Heading for Santiago in Chile tomorrow
Trip Start
Unknown
1
15
19
Trip End
Ongoing
Mendoza,
Argentina
Thursday, May 15, 2008
The Navimag boat trip from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt was relaxing but not quite what everyone had expected. We'd all expected to see wildlife along the way but there wasn't any. Food was ok, like school dinners. On the second day there was a briefing about how bad the waves would be so they would make an announcement about when to take motion sickness pills. This resulted in everyone falling off to sleep. Luckily, Jim and I managed to wake up for dinner. It was so difficult to walk around though, it was like being drunk with the boat swaying side to side. Not many people made it for dinner.
The following day we were told that a volcano had errupted and the Captain was going to steer the boat close to it. It was meant to happen around lunch time but there was no volcano in sight. We gave up looking out for it.
In the evening there was a game of bingo. Jim one one game of bingo but we had to dance for our price. It was a fun evening and then everyone started rushing outside. Apparently we were near to the errupting volcano. Amongst the darkness there a slight red glow which we think was the volcano. Excitement over.
It was nice to be back on ground. We decided to head back into Argentina as we love it here. Jim wanted a juicy steak too for his birthday. We headed for Bariloche. It took us a few attempts before we found a hostel with vacant rooms. The day after we moved to Pudu, a cheaper hostel run by an Irish couple. It's so cozy there and they're so nice. It's only been opened for a month.
We decided to hire a car and drive around the Lake District. Definitely a good way of seeing the sights. I wasn't interested in hiking any more. It was so beautiful there.
One evening we started getting covered in dust. At first I thought it was just a dusty road but then it got worse. The ash of the errupted volcano had made it's way to Bariloche. By the time we got back to our hostel we were totally covered in ash.
Our next stop was to Mendoza. We took an overnight bus to the warmer climates of Mendoza. It's a pretty little city with tree-lined streets. Nice cafes like BA. One problem is that there aren't loads of tango classes around like in BA. Almost one a day but one a day isn't much. The classes are so much cheaper though at 7 pesos.
We decided to try out paragliding. It's basically skydiving minus the freefall. I was paired up with a guy called Pancho. We all had to wait around until the wind was blowing in the right direction. We had a false start. I didn't quite know what was going on. I felt us being blown but then the parachute came back down. I wasn't feeling so confident in my instructor by this time. After a couple of minutes we successfully left the ground. It was a nice feeling floating in the air but it came to an end pretty quickly. Jim enjoyed the paraglide a lot more than me. He stayed in the air for longer and higher too.
Some people recommended the wine and bike tour. Cycling to the wineries and tasting wines. Hmmm, not sure if that mixes well. Sounded like fun though. For 60 pesos you can go on the "bikeandwine" tour but we decided to do it independently. We took the bus to Maipu (1.40 pesos) and then rented bikes from a local family (15 pesos). I hadn't cycled for ten years and even back then I wasn't very good at it. As a kid I had roller skates and not a bike. It was only when I was in China I was given a bike after one of the foreign students went back to the U.S after one semester. I only used it a few times as it seemed safer for other cyclists if I walked rather than cycled. With this in mind I was destined to fall of my bike in Mendoza. It wasn't the safest road to cycle on. You have to cycle on this big main road and then there are side streets leading to the wineries. The problem with cycling around here is that it's a busy road with lorries and cars speeding by. It didn't help that they would hoot as they came up behind you. I was cycling quite well and then all of a sudden my bike slipped on the gap and off I fell. Damnit! I rested for 5 minutes then continued on my bike with success. We went to a couple of wineries and then ended the day at a chocolate liquer making place. We were given a shot of chocolate liquer ( I chose chocolate with mint) and the lady gave us a mixture of chocolates too. So yummy and cheap at 5 pesos. Mmmmm. Good job the place we rented the bikes from wasn't too far away. 8 wine tastings and a shot of chocolate liquer (20% alcohol) mixed with cycling can be dangerous for someone with my alcohol intolerance. It was an enjoyable day but would've been better if there weren't any cars around.
The next day I went to the thermaspas at Cachueta, an hour away from Mendoza. It was great spending the whole day there, well worth the money (25 GBP). The trip included transport and lunch. The thermaspas are surrounded by the Andes so it was really beautiful relaxing in the spas. I had a mudbath and massage too. Bliss!
