The epic journey back to Argentina

We are back in Santiago and staying at El Patio Suizo.
Maesi is leaving for Zurich tomorrow morning. Jane and I will head back to Mendoza where we will connect with another bus to Salta. This is going to be a very very long trip. Hopefully the weather will be warmer in Salta. It has been cold in Chile and they don't believe in central heating in the country. I'm not sure how often I can update the blog especially in Bolivia. I'll likely do one massive post each week starting mid june.

Road trip north

Maesi rented a car this week and we headed up to La Serena. La Serena is a beach resort which is about 4 hours north of Santiago. Even though it is considered a beach town, it is sprawling. Apparently it is a very popular vacation spot for locals. We headed north to avoid the rain, but we were not lucky enough to avoid it entirely. One good thing was our hostel was fanastic. Hostel El Punto is run by Germans. So far, all German and Swiss run businesses I've encountered have been first rate. We only spent two full days in La Serena, but the days were loaded with activities. The firt day we took a boat tour through a national marine reserve. The climate is ideal for a large variety of marine animals such as dolphins, penguins, sea lions, and a number of bird species. We were able to get REAL close to some sea lions (Who smell real bad). The next day, we went to the Elque valley which is one of the pisco producing regions. The scenery was spectacular! Imagine high mountain valleys covered with grapes and other fruits. The pisco tasting was kind of a let down, but the drive through the country was very nice. After a few days, it was back down to Valparaiso.

Valparaiso is what La Bocca should be. The town is bigger than expected, but it's unique blend of colorful houses and graffitti gives it a lot of charm. The city layout is not like the grids in the bigger cities, so one can wander and take in the views of the town and the ocean. Another special item of interest are the funiculars which can take you up the hills if you are tired of walking. If you come to Santiago, you must spend a day or two in Valparaiso.

One last important thing. I had the best meals so far during this road trip. The seafood is amazing and the fruit is also tops. Although the sea bass and conger eel are good, the shellfish is by far the best table fare.

First few pictures are from La Serena and the rest are from Valpo.

I'm going to be an uncle

It is kind of surreal, but I found out last week that I'm going to be an uncle. It is a bit funny how everyone's life around me is moving forward while mine is on hold at the moment. Anyhow, I'm excited in the fact that I will get to show my new neice or nephew how to snowboard and fish a few years from now.

Chile´s Culture Day

Sunday was Santiago´s cultural day where all of the museums and government buildings were open to the public (and for free). Maesi, Jane, and I spent the morning finishing our walking tour through the city central ending at the Placio del Moneda. Every major attraction in the city central had a huge queue around the block. Once we entered Placio del Moneda, the tour was excellent. They even provided food in the middle of the tour. Under the capitol building, there was an exhibit consisting of all of Chile's agricultural recources. Among them were about ten different varieties of potatos (although Peru is know to have many more). After an extensive day of walking, we stopped at a hippster coffee shop named Brainworks. The place is decorated with designer chairs which was quite different than the other local coffee shops. We anxiously anticipated the road trip to come the following day.

Pictures are from Placio del Moneda and other exhibits in the museums under the building.

Santiago

After an epic bus ride through the Andes, we finally made it to Santiago. Our bus ride was supposed to be 7 hours, but we ended up in the queue and arrived at 12:00 AM. Since the pass was closed for three days, there was a huge back up of trucks and busses at passport control. Jane and I have the decision to either return to Mendoza next week, or make our way up the coast of Chile. So far, Santiago is the most cosmopolitan city I have seen in South America. The streets are clean and parks very well maintained. We seemed to arrive at the perfect time to view the city. Santiago is surrounded by mountains and the smog tends to build up in the city. The best time to view the city is the day after the rain where the smog gets displaced for a short time. Otherwise you will see a haze over the city and the sky will look a shade of grey. We are here for a short time before heading to Vaplaraiso and La Serena.

The picture of Santiago is on a good day.

We are stuck in Mendoza

We discovered upon our arrival in San Juan that the pass to Chile was closed due to snow. This allowed us to stay in the city for a couple days until the weather passed and the roads cleared. Our hostel also had many travellers who were stranded and needed to get to Chile to catch flights out. Of all the cities I´ve been to, Mendoza has been the best. It is a nice clean city and has a giant park which is a great place to hang on lazy sunny days. Mendoza is known for being a great adventure destination and very good wine producing region. Jane and I met up with Rolli (a Swiss friend) and went on a bike tour of a couple local wineries. The ride was quite nice once we left the city limits into the country. The weather has been perfect for the past few weeks. We haven´t seen rain in weeks and the temperature has been perfect. It would be blazing hot if we were here in the summer. There are many other outdoor activities to do in or around Mendoza. There are trekking tours, hot springs, rapelling, rafting, etc. One traveller we met said not to trust the rafting guides in other towns since many companies are just start ups (we find a lot of people trying to make a quick buck on tourists). However, the Mendoza guides are well trained and safe. The pass to Santiago was finally clear Thursday, so off we went to Chile.

Pictures are from the bikes and wine tour.

Someone stole my crap!

I suppose it was going to happen eventually. We have been careful to this point, but my messenger bag was stolen from the bus from San Juan to Mendoza. I was lucky that I had my toiletries and a cheap pair of sunglasses in the bag. Unfortunately our Argentina guide book was in the bag too. Jane and I stopped at six different book stores looking for an English Lonely Planet, but the only one we found was in Spanish. The Swiss kids we met at the hostel may give us theirs which is in German. Since our German is much better than our Spanish, it would still be useful. We are finding Mendoza to be our favorite town so far. More to come in my next post.

Two excellent parks

We took a short detour from our route west and headed north to Valle Fertil. This little town is one of the main access points for two national parks. During our trip we have met a number of travellers who have great suggestions. The more you talk to people, the more things you add to the list of things to see. Our hostel was nice and inviting. I´ll try to summarize both parks which can be toured in a single day.

Ischigualasto: AKA Valle De Luna. The tour was about two hours which had five stops where we were dropped off to look around. The park looks similar to a desolate landscape of a deserted plant. There were some interesting rock formations especially the round moon rocks which are created by CaCO2 seeds which attract minerals to form round rocks. The color of the ground in this area is a combination of grey and orange due to differing layers exposed over time. Further north was the red walls of Talampaya.

Talampaya: Wind and water erosion dug out very tall vertical walls. The walls of the canyon are 450 meters tall. The sides of the canyon has depressions created by years of erosion. The guide had the entire tour group stand in one of the depressions and we yelled HOLA! We could hear up to four echoes bouncing off the walls. Both parks offer different things to see. I suggest that visitors see both. One issue with this park is that it has been privatized, so it costs 65 pesos to see.

Picutres are from the parks.

Moving westward

Out time in Cordoba was short and sweet. It was obvious that our guide book was out dated since we came across a bunch of areas and restaurants which were not in the book or no longer in business. The city does offer quite a few sites, so leave at least a couple of days to see everything. Jane and I had an epic day starting with seeing the condors at a national park close by. The bus dropped us off at the park entrance which seemed like the middle of nowhere. The easy hike was about 11K each way. At the end was a lookout over a deep gorge where you could see the condors fly about. We were told on some days they fly really close to you, but not today. A bunch of us waited outside the park on the side of the road where the sunset made an excellent pink, red, and orange glow. We ended our evening with dinner and a tango show. It was a great day overall.

My budget and bife de lomo

What a huge difference between Argentina and Europe!!!!
My initial budget for South America was $100 per day. Jane´s initial buget was half that amount. At first, I was skeptical that we could keep to that, but it has worked out well so far. Lodging is about $8 per night and meals rarely exceed $10. Most of the major cost so far have been coming from transport between cities and fees for tourist activities. The cost should be even less once we get to Bolivia and Peru. Cheap food prices allow us to indulge in fancier table fare. If you come to Argentina, you need to throw out the inner vegitarian and go for the bife de lomo. It is very tender cut of beef which you can cut with a spoon (if the meat is top quality). The same cut of meat would cost about $25-30 at Whole Foods. However, I´m able to order the steak (about 400 gr) for about $10. I can see why so many people come down and end up staying longer than planned.

Cordoba

I just checked into the hostel this morning. There is a lot of small things we need to do before we start looking around. I realized I should have followed the ´lay out what you need then take half´rule. My pack is so heavy!!!! Cordoba is the second largest city in Argentina, but it is about 1/10 th the size of Buenos Aires. It is giving us a better vibe so far. More to come.

Iguazu

We reached Iguazu this weekend and are planning to stay for a few days before heading to Cordoba. Out bus ride here was extremely cushy. It was similar to being on a first class airplane seat, but with more motion (we were on the second deck). The plan is to see the falls and maybe do some sort of outdoor adventure. The weather here is much warmer than in Buenos Aires. I´m glad I packed some tropical clothes (which I´ll likely dump once we hit the mountains).

Iguazu falls is a must for all visitors to Argentina. It is beautiful here, but other than the falls, there is not much else to do. Two days was enough for me. Jane and I went on the boat ride which takes you up to the falls where you get a nice shower. Jane´s 30 peso waterproof pants were crap. I managed to stay dry (except for my head) with slightly better gear.

Pictures are from the falls

Ready to move on

After a week and a half, I can truely say that I´m ready to move on. The Spanish class has been great and I reccommend it for those travelling to South America for an extended amount of time. Jane and I are currently staying in the middle of the city and we are starting to get tires of the noise and smog. Some barrios of Buenos Aires are better than others, but the city centro is dirty. We met up with one of Jane´s Swiss connections here and saw a Tango show. All together, we have seen some really interesting shows (Tango, drums, Cuban Salsa). Rolli (the Swiss guy) mentioned that he was getting tired of the city as well. One thing I noticed is that people here do not pick up after their dog. I swear there is dog crap all over the streets all the time. It doesn´t matter which neighborhood you are in. We have met some really nice people travelling through. I just met a gal from Austin who is here for the summer (after graduation from UT). I´m looking forward to leaving and getting some fresh air. I´ll definitely come back in August.

One last thing. Jane is an ice cream addict. We have had ice cream every day since we´ve been here.

Arrival to South America

Jane and I made it to the city. We´ve been here about five days already and it seems like it has passed by so quickly. The hostel we have is centrally located and it seems to be a good spot to get to know the city. We quickly checked out some Spanish schools and other hostels just to make sure we were not missing out on anything. In the meantime we have hired a private Spanish teacher (Rosanne) who is from Brazil. Jane is picking up the language much more quickly than I am. However, I do know much more now than I did before leaving. We are going to be here for another week, then off to Iguazu next weekend. One thing which is better compared to Switzerland is the cost of living. I don´t feel like I´m spending too much money here. Hostels are cheap, but food and other expenses are cheap as well. I´m looking forward to the classes next week and hope to see more of the city.