Gran Hotel Uspallata

... het grootste deel van de baggage naar boven brengen en wij zullen alleen een dagrugzakje mee hoeven te nemen, voornamelijk bedoeld om water in op te bergen. We vertrekken in Punta de Vacas (2.400m) waar onze vergunningen gecontroleerd worden en onze gezondheid nagekeken wordt. Hebben we genoeg rode bloedlichaampjes e.d. Onze eerste overnachting is in tentjes in Pampa de Lenas (2.800m), de tweede in Casa de Piedras (3.200m) om vervolgens aan te komen op Plaza Argentina (4.200m ...

... shores, and up into the mountains towards the border with Chile, about 100 miles up the windy curvy road.



We stopped at the last gas station/minimarket in Argentina to use up the last of our Argentine pesos, being careful not to buy anything like fresh vegetables or cheese that the Chilean customs officials might seize. We had been hearing lots of rumors about the difficulties of ...

... glass doors/windows and see the coffins just sitting there. Some were dusty and actually falling apart with cracks all in their wood.... creepy!! some of the tombs where so old and had so much history. Evita“s tomb was quite plain compared to all the other ones and like I said we had to piggyback on the guided tour just to be able to find the dam thing. Have found Buenos Aires safe and friendly. They seem to like ...

... more money than the rest of the countries visited to date, a lot more westernized but in saying that losing cultural differences that Ive enjoyed elsewhere... We eventually decided to hire a car and drink-drive our way around the wine region. This turned out to be as cheap as hiring a couple of bicycles and given that Mer is still rehabilitating proved to be a good option. 3 different wineries were visited on the 1st day ...

Bariloche and the white water rafting done we set off to a small town called Junin del Andes just 4 hours North. It was smaller and we hoped that we would be able to find a cheap place to stay and would be able to do some walks from the town. We arrived there at about midday after another beautiful bus ride. We headed out of the bus station to try and find somewhere to stay. The town seemed quiet and was a lot warmer than Bariloche. We arrived at ...

It seems we are not very lucky as we lost photos of the 10 days we stayed in Argentina. Anyway, we will try to summarize everything we did. After Salta, we went to Cafayate, place of great wines as we can assure you. On the bus, we crossed La Quebrada de las Conchas, a spectacular valley of red land and impressive mountains (the photos we have posted are from internet), so on the next day we rented bikes and we took a bus that left us ...

... awesome, though slightly frustrating for me at some of the steeper sections! We spent the rest of the afternoon on this run honing my skills while Lizzie whizzed past. I got pretty confident towards the end and even had a go on a red section and went “off-piste“ (I got the lingo) a few times! By the end of the day we were knackered but loved it...definately have plans to go again at some point, though in Europe I“m sure it“ll be slightly more than £35 all-in!

... Redentor' towards Argentina. There road was good quality and there was a huge set of switchback bends leading up to the peak at 3,863 metres. At a cold and windy border post we were stamped out of Chile and rode 17km to the Argentinean frontier, where our papers and insurance was checked before we could proceed to the customs post, a further 15km along the road. Crossing the border took about 30 minutes in total and we continued as the light faded ...

We were really looking forward to trying the white water rafting down the Uspallata valley. (Veronika had already tried it in Chile some years back). A van picked us up at 10.30 am at Uspallata to take us to the start of the run. During the bus trip we had a surprising meeting with a very friendly couple from Yorkshire (Halifax and Leeds) who we would be doing rafting and horse riding and an extended wine and beer tasting session at night! There ...

Early morning again 6.30am to get the 8am bus to Uspallata from central bus station. There was a bit of a show last night at the Hostal Lagares in Mendoza when a Chilean girl claimed that her wallet had been taken from the dorm (not in ours as we took a private room). She was accusing the workers that were installing the air conditioning, but no one in the hostel believed her and she was doing a big drama. However she refused to go to the police and ...