It's been a bit longer than I intended to write this post, but that's just because I've been super busy traveling and or because I was stuck on a 20+ hour bus ride without WiFi... But here's the update I meant to have done a lot sooner...
After Iguazu I took a plane to Mendoza. I had found a great fare, and it beat a 36 hour bus ride.. I flew through Salta, and got to Mendoza at around 2pm. I checked into my hostel and found it to be really great. I was staying over a Tuesday and Wednesday night so I was lucky enough to have my own room with it's own bathroom.. not bad for 10$ a night! I booked an excursion for 4pm that day for a horseback ride by the Andes. The trip was incredible! 3 hours on a horse with a bunch of Germans, Australians, and Irish folks, who were all hilarious and really sweet during sunset by the mountains was an extremely memorable experience. What came next though was certainly the highlight of my stint in Mendoza. The hosts made us an asado (grill dinner) which was unreal and out of this world... not only was the meat incredible but the salad (a rare thing to come across in this country) and the chicken were delicious!! The chicken literally changed my world, never tasted a chicken so delicious and probably never will. The wine kept coming from huge gallon jugs, and the songs and convos were equally as enjoyable. The Australians I met there invited me to come with them on a bike wine tasting trip through the vineyards of Maipu, and I jumped on this opportunity. I met them at their hostel the next day after a brief wander around the city, and we went to about 4 or 5 vineyards on our bikes, drinking and picknicking along the way. Mendoza was a lovely time, and an incredible experience. It was my first time really being on my own traveling, and I am proud that I fared so well, and really happy that I was able to meet some awesome people.
The next day, at basically the crack of dawn I went to catch my bus to Santiago de Chile to visit one of my best friends Christine. Her birthday was that weekend, and I'm way too close to miss having a fiesta over there with her! The bus across the Andes was something incredible itself. I felt like my window was really a big screen TV playing national geographic. The snow capped mountains, lakes, and Inca ruins a long the way made it impossible for me to catch up on some sleep. Luckily I made it through the intense Chilean customs and found my way to the metro stop I was meeting Christine at.
For the next few days we had a blast, accompanied too by a few of her friends in Santiago, walking all over the city, and enjoying local specialties like hotdogs at Dominó and Terremotos (basically white wine with pineapple ice cream in it). The birthday festivities were awesome as well, and I was definitely super sad to be leaving. Santiago was nice place. It was similar but yet quite different from BsAs. I can't really tell what was different, but I think it was mostly that BsAs has a lot more small businesses and is a ton more spread out. Santiago is a very dense modern city, that seems to care more about banks and big businesses than having the little stores and mini marts that you see in BsAs. Still, Santiago seems quite livable, the weather's amazing, and the outlying mountains you can see are breathtaking! Especially at sundown of course.
Over the next 22 hours starting at 10am on Monday morning, I sat on a bus that worked its way back over the Andes and through the midsection of Argentina back to the Retiro bus terminal in Buenos Aires where my journey started. I arrived at about 8am on Tuesday morning, had a quick breakfast that Roberto was sweet enough to have waiting for me, and went back to work! Incredibly enough just as Sandy was hitting NYC a huge rain storm hit BsAs as well, flooding many parts of the city, even my work. I guess I really did luck out weather wise!
Since then it's been back to the grind. Although I really do miss being on my adventure, and of course spending time with Christine, it's nice to be back home with the kiddies and my coworkers.
After Iguazu I took a plane to Mendoza. I had found a great fare, and it beat a 36 hour bus ride.. I flew through Salta, and got to Mendoza at around 2pm. I checked into my hostel and found it to be really great. I was staying over a Tuesday and Wednesday night so I was lucky enough to have my own room with it's own bathroom.. not bad for 10$ a night! I booked an excursion for 4pm that day for a horseback ride by the Andes. The trip was incredible! 3 hours on a horse with a bunch of Germans, Australians, and Irish folks, who were all hilarious and really sweet during sunset by the mountains was an extremely memorable experience. What came next though was certainly the highlight of my stint in Mendoza. The hosts made us an asado (grill dinner) which was unreal and out of this world... not only was the meat incredible but the salad (a rare thing to come across in this country) and the chicken were delicious!! The chicken literally changed my world, never tasted a chicken so delicious and probably never will. The wine kept coming from huge gallon jugs, and the songs and convos were equally as enjoyable. The Australians I met there invited me to come with them on a bike wine tasting trip through the vineyards of Maipu, and I jumped on this opportunity. I met them at their hostel the next day after a brief wander around the city, and we went to about 4 or 5 vineyards on our bikes, drinking and picknicking along the way. Mendoza was a lovely time, and an incredible experience. It was my first time really being on my own traveling, and I am proud that I fared so well, and really happy that I was able to meet some awesome people.
The next day, at basically the crack of dawn I went to catch my bus to Santiago de Chile to visit one of my best friends Christine. Her birthday was that weekend, and I'm way too close to miss having a fiesta over there with her! The bus across the Andes was something incredible itself. I felt like my window was really a big screen TV playing national geographic. The snow capped mountains, lakes, and Inca ruins a long the way made it impossible for me to catch up on some sleep. Luckily I made it through the intense Chilean customs and found my way to the metro stop I was meeting Christine at.
For the next few days we had a blast, accompanied too by a few of her friends in Santiago, walking all over the city, and enjoying local specialties like hotdogs at Dominó and Terremotos (basically white wine with pineapple ice cream in it). The birthday festivities were awesome as well, and I was definitely super sad to be leaving. Santiago was nice place. It was similar but yet quite different from BsAs. I can't really tell what was different, but I think it was mostly that BsAs has a lot more small businesses and is a ton more spread out. Santiago is a very dense modern city, that seems to care more about banks and big businesses than having the little stores and mini marts that you see in BsAs. Still, Santiago seems quite livable, the weather's amazing, and the outlying mountains you can see are breathtaking! Especially at sundown of course.
Over the next 22 hours starting at 10am on Monday morning, I sat on a bus that worked its way back over the Andes and through the midsection of Argentina back to the Retiro bus terminal in Buenos Aires where my journey started. I arrived at about 8am on Tuesday morning, had a quick breakfast that Roberto was sweet enough to have waiting for me, and went back to work! Incredibly enough just as Sandy was hitting NYC a huge rain storm hit BsAs as well, flooding many parts of the city, even my work. I guess I really did luck out weather wise!
Since then it's been back to the grind. Although I really do miss being on my adventure, and of course spending time with Christine, it's nice to be back home with the kiddies and my coworkers.
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