RTW: Exchange in Chile

Extempore take-off

Last thursday we were having dinner in the house and counting all the frustrating stuff that the week had brought us and after a few glasses of wine I decided to head out to Argentina for the weekend with my French friends. And so we took the overnight bus to Mendoza on the other side of the Andes. One of the least nice things in a long time, the bureaucracy kept us on the border (me with shorts freezing in the cold mountain air) for a good hour with no particular reason. But such is life, we did not get discouraged but made the most of it. Unfortunately we just missed a tour of the local bodegas, but were able to correct this by finding some excellent local wine on our own. The best ones we tasted in Mendoza were of local Malbec but they were still no match -to my taste- to the Cabernet and Merlot wines produced locally near Santiago.


So, with a Lonely Planet in the hand, we headed out for the supposedly most exiting stuff in the region -the Puente del Inca, a natural bridge that has hot springs around it dying it all yellow was, according to the book, something to see. You can draw your own conclusions from the picture above as to its magnificence.. Ok, it was a sight but definately not worth over 3 hours in bus. Good thing the place was some 1,5 hours hike from the Aconcagua natural park, so we headed for the biggest peak in the continent. There we were faced with some of the great sights the Andes have to offer. Here you go with some pics:








Despite the chilly winds the long bus trip turned out quite well after all, as you can see above. To top it all off, we had a taste of the famous Argentinian parrillada con tenedor libre, which basically meant all the barbecue meat you can eat, with salads and sides. It was worth the reputation and in addition, dirt cheap! Argentina really is a budget traveller's paradise and we just went to one of the most expensive cities in the country.. Can't wait to get to Buenos Aires, that will be something else. The people at first touch did not seem very friendly, especially with car drivers who seem to consider pedestrians as insects to squash, but the place grows on you after a while. It is not as European as Chile (in UAI most students are second- or third- generation Europeans, for example) and Argentina has a stronger identity as a nation. One thing to note is that everything seems to have stopped suddenly (as in a crisis...) as the cars among other things are like straight from the eighties. Our hospedaje owner did take his time to explain that Argentina was doing better than any other South American country before the crisis -and that now "the one on top" is Chile. Newsflash! Anyway, it was also curious to see that cars there did not run on gasoline but on gas. At least that was what everybody was putting in their cars regardless of the type of car.

Now, after a relaxing weekend we are back in (the school of) business with all the to do -things glooming in sight. But I did not leave Argentina empty-handed: I managed to get a nice dose of Andean sunburn. "The sun can not be that strong in the mountains.." -Strike two!

posted by Kassu @ 12:47 PM