mendoza

Ok, so I possibly could have gone to the wrong country to volunteer. Because I really like Argentina. Yes I know that being on vacation for 3 days in one small city is not how to make a good judgment of an entire country but at least take it as a good indication that I really enjoyed my trip to Mendoza!

We caught a bus 10.30pm Thursday night, spent an hour an a half on the border going through customs outside in the freezing cold at 3am (not cool) and arrived in Mendoza around 7am. We spent the day walking around the giant Parque San Martín, then made our way towards Cerro de la Gloria which has a stunning monument to San Martín at the top. Along the way we picked up a wandering Australian who must have heard us speaking English so he joined us for the summit & then a beer at the bottom. Later that night we met up with the others who had driven over by car to enjoy a dinner together.

Me, Marco, Bushra, Mia & Pernille (Team Bus)

Thanks for taking our photo Australian friend! At the top of Cerro de la Gloria

Entrance to Parque San Martín

The park is so large that the helado (ice cream) vendors get around by motorbike instead of walking!

 The next day we all caught a bus to Maipú about 40 minutes out of Mendoza, hired some bikes, grabbed a map then started off on our wine trail. Beautiful weather, great company, & of course lots of fabulous wine (and a shot of absinthe) made a memorable day. We finished up in a beer garden that looked like we had stumbled into someones back yard by accident and made me feel like I was right back home in NZ.

The next day I was hoping to check out some of the local markets but apparently everything in Mendoza shuts down on a Sunday, so we spent the day meandering around the city exploring.

Plaza Independcia

Plaza Italia

Huge fan of all the tree lined streets in Mendoza

Eventually we met back up with some of the others, enjoyed a final dinner then jumped back on the bus to Santiago to repeat the same torturous 3am border crossing. How it works is everyone exits the bus to get their passports stamped etc. then you go to this room and stand behind a table with your luggage to wait. To pass the time you get to check out a homemade poster board with pictures of drug mules in their underwear caught with drugs strapped to them. Nice deterrent technique! After the customs officers finish they come around shaking a plastic cup for tips. Government officials getting tipped? Like if I don't give you money you might search my bag a little more? Thanks for making me stand here for half an hour? This is odd to me.

So how do I compare Mendoza to Santiago?

1.) COFFEEEEE!!! Real expresso coffee is widely available, not just the instant Nescafe that is worshiped everywhere in Santiago.

2) I experienced multiple thunderbolt moments of 'Wait, I can actually understand what you're saying to me?!? Amazing!' The Spanish is so much easier to understand.

3) I think Mendoza is much more used to having extranjeras because they don't make you feel like you stick out like a sore thumb by staring you down or cat calling you for wearing shorts in 30 degree weather!

4) Everything is way less expensive in Mendoza than in Santiago.

5) Above mentioned tree-lined streets.


So back in Santiago and time is flying by much too fast as usual, as already a week has passed since I got back.