The Argentina Round Up

Coming from both Peru and Bolivia, Argentina was a complete change in landscape. Roads lacked pot holes, pavements weren't so smashed up, buildings looked in good repair, products in shops actually had prices on them, breaking down large notes became a lot easier, the water was drinkable from the tap, this was a far more developed European style country!

Salta

I came to Salta from San Pedro and had not planned on staying that long, but that changed to 4 days. I got off my bus and found my way to the hostel, I knew where it was but had planned on getting a taxi to it. However I had no Pesos (Arg currency) yet and I couldn't use the cash point I found. I could have paid in US$ dollars if I had any (dollars are very useful to have in South America). So that just left me a walk through an unfamiliar city at 9pm at night. I got to my hostel in the end without any problems. It was a nice small hostel with only ~ 10 people staying. I made friends instantly and was going to taste Saltas nightlife that same evening. Salta has one street which is lined with all the pubs, bars and clubs. I went out with four others and had a fun night of live rock music at the first place we visited and later a club with the ubiquitous South American Reggaeton beats playing all night long. Saturday daytime was a chilled affair and I got to have a look around Salta. Salta is a city of ~1 million people and boasts a very grand large plaza at its centre with a cathedral, modern arts gallery, theatre and numerous restaurants surrounding it. I visited the modern arts gallery with a German girl at my hostel called Daramina. In the night it was time to go out again but this time with most of the residents and staff at the hostel.

Hostel friends

After a game of Ring of Fire (yes its internationally known, just with different names) we headed out to a really cool club and partied the night away to electro music in its large white main room. Once again the next day was pretty chilled affair of not a lot, although, I did walk up to the top of Salta's largest hill to see the city from its viewpoint. I wanted to go to the city of Cordoba next but knew it had a 270 pesos (~£50) price tag attached to it. There was a possible way out though as I was told it was doable by hitch hiking! Darimina also wanted to get there and was very enthusiastic about the hitchiking part so we decided to give it a go on Tuesday.

Before leaving Salta I decided to try out some horse riding at a local Cabalgato (ranch). Alot of Argentina's heart is cowby country with large herds of cattle (I'm sure you know about Argentinian beef) and so it was a great place to try it out. I went for a half day and arrived for lunch ,which, was a lot of wine and a feast of meat, salad and lots more. Then came the horseriding. It was my first time on a horse but it wasn't too difficult as the horses were very well trained. There was one problem I found, I was allergic to horses! My nose started streaming and later my eyes got very swolen and red. The path was pleasant and we were taken over rivers and alongside fields of crops . Near the end we had a chance to canter with the horses. I never realised how bumpy a ride it would be and how hard you have to try to stop yourself being jolted off. It was a fun experience but not one I would plan on repeating.

Yeeha!

The 870km hitchhike

It was 10am on Tuesday when Daramina and I set off on our trip and we first took a taxi ride to the roundabout where the traffic head to Cordoba (870 km away). With us we had a sign that read 'Cordoba' and our bags. We were very happy when in under 30 minutes we had our first hitch. The driver of the truck was travelling to Buenos Aires with his 30 tonne load of sugar but he could take us half way towards Cordoba. We got on and thus our journey really began. The driver was very friendly and we weren't the first hitchikers he had picked up. In total it would take us 16 hours to reach our destination but with a total cost of 100 pesos compared to 270 it was a good saving and adventure. Once getting halfway we waved goodbye to our driver whom really seem sad to leave Daramina! We needed a but of bus travel to get us to the next road that led to Cordoba. The traffic was a lot less on this stretch of road and it took a lot longer (over an hour) to find our next transport. Another lorry took us 150km closer to Cordoba leaving us 250 km to go. By this time it was past midnight and Daramina and I were in a small town by a petrol station trying to flag down cars. Eventually past 1am Daramina found a car that could take us the rest of the way to Cordoba. It was a happy moment as we both tought we may be needing a place to stay for the night. The car sped towards Cordoba but it wasn't until 4am that we made it to a hostel in a town close to the main city and sleep.

Daramina and lorry driver no.1

So thoughts on hitchhiking, well it works out here but if you want to do it first find a female gringo to go with you. I am pretty sure Daramina was the reason we got all three of our lifts. It's an unprecitable mode of travel but if I had the time to do it I think I would give it a go again.

Cordoba

The town was found a hostel in turned out to be a the pretty town of Alta Gracia and a good place to be as it housed 'La Casa del Che', a house Che Guevara grew up in which has been converted in to a museum ab out him. It features a lot about what he did when he was young and how he was as a child. Their are artefacts about him such as Cuban bank notes with his face on, his motorcycle adventures, letters between Castro and himself and later adventures and his ultimate death. In 2006 it was visited by Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez and pictures of their visit are in one of the rooms.

Me n Che

Cordoba itself is Argentina's second city and is very big, but, who would I find there but Waytt and Ben from Huaraz and Cochabamba times. I met up with them briefly and visited a museum dedicated to the missing people of the Dirty War. The Dirty War was between 1976-83 when a military dictatorship took control of the country. They clamped down on free speach and an estimated 30,000 people went missing as a result. By conincidence I was in Cordoba on the day of anniversary of their take over of power. There was a march through the city in rememberence of the missing, trials are still happening to bring to justice the people that were involved. The day before I had decided that there was not too much to see so I booked a bus ticket to Mendoza that evening.

Mendoza

Mendoza is a very pretty, open planned city situated in wine making country, and the weather was great the whole time I was there. In the main plaza I met four girls from England and spent my first afternoon with them. We bought some of the tastiest ice cream I have ever had (I bought a 1/4 kilo tub) before heading to a big park in the centre. It was a really lovely park to walk around in the sunshine and chilled there for a couple of hours near the lake. I met up with them again in the evening to head out for some partying. We went to the closing night of this big club but my night was cut short as I had too much to drink and headed home around 3am or something. The day after was spent doing very little but I planned a day trip for the next day to see Aconcagua, South America's highest mountain at 6,970m.

Aconcagua

I left on a 4 hour bus trip at 7am. You can't get close to the mountain unless you pay a lot for the park entry and camp, so the bus drops you at a visitors centre where you can walk to a few viewpoints to see the mountains south face. It was a very impressive site to see and I walked all the way up to the first campsite before returning just in time to catch the bus back to Mendoza. The day after I had the funnest thing in Mendoza to look forward to...

Bicycle wine tasting

The bicycle wine tasting tour is a short bus ride away to the town of Maipu, an area filled with vines and bodegas. The Mendoza region is best known for its red Malbec wines, a grape that originated in France but has better conditions for its production in Argentina. Alongside this they also produce very good Merlot's and Cabernet Sauvignons. I rented a bike from Mr Hugo Bikes and waited so that I could join up with some more people. Mr Hugo was very nice and there was free wine given out even before the day had begun! I met a couple of Frnech guys, who, it turned out were living and working in London and we set off on our bikes armed maps and a thirst for some good wine. The first stop was a wine museum which also produced its own wine. We got a nice half glass for free before heading to a small producer of olives, liquors, vinegar and chocolate. We were first shown around their small estate before tasting their wears. I had the sweetest tasting balsamic vinegar I had ever had and many other things before moving on. We decided to ride to the bottom of the wine tasting trail and work our way back up again. For each bodega we visited we had to pay a small price for a tour of the facilities and the tasting of their wines. Each of the bodegas we visited had small production, high quality vineyards which produced a maximum of 400,000 bottles of each wine.

Riding on in search of wine

By the time we had finished the third bodega having tasted two to three wines in each we were in need of a meal. The fourth bodega we went to also did lunch so we ate there after the tour. We just had time to get to a fifth bodega after this before returning the bikes. Maybe it was due to all the wine I had already had but I thought the Tempus Alba bodega had the best wine of all of them and we drank them sat on a sun deck overlooking the fields of vines. After that it was time to ride back to Mr Hugos but the party was not over as anyone who rented a bike can stay there drinking as much wine as they like. It was a very fund day and I mede it back to Mendoza around 8pm, the next day I would be leaving for Santiago, Chile.

End of a perfect day