Day Forty Eight: Crossing the Andes

Today we headed across the Andes. There was an air of excitement amongst the whole group. The prospect of good wine, good food and a two weeks of good vibes had us all excited.

We were busing it over the Andes. Was quite a luxurious bus too, reclining bed seats, very comfy! The movies however were terrible, something with gymnastics and nick nolte and a dodgy horror movie.

The drive up into the Andes was really quite something. There is a section of road with over 30 switchbacks, quite daunting yet spectacular at the same time.

The landscape is something else too, quite arid and rocky, Mars like in a way. We got to the border of Chile and Argentina, arriving at an interesting patrol/checkpoint building. It took us about two hours to clear authorities however, in the meantime we had a really good hot dog, of all places hey - weird!

Once we crossed the border and were on our way, a few of us cracked open a bottle of red and kicked back! Was better than first class on a plane, good wine, comfy and better views!

We arrived in Mendoza around 5ish, was so hot! It was the home town of our tour leader, Federico, fede as he likes to be called. Really cool guy, he gives a really good vibe to the group.

We wandered the city for a couple of hours. It's quite a chilled town. Low rise, quite sprawling city. The main pedestrian malls and streets are a give of activity. Filled with alfresco dining, cafes, fountains and trees. Really leafy streets which gives a great scale to the place. The interesting thing is the irrigation/stormwater channels at the street kerbs. They hail back to the incas apparently. Really cool system tho. Adds a watery, cooling element to the streets.

We ate dinner late, i say late but it was perfect time for Argentinians, 9pm. Me and a few guys on the tour, including Fede, ordered Asado. It's basically an assortment of grilled meats and sausages. Really really good, apart from the sweetbread (intestines). Didn't really need that!

We ate well and drunk superbly- really good Malbec. So well priced too. After dinner we headed nearby to a homemade ice cream place. Sim was in heaven - the flavored were yummy- and all with fresh fruits- pear, apple, kiwi fruit, berries. Lovely.

As you can imagine we got to bed pretty late. We are really having fun now- feels like a holiday rather than tracelling.


- Blog from iMat