Mendoza

We caught the bus from Valparaiso through La Cordillera de los Andes to Mendoza, Argentina - a trip of around 9 hours.

Winding our way up through the pass was awesome. The spectacular mountains and rock formations make for a very hostile environment. Near the top of the pass on the Chilean side of the border the grade becomes so steep that the hairpin bends almost double back upon one another and the hillside becomes almost solid concrete. It was pretty slow going through here with mostly trucks and buses on the road and only the occasional car.

Cat looking chill at the border crossing:

 

The landscape changed immediately on the Argentina side but was equally impressive.

When we got to Mendoza we needed to change some USD to Argentinian Pesos. The best way to do this is on the illegal but barely policed black market (blue rates), which are approx. 30-40% better than the official exchange rate. Basically shifty Guido-looing guys in tracksuits call out "cambio" as you walk down the street and you then negotiate a rate with them and go into an office or shop with them to change the money. Some seem semi-legit but other times it feels like dealing with the mafia when you enter a room full of jewellery-clad guys smoking in their Adidas tracksuits. Either way it makes Argentina way more affordable for tourists. No photos of this in action though, sorry.

Mendoza is a really chilled out city - reasonably low-rise and a good place to relax. On our first night we had an asado (Argentinian barbecue) at our hostel, before having a night out (getting home at 6am or later seems to be considered the norm here).

We went on a bike/wine tour (Mendoza is well known for it's wines - particularly Malbec) with a group of others from our hostel. One of the highlights was pouring your own wine straight from the tanks, as we tasted wine throughout the ageing process. The views across to the Andes reminded us of the South Island.

Another day we went horse trekking up in the foothills of the Andes. We went late afternoon so we got to see the sunset behind the mountains. This was followed by an asado and relaxing around a camp fire with a guitar. I had never properly ridden a horse before but really enjoyed it even though my horse, Mora, wanted to stop and nibble every plant that we passed. Cat was a bit more pro and managed to get hers to gallop with ease.