Last days in Argentina :(

After Mendoza, Liam and I decided to head down to Bariloche so he could see why I like it so much there. We arrived and quickly met up with Sandy who was there taking Spanish lessons. The first afternoon we went up Cerro Campanario which boasts having one of the top ten views in the world. 

The following day Liam and I walked around in the morning while Sandy was in school and then we went out and walked around the Llao Llao forest, which grows bamboo and Arrayan trees. The Arrayan trees are really neat because they are so cold, much colder than other trees. 

Sunset in Bariloche

On Saturday morning we bid Sandy farewell (she was headed to Chile to meet another friend) and Liam and I caught a bus to El Bolson to see the famous hippy market. Other than the fact that we had too much time between buses in El Bolson, the market was great and we enjoyed walking around viewing all of the handmade crafts that the local hippies had made. On Sunday we had planned to hike but due to threatening weather we just stayed in town and walked around. Monday was our last day in Bariloche before beginning our way back to Canada. We did a few last minute purchases and then hopped on an overnight bus to Mendoza. Our plan was to bus at night and explore Mendoza and Santiago during the day. We saved money on hostels and got to see more during the day but we were sure exhausted. In Mendoza we spent the day walking around. We then caught another overnight bus to Santiago. At 2 am we had to get off the bus to cross customs and then arrived in Santiago at 6:30. We had to wait around the bus terminal until we could leave our bags in luggage storage and so that we could convert our Argentinean pesos to Chilean pesos.  We then did a self guided walking tour of Santiago, and realized we could have easily spent more time there (note to self for next time!). We then took a shuttle to the airport and hopped on a plane (our third night of traveling in a row!)

Mendoza with Liam!!

After a 15 hour bus ride from Bariloche I arrived in Mendoza on the Saturday of Easter weekend. Thankfully I had prebooked a hostel because all of the hostels were fully booked due to Easter. Liam was arriving in the evening so I had a day to spend walking around Mendoza. I ended up walking around Parque General San Martin, a large park on the edge of Mendoza. I also had a much needed nap and waited impatiently for Liam to arrive. I met Liam at the airport and then after having dropped off his bags at the hostel we went out for food, since Liam hadn´t eaten all day.

The next day we had to change hostels since I wasn´t able to book at one place for the entire weekend. We then walked around, had a picnic in Parque General San Martin and hiked up a small hill to get a panoramic view of the city and nearby mountains! We did a lot of walking that day and both had sore feet by the end of the day.

The following day we headed out for a wine bike tour. We caught a bus to Maipu, a small town on the outskirts of Mendoza. In Maipu we rented bikes, they gave us a map of nearby wineries and we were on our way. Our first stop was actually a liquor, absinthe and olive oil factory. It was a short tour followed by a tasting of some of their sauces, jams, dulce de leche and liquors. Liam went ahead and tried the absinthe, while I stayed a little more conservative and tried chocolate banana liquor. I think mine was a little tastier than Liam´s!! We then decided to head to the farthest winery on the map and work our way back to the bike rental place. After 10km or so we arrived at the last winery where we started our first tour and tasting. The tour was neat and the tasting seemed too formal for both of us, especially since we both agreed that the wines weren´t that great. The second winery was much neater and had underground storage of the wine, which looked really neat. This place was much less formal and we both found it more interesting. In total we visited 3 wineries. All were great but the previous day we had discovered Trapiche Malbec and both agreed that none of the wines we tried were as good. Trapiche also had a tour and tasting but by the time we arrived there it was closed for the day, we were both quite disappointed.

Liam waiting at a train crossing during the wine bike tour

A truck that drove by us FULL of grapes

The following day we were picked up bright and early at the hostel for a ¨High Mountain Tour¨ as it was named. The tour included seeing some nearby towns, the Puente del Inca and Aconcagua. We both agreed that the tour wasn’t worth what we paid but that we saw some pretty cool things. The Puente del Inca is a natural rock bridge that is suspended over the Mendoza River. Below is an old building that used to be a thermal resort and spa in the early 1900. Seeing Aconcagua was also really neat, it is the tallest mountain in the Americas at 6, 962 meters. Our tour took us to a mirador where we could get a nice view of the mountain. We also saw a few more sights but those were the two that really stood out in my mind as the more impressive things. Unfortunately to see these two things we had to sit in a car for a full day.
The following day we had planned to go and have lunch at one of the wineries. After having contacted a few and we discovered how expensive the lunches were (about $60 canadian) we quickly changed our minds. We then decided to go back to Trapiche for a winery tour since we missed it during our bike tour. We caught a bus back to Maipu and walked to Trapiche. We had to wait about an hour since we had just missed a tour. The tour was much more detailed than the other tours and during the tasting our tour guide taught us what to look for in a wine. It was kind of neat to learn what you are actually supposed to do in a wine tasting. We also enjoyed the wines more than at the other wineries.

Puente del Inca

Aconcagua

That’s all for now! Another post abut the end of my trip will come soon!