I’M BACK!

Going home from Mendoza

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 23:17:06 +0200

Opposite to everyone else I decided to return to Valparaíso during the day. Many others had recommend this, as the trip through the Andes was said to be fantastic, especially for someone from the plains.
The night trip had already held some beautiful moonlit views in store, that I did not want to miss the opportunity of seeing it at daylight.
Early up before everyone else I had to catch my bus at nine and had to walk the long way to the bus terminal with all the luggage, as I had spent almost every last Argentine peso on souvenirs the night before.
Although I did not have much time left, I could not resist some photo ops and soon started to run late.
With some bargaining skills I was able to take a cab for my last coins in order to make it to the bus in time.

Still exhausted from the day before I slept a lot of the time on the bus, but woke up to a couple of nice impressions by partially snow covered mountains and ski slopes. The winding roads and mountain tops really made the trip worthwhile, although loosing an entire day. The daytime return took a lot longer than the night trip, as the border crossing took about three hours.
Nevertheless the Andes are very impressive and beautiful. I also saw a lot of beautiful landscape between the mountains and the sea, for example the hillside, La campana, an hour outside of Valparaíso.

After many hours on the bus I arrived in Valparaíso at nightfall and fell exhausted into bed, reminiscing about the nice and exiting weekend in Mendoza.

Mendoza - Day III

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 23:14:45 +0200

The next morning there was no place nor time for sleepy heads. As I had gotten up as one of the first (remind that I did not attend the concert at night) I was in charge of organizing some food for the full day rafting trip. At around seven thirty after having made myself hugely unpopular in the capacity of an alarm clock, I got into the streets determined to find food for the hungry crowd.
As I did not want to repeat yesterdays hourlong desaster in finding a supermarket I asked my way around and was fast enough standing in front of a supermarket. This was perfect, apart from the fact that it was to open half an hour later, exactly the time we were to be picked up by the rafting company.

After running around kind of headless a couple of more minutes I decided on a little kiosk, which offered extremely overpriced sandwiches. In the lack of other options I emptied the shelf and headed back to the hostel.
Soon after, having pushed the last hangover companion out of bed the minibus arrived. After a couple of pickups in town, the very packed minibus headed out into the countryside with its sleepy passengers.
I didn't catch alot of the beautiful landscape with my eyes shut, but we all realized that the beautiful weather of the last two days had suddenly gone. Deep grey clouds and the occasional rain drops made all our dreams of a nice, warm and comfortable rafting trip vanish. It looked like autumn out there.
The trip continued about an hour through winding roads and wet landscape and after having signed a slip basically stating that if I die it is entirely my own fault, we arrived at the base camp.
The staff equipped us with wet suits, life vests and helmets and only after asking for it, also some wind proof jackets. Our bags were stored and we jumped on a yellow truck-meets-bus-thing which towed our rafts behind us up along side the muddy, but surprisingly calm river.
The bus ride was the part were it turned out, that our four guides were much more than experienced rafters. They were entertainers, safety instructors and motivational speakers all at once. They explained the weather and water conditions, flirted with the tourists and gave some insight in their job.
The boats were unloaded into a little creek along the river side and we received our final instructions to commands and safety. The group was divided onto three rafts with an effort to divide girls and experienced rafters equally. Each raft had six tourist and a guide in the back, who kept the girls by their sides and the strong boys in front of the raft. The fourth guide had his own little canoe and acted as our lifeguard. If someone would fall into the river, he would be there to pick him up and bring him safely to shore.
And so we started our three hour wet adventure. It didn't take long before we were completely soaked from top to bottom, only by the river as it had stopped raining. The tricks from our guide to hide our fingers in the armpit whilst not in use, didn't help much to keep the warmth. As the sun didn't shine, only the energy put into paddling kept us warm, but this was limited to the upper part of the body.
Soon it showed how necessary the motivational skills were, when the three guides did their best to keep up the good spirits. Battle cries and banned moaning were only a few of their tricks. And unfortunately they didn't work to well on one of the boats, which was all girls. Some stopped paddling, because they were freezing not realizing, this would worsen everything, which resulted in one girl getting of midway and return by bus to the base.
I however had a terrific time. It was my first rafting trip ever and I put all my energy into the oars, giving 100% with every stroke. I was completely into the experience and put my heart and soul into it. This also meant I screamed at the top of my lungs every time it was demanded. Although my feet were ice cold and the ankles hurt from not beeing moved, I didn't let it get to me and enjoyed every bit of the trip.
We reached the base camp after a little more than two hours, because we had skipped the optional break due to the weather. Apart from hurting joints and numb feet we all arrived safe and sound after this level 2-3 rafting trip.
Although getting out of the wet suit was a fight, the hard part was yet to be conquered after the relaxing and well-deserved shower. The company organizes their trips back after a strange concept and we had more than two hours of waiting time in the base camp, before we could get on a minibus to return back to the hostel. I believe every single one of us longed for nothing more than their bed and dry socks and shoes.
In the hostel we started organizing the trip back to Valparaíso, the last dinner and rearranging the room booking. After some back an forth, a little nap and dry clothes we headed back into our favorite dining street. I took the opportunity to buy some original Argentine sweets, amongst them the famous "alfajor" - two layers of cookies with the typical "manjar" caramel cream in between, covered with chocolate. My landlord swears those are the best far and wide.
The pick of the day for dinner was a "Tenedor libre" - a "free fork" which is the description for the many buffet style restaurants.
For a very good price we could fill our stomachs with everything the heart could wish for. Antipasti, salads, live grilled meats and various deserts are a few of the offers we could stodge ourselves with. As it is with every buffet we ate a lot more, than we could fit and the thought to stay the night in the restaurant and not move crossed our minds. One part of the group having a bus to catch and a man starting to sing into a microphone in the middle of the dining hall were enough reason to overcome our overindulged feeling and leave the premises.
In an attempt to walked the meal off with a stroll we headed towards the plaza and soon ran into the relocated crafts fair in the streets leading up to the plaza. True to my tradition I bought a couple of more earrings and other souvenirs as we passed the booths and ended up on the plaza.
Unfortunately also tonight there was no space left to try the delicious spanish delicacies, so we headed home to our beds.

Mendoza - Day II

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 23:11:26 +0200

Today our only plan was to do "Bikes and Wines" which is a typical Mendoza tourist activity. As I mentioned the climate in Mendoza is rather warm and mild which is why Mendoza and surroundings is the main region for the entire production of Argentine wines. Therefore every tourist visits the wineries nearby, as many as possible in one day, on a bike. For many of the tourists the only purpose is to get drunk as fast as possible with all the included tastings at every stop.
We didn't have a fixed starting time, which was very good as we spent the entire morning looking for a place to shop cold cuts and cheese for breakfast and also get change for the ticket machine on the bus. Former seems to be a huge problem down town as it consist of only fashion shops and banks.
The change for the bus was an even bigger problem, but not only for tourists also for locals. Argentina seems to suffer from a lack of coins and change and this for many years the people told us. Many of the locals blame the Chileans and claim that all their coins are abroad and therefore the national bank refuses to produce more coins, but this story was never confirmed. The problem is very extensive as shops and stores almost never can change large bills or give back to the exact amount and therefore loose money. Finally we found a solution and bought a prepaid card for the bus, invented because of the lack of coins.

Around two in the afternoon we got on the bus to take us to the bike shop, where we were handed a map and some more or less suitable bikes. After an introduction to the map and some adjustments to the bikes we started our little trip into the world of wine.

Our first stop was a winery museum, where the process of wine making was explained thoroughly followed by a tasting of the wine. It was really interesting to see the old gear, which was used in the old days and then compare it to the huge tanks and automated processes of today.
Of course it was also possible to buy some bottles in the in house store.
From the wine museum we headed to the next winery, but on the way I had a little breakdown and we had to call for the bike rental guy to fix it.
After a short delay we continued to the winery, but didn't even enter as the tasting was not included in our bike rental, which we had been promised.
By now we started to realize, that we were pretty pressed for time, as we had started the trip to late. Soon the designated visiting places would start to close, so we needed to skip a few.
Our next goal therefore had nothing to do with wine instead it was an olive oil factory with a museum. We were explained the process of pressing olive oil and again were able to compare the old fashioned way with the big machines from today.
After the tour in the factory we had the opportunity to taste the products and this time it was I who filled the bags in the shop.
Fully packed and pretty exhausted we headed to our last stop, which ironically was almost all the way back to our starting point.
This was the highlight of the day. No guided tour and long explanations, only tastings of the home made chocolate liquor or schnapps. This place was all about chocolate in combination with alcohol. The beverages were available in every flavour possible, chocolate w/hazelnut, coconut, orange, mint and even chili. It was delicious and the perfect final stop. As I hadn't spend my money on the wines, I used the opportunity and bought some more eatable souvenirs.
Slowly we made our way back to the bike shop, where we were offered a glass of wine to end the day with. In the nice athmosphere we relaxed a little, toasted with the worst wine we had tasted so far and had a nice chat.
We finally got on a bus back into town after sunset and after a bit of power napping on the bus most of us headed to a concert in the park, but I was hooked on finally getting that famous Argentine steak, so accompanied by another tired fellow we headed in to the "food street" and had the most delicious piece of meat I have ever tasted.
On our way back home we passed the Plaza Independencia, which was said to hold an arts crafts fair every sunday night. This weekend however it had given way to a huge scenery of Spanish specialties. Like on a huge fair every Spanish province was represented in its own tent with a variety of the regional specialties. Serrano ham, Spanish wines and other food was sold in enormous quantities. On a scene small children, young groups and adults performed flamenco and other folk dances. It seemed to be the weekend of the Spaniards in Mendoza.
As we had almost given up our hopes for a little piece of cake for desert an older woman offered us a piece from her birthday cake, celebrating next to the others in the tents.
Some very beautiful young women all dressed up, walked the Plaza through the crowds, kind of showing themselves of. Surrounded by fans and other followers they attracted a lot of attention. They were part of a beauty competition as it turned out.
Around midnight we headed to bed, with the show on the plaza continuing uninterrupted.

Mendoza - Day I

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:07:05 +0200

This weekend a group of nine people decided to go for an extended weekend trip to Mendoza in Argentina.
As none of us has classes on fridays we left Valparaíso at ten o’clock Thursday evening for an eight hour bus trip across the border. Although the distance isn't that far, the road runs through the Andes and it therefore takes about six hours to reach our destination.
The trip wasn’t that bad as some of the bus tours in Peru, BUT the border crossing at two o’clock at night in the mountains was very, very cold and included a lot of waiting time.
The nightly trips from Chile to Mendoza seem to be a very normal thing, as the border was packed with busses and people waiting in line for passport control. Two hours later after also the bus and our luggage was checked we could continue our trip and tried our best to get some more sleep, which though proofed very difficult in light of the winding roads in the mountains.
We arrived at six in the morning Friday, Chilean time zone, which was seven in Argentina, as we realized later. After having some breakfast and waiting for a second bus with the other half of our group we headed into town to find a place to stay.
After walking for what felt like ages with all the backpacks and luggage we found a nice place, which could accommodate all eight of us and took a nap for a couple of hours as you don’t sleep that well during a drive through the winding mountain roads.
Well rested but very hungry we headed into town around noon to research on what to see and what to do during our stay.
Our hostel was very close to the towns main square, Plaza Independencia with all of its fountains. The fountains water had been colored red to mark the breast cancer day. From the main square we followed the main street with shops, restaurants and tourist agency lined up next to each other until we sat down at a nice looking restaurant. Over lunch we decided on "Bikes and Wines" for the following day, rafting on sunday and some of us also on paragliding. With that, our weekend was fully booked.
After a nice lunch and the first encounter with real Argentine steaks a couple of us headed for a stroll through the city. Our first (and as turned out only) goal was the Park San Martin. The walk to the park gave us a good impression of the city and had some nice, some peculiar and some odd constructions of houses on the way. We passed some very neatly kept neighborhoods, some very peculiar and old, very old cars and also coincidentally passed the danish consulate general.
Mendoza is really nice and a lot more Spanish in comparison to Valpo. The streets are very wide, build in order to provide more escape places during earthquakes. There are many plazas and it is very green. The problem with too many stray dogs though, seems to be a continental wide one.
The weather was not only nicer to us this day, but Mendoza over all felt a lot warmer than Valparaíso and we ran around in shorts and t-shirts the entire weekend. I assume the climate is more agreeable as Mendoza is not on the coast and protected by the Andes.
The city is also a lot cleaner than Valparaíso. Every night the main streets are rinsed with water, they even wash the garbage containers.

The park greeted us with a huge entrance gate of gold ornaments and pompous decorations. On the map the park is about the size of half of the town and also holds a zoo and an artificial lake. It seemed very busy with all the traffic running through the park and we weren't the only ones wanting to relax in the sun at the lake. The park was filled with locals enjoying themselves and the local oarsmanship club was practicing on the lake.

After a while we had to make our way back to the hostel to meet up with the others for our very first typical Argentine dinner - steak and red wine. With the help from some locals we found the street with restaurants and food courts as far as the eye can see. We choose the next best thing and were seated outside on the sidewalk as the weather still was perfect. With some explaining of the menu and help by our french experts we choose food and wine and the surprise to some of us was very big, when the dinner appeared. Some of us, including me, had decided on lamb without knowing it. It was delicious nevertheless, but not the steak we had desired. At around eleven o'clock we headed towards a private party, which a friend from Valparaíso had invited us to where we had the chance to meet the traditions of the country when in comes to partying.
The first odd thing is the mix of Fernet Branca with Coca Cola as the most popular drink. Some of us dared to have a try, but never finished their glass. Also the make up customs of the young women were rather peculiar and I hope this does not get fashionable in Europe.

Around two o'clock most of us called it a night and walked the long way back to the hostel, whereas the other part continued the party in the clubs.

Carnival

Fri, 3 Oct 2008 20:57:26 +0200

Today the long time announced carnival took place in the streets of Valparaíso. Under the name of Mil Tambores - A thousand drummers a procession of what I guess more than ten thousand people danced and sung their way through the streets.
We started at the Plaza Sotomayor, which is just beneath the hill where I live. The carnival had already started and I have no idea whether what we saw was the beginning or the middle, but we watched the dancers, musicians and artists pass us.
The carnival seemed very organized and the groups must have been practicing for weeks up to the event. Some artists performed circus like tricks with juggles and one-wheel bikes while others performed gymnastic moves and jumps. Then there were dancers of every kind, small groups of kids masqueraded and Peruvians presenting folkloric dances.
Every third or fourth group were drummers setting the beat and giving the dancers a rhythm. The drumming groups always had a leader with a whistle and one was even lead by a truck with speakers on top, so you could hear the women singing to the beat.
I am overwhelmed and very impressed by the colorful and expressive costumes and the entire organization of the event. There were groups and clubs of every kind, some representing a country, others representing statements and criticism but most people were there just for fun.
After a while, when the end had almost reached us, we tried to head for the beginning but never arrived there, as we at some point joined in on the carnival and started to move along and dance behind a group of drummers together with a lot of other people enjoying a good time.
At one point a lot later the carnival kind of dissolved and we headed for dinner. On our way back the direction we came from and I was really surprised but on a friday night around nine o'clock they had already started to clean up the streets after the carnival. The next day you almost couldn't tell, that the streets the day before had been filled with thousands of partying people.
It was really fun to be a part of this cultural event and I think we got a good preview of what happens on a big scale in Rio de Janeiro every Year.