Buses, Views and Policia!

Next up was an epic 19 hour bus journey south to Bariloche. I was hesitantly optimistic as the bus to Mendoza had been brilliant but knew 19hours would be a trial. We set off packed up with rice cakes and cheese and sandwiches for Ed and do you know, it was a really very comfortable journey. Two films both in English helped the journey go quickly, we’d paid to get the best seats on the bus which were comfy 140degree recliners, the toilet was functioning and relatively bearable, all in all it was a fab experience.
Just I was thinking how wonderful the experience was the bus pulled up at a Police check point. A nice police lady jumped on and checked everyone’s passports, all was fine and the next thing we knew Ed and I were being told to gather all our things and come with them.... no one explained what was going on and they pretended not to understand or be able to reply in Spanish. My thoughts were that maybe someone at the bus terminal had put something in our bags and Ed was panicking that it was a chance to bribe the Brits, worried about how to bargain in Spanish and just how much they were going to ask us for.
We got escorted to their office where they proceeded to unroll and nose around in every single pocket and part of our rucksacks. I tell you, I’m not travelling with dirty laundry again! After going through every part of our bags, getting excited at a packet of plasters-trying to explain those in pidgin Spanish was fun-they realised we had nothing of interest and let us go. Very strange I asked again what they were looking for and this time they bothered to respond and said it was a routine check, the bus conductor said maybe the sniffer dogs had found something. We put it down to Ed’s ratty bag, remember the rat in Thailand that chewed Ed’s bag to get to his hidden dairy milk buttons? Maybe our bags looked a bit tatty and they thought we were hiding something.

Anyway, off we went again and we arrived to a very chilly Bariloche. It was really exciting to head to Patagonia, this is where Ed’s dad spent much of his youth and we were excited to see his homeland. This is also where the weather we had anticipated kicked in so it was on with the jumpers, hats, gloves and scarves all while you folks are twittering on about the hot weather you were having!

Me doing some postcard writing in the main Plaza of Bariloche.

Bariloche is a really beautiful town, set right on a lake with snow dusted mountains in the distance. It is Argentina’s lake district and the area is dotted with gorgeous blue lakes. We spent the first couple of days sleeping, eating and mooching around town, but I soon got itchy feet and we stepped up the visit a notch or two with a visit to the local museum and a couple of hikes. The best walk took us on a ski-chair lift to an amazing viewpoint. We said it was the most amazing view we’ve had all trip. Overlooking snowcapped mountains, lakes, beautiful autumn trees, two young eagles were swooping and playing and we are pretty sure we saw Condors over in the distance.

Fabulous views from the top of a mountain over Argentina's Lake District


Hopefully by now you are understanding the miniscule portions and massive variety that Argentine food offers?

South America, the last leg of the trip

An eleven hour flight took us to Santiago de Chile. We hadn’t read up much so didn’t know what to expect but we’d booked into a hostel in a nice area of town for two nights. Only problem was I’d managed to forget that Chile is behind NZ by about a day so while we may have left on the evening of the 31st, this did not mean that we would arrive on the 1st of course it meant we arrived on the 31st! Unfortunately I only realised this on the plane so there wasn’t a lot I could do about it and unfortunately for Ed it wasn’t an April Fools.
Luckily for us the hostel had a space so they changed the rooms around and we were all sorted. No one speaks English here so we are getting by on my pidgin Spanish. Having not slept at all on the flight - can anyone sleep in economy?? We grabbed a couple of hours to feel more human and then just went to a local restaurant for a local dinner – Mexican-local ish??

Day two we explored the city centre and a couple of their museums. The weather here is really lovely, we had anticipated cold and were prepped with jumpers and rain jackets but in Santiago I mostly wore dresses and Ed shorts, it was a nice surprise to be basking in some sunshine.
Santiago is a pretty nice city, very nice in comparison to many South American capitals. We discovered a super cool area stuffed with bars and restaurants that night and had a fun time trying out the national cocktail ‘Pisco Sour’ and local beef.

Steak, Chile style

After another chilled out day in Santiago we grabbed our first bus of this leg to Argentina. Buses in Argie are SO much better than Thai buses, comfy seats, food and drink included and most importantly, films! A very twisty windy route took us up and around the Andes that separate Chile from Argentina and we crossed the border into the Fatherland. On arrival into Mendoza-the wine capital of South America-we strolled to our hostel with our bags on our back, problem was we arrived at a very swanky looking hotel. Turns out there is a Hostel International (where we booked into) and a Hotel International (where we currently stood) we wandered in just in case we hadn’t made a mistake but on the Concierge’s demands of a voucher and a slight grimace at our rucksacked selves we realised we were in the wrong spot. Half an hour more of walking in the warm midday sun led us to our hostel, the correct one. It’s never a good sign, we have decided, if your hostel is painted a ridiculous bright colour. This Orange monstrosity was clean enough but full of really young ‘travellers’ that don’t seem to travel the world just travel the worlds hostels, hanging out in the communal areas all the time and playing on Facebook!

Anyhow, Mendoza is a really nice city and was a great introduction to Argentina, we scoped out town and booked ourselves into a wine tour. There were budget ones we could do on a bike but we chose a more expensive one that took you to further away vineyards in a comfortable bus. The guys on our tour were lovely, a couple of grandparents from America, a young swiss couple, us and a gal from San Francisco. We had a really good day and an excellent long 5 course lunch with matching wines thanks to Wedding gift number 15 thanks to the gorgeous bridesmaids and also Nathan, Mari and Isabel. It was great to try some delicious Malbecs and the speciality here of Torrontes- a really beautiful white wine. At one of the vineyards we were lucky enough to see them working with the grapes as it is harvest time, handpicking out the bad grapes and bugs before it all goes into a machine to get rid of the stems. Having got somewhat squiffy at the New Zealand tour I tried to pace myself a little more in Mendoza and it worked, I just loved all the wines ; ) We have researched how many bottles you can bring back to the UK so if we are staying with you while homeless in the UK you may be lucky enough to try some. Assuming I don’t quaff it all!

Yey, arrival into Argentina!


Ed does some beer tasting in Mendoza!

Don't worry they were 'taster' size glasses!

Steak, Argie style- it must have been at least 2 inches thick.

Needless to say I couldn't manage it all

Wine tour with snow covered Andes just behind us. Big thanks to Meli, Zoe, Hannah, Nathan, Mari and Isabel xx