Home
|
|
|
|
|
|
And
so ends our trip to Argentina...
Thu Oct 10, 2002 6:37 pm
We
ended up fleeing Chile the morning after Charlie left, which was the 2nd,
I believe. The prices were WAY to high for us, and Argentina, with its cheap,
tasty wine, food and lodging, seemed to be calling us from beyond the Andes.
We made our way to the bus station and got a mini bus through the pass and
into Mendoza. The pass itself gave us incredible views of the mountains.
At the top, we were actually very near to Aconcogua, the highest peak in
the Americas at about 6,900 m.
We were told by a taxi driver in Buenos Aires that Mendoza was "un
jardin," and it definitly exceded my expectations. Naturally it would
be a complete desert, with no trees and dust blowing through the streets.
However, a fairly complex system of canals runs through the city and enables
huge trees to line all the streets, making it cool and charming. It is also
FULL of plazas and has a HUGE park which, due to its size, we had to take
a bus tour through. The park has everything from the largest zoo in Argentina
to a university. We managed to see the zoo, which was definitly not up to
western standards since the big cats were all smushed in tiny cages and
there were random monkies running all over the place- definite escapees.
Mendoza is also the center for the Argentinian wine industry, so no trip
there would be complete without a visit to a local vineyard. We chose Bodega
La Rural, which is quite large and has a museum about traditional wine making.
We started out with a nice quiet tour group, but were joined by about 30
teenie boppers there with a school group, which seemed a little silly since
they have no idea about different wines and couldn´t take advantage
of the free samples. We ended up buying ourselves a lovely Chardonay, which
we drank that night to celebrate the halfway point in our trip.
And then, once again, it was time for a marathon 17 hour bus ride- this
time to Salta in the far north of Argentina.
(continued in Salta . . .)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
