Spontaneous Adventure

Now Chritoph and I are back from our trip. It was a very spontaneous trip. Christoph told me on Friday 25th, that he still has some time ’till beginning of January and that he wants to travel to Mendoza and Santiago. Due to the fact that I planed to travel to Mendoza and Santiago de Chile, too, as well as to Córdoba, we decided to start our trip two days later, Sunday 27th. We booked a “cama bus” by Andesmar, so we had comfortable leather armchairs and a stewardess. Lemonade, sparkling wine, whiskey, warm dinner (a bit more than you get in a airplane), and breakfast with coffee/tea were included.

Our first stop was Mendoza. We arrived at our Hostel Mendoza Campo Base at about high noon. We asked for possible activities. For this day there was only a trip to two bodegas and a little olive oil factory possible, a half day trip for the second half of the day. We decided to do this trip, starting at 2pm, the next a rafting tour and a trekking tour with rappel, and for the last half day to do horse back riding. But then there was a problem. The trip was already booked out. There was only one place left. The lady from our hostel reception called the tour operator and he tried to rearrange the tour and use an additional vehicle. 15 minutes later he called back for the last time with the good news that we can participate. We already had been reorganizing our plans and canceling one activity but now we could stick to our first plan. About an hour later the guy from the tour picked us up. Mendoza probably is the most famous origin of Argentinian wine. We first went to Bodega Vistandes. The tour was ok, the tasting session of two of their wines was not that good ‘cos they just gave us the wine without telling us something about the wine culture at the table, but the view from the bodega’s terrace was awesome: the direct view at the snow covered mountains. This bodega was more business orientated. Next step was the small olive oil factory Olivícola LAUR. We got a little tour. They explained to us the old fashioned way showing us some of their ancient machinery and then describing to us the nowadays way to get the oil out of the little green to black fruits. And the end we tasted their product. Christoph bought a little glass of green olive paste which later gave him some little problems at the border to Chile. Last stop for this day was the family-owned Bodega Carmine Granata Traditional. The tour was similar to the first tour but the tasting session was much better. They spent more time for us and explained us in detail how to see, smell and taste the age, color, flavor and quality of the two wines. On the way back we stopped by at a church paying tribute to the saint of vine. Back in Mendoza we tried to find a bigger supermarket to get some things for dinner. No chance! They don’t have any in the center of the city… :-S I had to stop by at pharmacy to get some stuff against my Argentinian-mosquito allergy to reduce the double-size of my swollen feet. The next day was dedicated completely to our bodies. Again we drove out of Mendoza but this time to the feet of the Andes following the river Mendoza. After arriving at camp Rios Andinos we got all necessary equipment and instructions of doing rafting. It took the instructor about have an hour to explain to us all the bad things that can happen on a rafting trip and how we have to handle those situations. Too many information at once!!! We couldn’t wait to get started. Finally we got our leader (her name was Lindsey) and started. There were six rafting boats, each holding seven persons, and four “rescue” Kayaks. It was so much fun and we got totally wet. The water coming directly from the mountains was icy could of course. We had a lot of fun in all the holes, waves and whirlpools at this 17km long tour. Rafting is definitely my new number one outdoor sport! After getting dry we started our trekking tour up to the top of the foothills in a nice and small group of four people. We walked in a dried riverbed climbing over and through rocks, worming our way through all the sharp blades of grass and cactuses. At the end of this trekking tour we rappelled down from a 30 meters high cliff. The last day we did horse back riding at some other point of the foothills, again of a small group of five tourists, two gauchos, five dogs and of course our seven horses. Halfway we had a little rest. One of the Gauchos prepared some mate (tea) we then enjoyed with some meat filled bread. Arriving back at the farm we fed a llama that later tried to spill at me while I was taking a picture of it. After this adventure we directly went to the bus terminal to continue our trip to Santiago de Chile in a small bus by O’Higgins International. All large buses were already full.

At the border to Chile there was a line of waiting cars of a few kilometers. Although there were only two buses in front of us it took us about two and a half hours to come through customs. We passed all the way through the Andes passing the Aconcagua - with 6962m the highest mountain outside Asia. It was a tremendous landscape. Arriving at the central bus terminal was a big chaos. Hundreds of buses were coming from all directions waiting to get to the terminal. We were stucked in a line of buses about one kilometer before the terminal. We got off the bus to walk ‘cos that was definitely faster. I used this time to use some unprotected WiFi on the street to look up the address of our hostel we booked the day before. Finally arriving at our HI hostel Che Lagarto in the middle of the night we were surprised that almost nobody was staying there. We got a six bed dorm by ourselves. We wanted to celebrate New Year’s Eve in Santiago but I guess everybody is leaving. Next morning at breakfast all tables were occupied. I heard two girls speaking in a very familiar language - German. We joined them. They (Vanessa and Eva are their names) told us that after breakfast they were going to Valparaiso ‘cos there should be one of the biggest and most beautiful fireworks of the world. We thought about changing our plans (plans, we actually didn’t have) and at the end we went to the bus station, too. There was only one problem: we were too spontaneous this time. There was no single available bus. The bus companies were already signaling our refusal when we were heading to their counter. Last chance: a taxi driver was walking around looking for two more passengers. So we went with him and an older couple. It was three times more expensive than the bus but with 20€ still cheaper than going by taximeter; and we crossed all the country, from the Andes all way to the Pacific Coast. There was damn much traffic. Everybody wanted to get to Valparaiso or Viña del Mar. There were a lot of car accidents. One happened directly in front of us when the driver in front of us drove into the car in front him. The best part of this ride was when the couple left us and the taxi driver accelerated, made a lot of fun with us and shared his beer with us. When we got to the bus terminal we tried to catch up with the girls ‘cos we passed their company’s buses a few times on our way. But we missed them just by three minutes. Therefore we had to stay in contact via emails as it already had been arranged in Santiago. By this means Christoph received an email from a friend that studies in Valparaiso and celebrates New Year’s Eve with her friends in her flat. She invited us. We first explored the city with its world-famous character and Chile’s most important harbor. Culture-wise it is the capital city of Chile. Valparaíso was declared a World Heritage Site in 2003, thanks to its historical importance, natural beauty (large number of hills surrounding a picturesque harbor), and unique architecture (particularly, a mix of 19th century styles of housing). At the harbor the life was quite loud but as you walked through the streets a little bit up the hills it was so peaceful, and colorful! A very great city! At night we went to that party with Vanessa and Eva. The flat was up the hills with an awesome and unforgettable view of the whole city the harbor and later on the fireworks. It was the neighbor’s roof terrace he and his family shared with us that night. Unfortunately, after the fireworks, when we went downstairs to “our” flat, there was a little argument between the neighbor and us ‘cos he was missing his bottle of rum (and the next morning apparently there were some of his glasses missing or broken…). But we were deadly sure that we didn’t take his rum out of his fridge for we had about 3 liters of rum which is enough for 12 students when they also still have half a bath tub full of beer. At about 2am we all left the flat and went to a crowded place half way down to the city and stayed there (just to check the situation ). Then we continued to get to a public square in the city. It appeared that all the young party people of Valparaiso met there to end the parties in all the bars. Vanessa and Eva had left us at about 2:30am to catch their bus back to Santiago at 3am. Our bus (by TUR-Bus) left at 6am. A few ours later, after some little rest, we explored the city of Santiago. It was so hot that we used every fountain to get our skin wet but it took just a minute and it was all dry again. We passed a fish market and went in. We decided to eat for dinner there later on (to finally get some fresh and good fish) but they closed to early.

On our way to Córdoba we first took a semi cama bus by TUR-Bus to Mendoza and from there a semi cama bus by Tramat S.A.. This bus was not booked out so later we could move to the very front seats that we had great view. Shortly before entering Córdoba we drove through the tiny city San Juan where the Dakar Rally took place at that moment. Hundreds of spectators lined the streets all the way from somewhere before San Juan until Córdoba. And NO, we did NOT get involved in the Rally accident in Córdoba. We stayed at the Córdoba Hostel International. The next day we took a Fono Bus to Alta Gracia. Arriving there we were looking for the house where Ernesto “Che” Guevara spent his childhood. After asking a lot of locals we finally came to this house. It is a museum now. The weather forecast for this and the following day was rain. This day we always got some occasional little showers. We hoped to escape the rain the next day. Therefore Christoph wanted to take his anorak with him but then forgot it. We took a Fono Bus to Tanti. There we walked to the ‘Cueva de los pajaritos’ (parrots cave) up the hills in Mallín. There was no rain at all but a lot… no, way too much (!)… sun. We had problems breathing because all the water from last day’s raining was evaporating, we were sweating like hell and we had to walk 8 kilometers uphill and at high noon. All the streams on our way had water warm like piss. When we came to the caves we were surprised that it is a private park. We walked over rocks, waterfalls and rivers, and through trees for about two hours. On the way back we had the chance to jump on a couple’s pickup for the last kilometer. We were so tired and exhausted after this 6-hours long walk and we got a very bad sun burn; instead of a refreshing shower. The last day we did some sightseeing in Córdoba city. We also went up the hill where the Virgen María is. We had an awesome view of the whole city. Then we went back to Buenos Aires in a semi cama by El Turista.