Cordoba

After a few days in Mendoza it was time for us to continue exploring Argentina. We decided that our next stop would be Cordoba, Argentina's second largest city. We left Mendoza at 10:00pm on a night bus and arrived in Cordoba around 6:00am. We walked from the bus station to our hostel. After a little wait, we were able to check into our room. Based on our early arrival, we were shocked that we could check in ahead of time! We then relaxed and explored the city. We spent the afternoon walking along a small river and trying to escape the heat (it was 90+ each day). In the evening we ate at our hostel. The owners were leaving for vacation so they celebrated with a pig roast. We were told that we would eat around 10:00pm but we didn't eat until after 11:30pm. After our fill of pork, corn, salad and Fernet (Argentinas local drink), we headed to bed. We were so tired after our night bus and the long day. From there, things went downhill. We discovered that our hostel was the worst one that we have stayed in on our entire trip! The hostel slept around 30 people but there was only one bathroom! Lucky for us we didn't have to wait often as most people slept until midday.









On our second day Fred did some work for law school. After some hours on the computer and running to the post office, we went out for sushi. We have been craving Asian food, mostly Korean, for weeks and sushi helped satisfy that craving. We arrived at the restaurant around 8:50pm and caught the staff off guard as they were still setting the room. We knew that people eat dinner late here but we were surprised when most people didn't arrive until after 9:30pm. We then walked back to the hostel, scared of what we would find! We found most of the hostel guests drinking right outside of our room. They stayed there until 2:30am when they headed to the bars. It is very common for people to head out around 2am. Finally we were able to sleep!

The next day Fred spent working on essays. We ventured out for coffee and an afternoon walk to a park. For dinner we went to a steak house near the hostel. It was the day before a holiday, Immaculate Conception, so the city was full of people. It was fun to sit outside and watch everyone rush around.

On Thursday we headed to the main square. We decided to change hostels so we thought it would be helpful to find our new one. In the afternoon we stopped at an outdoor cafe for cards and coffee. We both had delicious cinnamon cappuccinos. We then went back to our hostel and packed our bags. For dinner we had sandwiches and beers at a cafe next to the main round-about in the city. We then headed to bed but could not sleep because a guest and a hostel WORKER sat outside our room drinking all night!








When we checked out at 10:00am the next morning they had yet to go to bed. To say the least, we were ready to change hostels. We checked into our new room and relaxed after a sleepless night. We then spent the last two days walking around the city and preparing to head to Buenos Aires. We booked a night bus for Sunday night and headed off to the big city!









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Location:Cordoba, Argentina

Argentina's Wine Country: Mendoza

On Wednesday we left Chile and headed for Argentina. We took a bus from Santiago to Mendoza, Argentina. The bus was very comfortable as we splurged on first class tickets. The ride took us up into the Andes Mountains and through beautiful areas. We saw snow covered mountains with streams running down right in front of desert-like landscape. Half-way into the ride we arrived at the border crossing. We had to exit the bus and wait in line behind another bus load of passengers. We got our passports stamped out of Chile and then moved to the Argentina immigration window. The process was very easy, however it took about an hour. After our bags were scanned, we made our way to Mendoza. We checked into our hostel and headed out for dinner. Fred was excited because we found an outside cafe with a steak special. The steak was huge! Fred had been waiting for steak in Argentina and this one surpassed his expectations. After dinner we relaxed at the hostel.

On Thursday we woke up, headed to the grocery store and then explored the city. After walking around, we headed to the cities largest park. We sat near a lake and enjoyed the beautiful weather. We then stopped for ice cream and made dinner in the hostel.









Our hostel ran a promotion, if you stayed for three or more nights you got a free bike tour through the wineries region. We decided to take advantage of this on Friday. We woke up, ate and headed to the bus stop. We knew that we needed coins only for the bus and this was a problem. We tried to break bills and get one peso coins by buying gum and granola bars. However each store gave us change in bills only. After buying two granola bars and three packs of gum without any luck we decided to head to a bank. After a fifteen minute hike we arrived at a bank. The teller would only exchange two bills into two peso coins!! Luckily we already had two pesos so our bus ride was covered. Taking buses in Argentina is going to cause a big headache! After a 40 minute ride, we arrived at Mr. Hugo's bike rental. We were greeted with huge glasses of wine. After an overview of the area, the wineries and the specials we were ready with map-in-hand and we set off. We first headed to a brewery for beers and empanadas. Then we went to our first winery in Argentina, Tempus Alba. We toured the facilities and then enjoyed a glass of Malbec overlooking the vineyard. We then headed to Familia di Tommaso winery. We took a short tour and had a four wine wine tasting. After the tasting we enjoyed a fantastic platter of food for two. We had goat cheese, sun dried tomatoes, fresh green and black olives, two kinds of salami, two kinds of prosciutto, bread and olive oil. It was one of the best meals we have had in South America. We then headed back to Mr. Hugo's, returned our bikes and headed back to Mendoza city. In the evening we relaxed in our room and planned out our next destination.


























Today we went out for lunch and booked our bus tickets out of Mendoza. Tomorrow evening we are going to take a 10 hour night bus to Cordoba, Argentina. Even though we just arrived in Argentina, we have really enjoyed it.
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Location:Mendoza, Argentina

The Lake District

We just got back to Santiago after spending nine days in Chile's lake district. We found cheap airfare to Puerto Montt, the hub of the area, which helped us avoid a couple 20+ hour bus trips down there. We arrived on the 18th and spent the weekend in the city. Our hostel was more of a home stay than anything else, which was a bit awkward at first. When we arrived, the owner's husband answered the door without saying a word to us and we noticed that their grandchildren were watching cartoons in the living room with their toys all over the place. We looked at each other with "what did we get our selves into"-looks on our faces, but everything turned out great. We had a comfortable bed and met a few really nice travelers who were also spending the night there. We had dinner together and talked about our plans for the next day. We decided to team up with a German guy named Enno and head to Alerce Andino National Park early the next morning for a short hike.
























On Saturday we woke up early and headed down to the bus station in hopes of catching an 8AM bus to the park. Unfortunately, the first one left at 9:00. We spent most of an hour walking around asking people where the bus was and getting bits of misinformation that led to a lot of confusion. Eventually we found a bus and made it out to the park. When we arrived at the entrance road, we found out that our "short hike" looked like it would include a seven kilometer hike just to get to the trails. Luckily we were able to catch a ride in the back of a truck with another group of hikers. The three of us chose to take a three hour route which included waterfalls, a massive tree, and scenic overlooks. On the way back from the park we caught another ride and were even brought back to Puerto Montt. That evening Enno's friend from Argentina arrived, so we spent the night talking about our travels and experiences over a few empanadas and bottles of beer.

The next day was highlighted by a region-wide power outage until the middle of the afternoon. We were pretty bored, so we decided to grab some warmer clothes at the mall and relax there for the afternoon, as the mall had its own generator.

The next morning we headed to Puerto Varas, a smaller German town near some volcanoes in the area. The city itself was very nice, but the weather did not cooperate with our plans for the next six days. We only had one day of sunny weather the whole time we were there, which discouraged us from doing any of the hiking or excursions that we were hoping to do. We were able to do a couple of smaller hikes and day trips to the surrounding area, but most of our time was spent in coffee shops planning for our time in Argentina. We also caught a few of the big football games over the weekend thanks to my iPad (and Jordan's website suggestion). All in all, it was good to be out of big cities, but we felt like we wasted a lot of time.


















We just got back to Santiago yesterday. We will take a bus to Mendoza tomorrow and begin our month in Argentina. We are very excited about the change in scenery and are getting excited for the holidays.



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Location:Puerto Montt, Puerto Varas, and Frutillar

Valparaiso, Chile

During our long period in Santiago, we decided to go for a 'weekend away.' We left on Friday morning for Valparaiso. It is a small coastal city located about 90 minutes northwest of Santiago. We woke up, jumped on a bus and enjoyed the ride through lush forests before coming to the coast. The ride was a huge change from our rides through the deserts of northern Chile. It has been wonderful to see such different landscapes throughout our time in Chile.

We spent the afternoon walking around the city. The weather was very cold and windy. After a few hours we stopped for coffee and a chance to warm up. We continued walking and stumbled upon a great happy hour at a B&B overlooking the ocean. After some pisco sours we went back to the hostel. For dinner we headed to a good sushi restaurant. It was not as good as the sushi places in Asia, but it satisfied our wasabi craving.












On Saturday we headed to a local area that is known for its street art. We walked along this path that goes up a small hill near the water. We saw walls covered in graffiti art, colorful signs and decorated street lights and poles. We spent the afternoon going around the city and taking in the sites. For dinner we stopped at a small restaurant for pizza and beer. It was a great way to end the day after walking around for hours.












On Sunday we headed back to Santiago. We bused back and checked back into our hostel. We then stocked up on groceries for the week and relaxed all night.

We spent the next few days in Santiago. Fred had added pages to his passport while we were in Korea but I had not. I realized that I was down to only a few pages so on Monday we headed to the embassy. I simply had to hand over my passport, a piece of paperwork and money and come back on Tuesday. On Tuesday we headed back to the embassy and waited for night to come. We had tickets to the Chile vs. Paraguay World Cup Qualifying soccer match. Our tickets were general admission so we arrived at the stadium an hour early (around 7pm). To our surprise, there were no seats left. We ended up sitting on the steps in the very last row of our section. The seats turned out to be great, as we could see the entire field even when people below were standing. Everyone was dressed in red and crazy about soccer. The field was in the center of a track however between the track and the stands there was a eight foot 'moat' area. This keeps the fans from charging the field. To help keep this from happening, the stadium was filled with at least 200 police officers in full gear including helmets, face masks, and shields. After a 2-0 win, full of cheers, flags and road flares, we made our way back to our hostel.












On Wednesday we headed to a city lookout point. We took a funicular (an elevator/cable car mix) to the top of a large hill. From here we were able to see all of Santiago surrounded by mountains. The weather was hazy so we could not see as far as we had hoped. It was great to get an idea of how expansive Santiago truly is.









Thursday was our final day in Santiago. We spent the afternoon in the Plaza de Armas (city center) and walked around seeing all of Santiago's important buildings. We had lunch at a sandwich shop where we enjoyed a massive meal. After stuffing our faces we headed back to our hostel. We spent the evening talking with a Canadian couple and packing up our things. We left early on Friday morning for a flight to the Lake District!
























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