around midinight when we finish our food and the streets are getting more and more full with people wanting to have a beer or two, so we did too...
We had to move hostels again the next morning as the one we were staying at was full, my brief to Jo was find a cheap hostel with a good crowd. We arrive at 'Backpackers Mendoza' after having found a 4 for the price of 3 nights offer, we're lead to our room, open the door and 2 bunk beds are crammed into the smallest room, barely room to open the door! Hey it's cheap so what do expect..
A few winny moments from Jo later we've packed our bags in the lockers and we are off out to explore Mendoza. We walk around seeing the city which is really beatiful, everyone seems very relaxed and chilled, maybe it's because the whole of Mendoza is surrounded by nineyards!
We head to the park, again very nice, full of cyclists, rollerbladers, runners and various other fitness fanatics. With me and Jo being exactly that, fitness fanatics, we head straight over to the bike hire for a 2 hour work out....
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| Us at the park, we havent mastered, can you take a pic please in Spanish |
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| Jo Wiggins - see the shadow struggling to keep up... |
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| Jo with poor equipment hiding behind tree in shame |
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| Park gates |
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| Not a bad view |
So we get back to the hostel and decide to have a kip after our extensive work out, the room was hotter than the sun so we diceded to have a beer at the hostel bar. We met some great people here, two three Yanks, two of which were wine makers from California and the other a student studying in Chile, accompanied by Mariana and Diego from Argentina on their holidays....
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| Chicken cooked Argentina style |
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| Diego |
9am my alarm goes off, hungover to shit from the night before, I look at Jo and hope that she calls the day off so that i can stay in bed recovering, but no we still went and i am glad we did.
Half an hour on a local bus and we head to bike rental, this time higher spec ones, and off we go. There are 11 of us all great people and all hungover from the night before!
 |
| Half the gang, notice thumbs up from Jo, a happy customer! |
5 vineyards later and over 20 wines tasted each we are all pretty sozzled at this point, with the last stop a beer brewery. Exactly what I needed so we all had a beer in the sun with some empanadas, served by some ladyboys, 100% man dressed as woman serving us all beer. A nice way to finsih off the day!
2 nights on the piss and day 3 now a right off, the 4th day we decide to go to Potrillios Dam, an hours bus ride away. The dam supplies the natural water to Mendoza, obviously a result of the dam is a stunning lake set in the beginnings of the Andes. Not a bad way to spend the day in the sun....
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| The only cold drink in the small local shop - cheap fizz |
Thursday 21 February 2013
Ushuaia - the most southern tip of the world -Patagonia
Travel Tips for Patagonia
It took about 30 hours to get to Ushuaia from Puerta Madryn. The long bus rides consisted of a lot of security stops. The bus would just be stopped in the middle of the night where the police would do random stops on vehicle. They had a portable luggage scanner which they used to check all our bags, we also had a scary policeman walking up and down the bus looking at our passports. This happened twice.
- In hindsight we had done Patagonia all wrong. From Puerto Madryn we should have headed to Barricloche then took the Navi Mag (Ship) that takes you through Chile and lets you get close up to icebergs. Instead we went to Ushuia which was disappointing. The town itself is quite tacky and not at all as you would imagine. It has nice treks to do but if you want to see the real Patagonia the Navi Mag and Barriloche have much more to offer.
- Ushuaia is worth a visit if you have an extra money to catch a last minute deal to Alaska. We met people who did this and said they it was simply amazing. They saw all types of whales all day, everyday, not to mention other wildlife.
- Prepare to get lots of stamps in your passport when getting down to Ushuaia. There is a lot of time waiting as you cross in and out the Chilean border. Look into flying, it will save you a lot of time. Or seriously consider giving it a miss, we wish we did.
It took about 30 hours to get to Ushuaia from Puerta Madryn. The long bus rides consisted of a lot of security stops. The bus would just be stopped in the middle of the night where the police would do random stops on vehicle. They had a portable luggage scanner which they used to check all our bags, we also had a scary policeman walking up and down the bus looking at our passports. This happened twice.
Because Ushuaia is nestled between Chile, we had to get off the bus and get our passports stamped leaving Argentina and entering Chile and vice versa. This was a ball ache as we were only in Chile for 2 hours until we crossed the border again and this took around 2 hours a time as you had to wait your turn amongst a queue of people. There you had your bags checked again, you were not a allowed to bring a list of foods in. There were 2 guys on our bus you had to eat a whole sausage and pot of honey on the spot as they were told they could not bring them through. They stuffed there faces in 2 minutes, it cant go to waste they argued.
As we juddered along the stone filled roads I looked outside and the arid landscape was now replaced with snow coated mountains as far as the eye could see. It was amazing and such as contrast to the rest of Argentina. Ushuaia has the beauty of Switzerland but the weather of Engand. You literally have to leave for the day prepared with clothes for the 4 seasons, one minute is sun shine, then rain, hail and snow.(Just like home ey) It was freezing!
We walked up to the Glacier which was a trek but really stunning. Michael was excited to use his Swiss army knife, even if it was just to cut up a pear. We hiked for about 6 hours, as far as we could climb without safety ropes. The view was spectacular, it was strange being around snow. The next day we were meant to go to the national park which was suppose to be stunning to but we decided to have a lazy day instead, plus it was raining and to be honest our bodies were aching from the trek the day before.
Instead we has a nice time cooking food from the local butchers and meeting people from the hostel in the communal kitchen. There were some Argentinians so we got to practise our Spanish a little bit, with help of the dictionary. Oh and like anywhere in Argentina there are lots of stray dogs. When we were cooking food this big dog came in the kitchen, we ushered it out only to find that this dog can open dogs so it just kept coming back in, nightmare.
Anyway our next stop after that was Mendoza which is the far north of Argentina. This was going to be a 60 hours bus ride! We ended up being on the bus for 3 days!!!! On the way back from Ushuaia we had the same border checks but this time when we went to take the ferry over there was no ferry. We had to wait 6 hours until the next ferry came because of the high winds. When the ferry did come it was a bit scary as the high waves were spraying over the ferry boat and the whole boat was swinging from side to side. We made it though! After that we got on another bus which broke down and we had to wait another 5 hours for a replacement.
We finally made it to Mendoza last night, we were starting to get cabin fever. The whole time in Argentina we have just been feed a lot of Jamon and Queso which is ham and cheese. Seems to be a staple Argentinian diet. Especially on the buses, as it comes with food majority of the meals included ham and cheese. I think last night I ate my 30th ham and cheese meal. As much as I like ham in cheese, to excess its not good. Safe to say as soon as we got to Mendoza we headed straight out and had a lovely meal, with veg and everything! Blog on Mendoza to come later. Bye for now.
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| F'in ham and cheese again. Notice the Swissroll ham and cheese, especially for me! Oh and red wine in plastic cup |
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| The Ferry in Chile on the way to Ushuia |
As we juddered along the stone filled roads I looked outside and the arid landscape was now replaced with snow coated mountains as far as the eye could see. It was amazing and such as contrast to the rest of Argentina. Ushuaia has the beauty of Switzerland but the weather of Engand. You literally have to leave for the day prepared with clothes for the 4 seasons, one minute is sun shine, then rain, hail and snow.(Just like home ey) It was freezing!
We walked up to the Glacier which was a trek but really stunning. Michael was excited to use his Swiss army knife, even if it was just to cut up a pear. We hiked for about 6 hours, as far as we could climb without safety ropes. The view was spectacular, it was strange being around snow. The next day we were meant to go to the national park which was suppose to be stunning to but we decided to have a lazy day instead, plus it was raining and to be honest our bodies were aching from the trek the day before.
Instead we has a nice time cooking food from the local butchers and meeting people from the hostel in the communal kitchen. There were some Argentinians so we got to practise our Spanish a little bit, with help of the dictionary. Oh and like anywhere in Argentina there are lots of stray dogs. When we were cooking food this big dog came in the kitchen, we ushered it out only to find that this dog can open dogs so it just kept coming back in, nightmare.
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| The view from our hostel in Ushuia |
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| Jo at the hostel |
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| Nearly there..... |
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| Shagged! |
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| First use of my Swiss Army Knife |
Anyway our next stop after that was Mendoza which is the far north of Argentina. This was going to be a 60 hours bus ride! We ended up being on the bus for 3 days!!!! On the way back from Ushuaia we had the same border checks but this time when we went to take the ferry over there was no ferry. We had to wait 6 hours until the next ferry came because of the high winds. When the ferry did come it was a bit scary as the high waves were spraying over the ferry boat and the whole boat was swinging from side to side. We made it though! After that we got on another bus which broke down and we had to wait another 5 hours for a replacement.
We finally made it to Mendoza last night, we were starting to get cabin fever. The whole time in Argentina we have just been feed a lot of Jamon and Queso which is ham and cheese. Seems to be a staple Argentinian diet. Especially on the buses, as it comes with food majority of the meals included ham and cheese. I think last night I ate my 30th ham and cheese meal. As much as I like ham in cheese, to excess its not good. Safe to say as soon as we got to Mendoza we headed straight out and had a lovely meal, with veg and everything! Blog on Mendoza to come later. Bye for now.
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