 |
| The entire countryside of Argentina |
Almost 5 months ago, we arrived in Chile. Due to various communication mishaps/laziness, only 3 of the 19 of us had student visas. So, we paid the $130 entrance fee and received tourist visas. These are valid for 90 days. Which means 90 days later, we decided to take a short little trip across the Andes to Mendoza, Argentina, mostly for the passport stamp, also for the biking wine tours.
Well, it was raining in Santiago, which meant it was snowing in the cordillera (mountains surrounding Stgo), and we couldn’t cross to Mendoza. Being intrepid young travelers, Cailtin, Dixie, Claire, and I decided to bus south overnight to Temuco, where we were assured we could get a bus to Argentina. It’s counter-intuitive, that in the south the pass would be clear, (Southern Hemisphere: south=colder), but it’s because the southern Andes are less high. The plan worked out, we got in to Temuco at 8, and at 8:30am we caught a bus to San Martin de los Andes, Argentina.
San Martín is an adorable little town with little Swiss-style houses, you know, the kind with white walls and exposed wooden beams. We stayed in a creaky little A-frame next to the crystal blue lake. We ate some amazing chocolate and seafood. I had squash-filled ravioli, which were amazing. We relaxed a lot and ate a lot and took a hike. We visited the most amazing wine store I’ve ever seen. It was a great vacation!
My friends decided we were “so close” to Patagonia, they might as well go from there (read: really not that close). I had a big group project and meeting on Wednesday afternoon, so I bought a ticket to leave at 6am on Tuesday back to Chile. Alas, here comes the biggest traveling mistake of my life to date: I never changed my cellphone to Argentinian time (an hour ahead), and arrived to the bus station at 7am (6am Chilean time). Woah is me. I was so angry. I didn’t get my money back, and took an 8-hour bus ride north to Neuquen (10am-6pm) at 7:30ish, I took an overnight bus through most of the country to Mendoza, arriving at 7:30am. There were a few scary moments, like when the bus drove down a dirt road lined with “Danger” signs, and because I was all by myself I could only think about how it was just like in movies before vehicles blow up.
I caught the 8am bus back to Santiago, arriving at 1:30, missing my group meeting, and having spent 28ish hours traveling on buses. Posh buses, but I still smelled pretty gross and ate too many free alfajor cookies than I care to remember.
View Larger Map
