Although the prices and the standard of the country seem to be more European, the landscape of Argentina is amazing!! Already the border crossing was a highlight, seeing the Argentinian flag waving in the wind with a snowy volcano in the background and a lot of green plants and colorful flowers around - spring time! And also the trip along the 7 lakes was beautiful (unfortunately I fall asleep quite often). After a whole day trip I arrived in the late evening in Bariloche (wonderful Patagonia) and just fall asleep.
New country - new friends… On the bus I met Andreas from Germany and Noam from Israel, which became my new travel buddies immediately. After one day of relaxing, exploring the city and having a very delicious steak and red wine in the evening we decided to go for a 23km hike the next morning. After 1h waiting for the bus (there you realize you are still in South America), another hour bus ride we hiked up through the forest and bushes to the Refugio Frey (1700m), where we had our snack lunch and a cold coke. To relax the feet the lagoon up there was perfect - we arrived the snow level there but it was still super hot. We extended the way back via a small waterfall - very nice - and took a bus back to Bariloche. Wow, what an exhausting day, hiking in pure sun with 30°C in December. In the evening we had an other steak and a great red wine from Argentina. As this was not enough, the day was extended by some more wine in the Hostel „Penthouse 1004“ (where I moved in after 3 nights in my not so nice hostel) and a small bar tour with an Argentinian guy. There I got the first (and hopefully only) contact with their „national“ drink - Fernet Branca with coca cola - aaawful!!
Surprisingly without hangover I changed the hostel the next morning and walked to the bus terminal with Andreas to buy the bus tickets to Mendoza (wine city!!). There we met Paul again and we decided together to stay until Sunday in this lovely Patagonian City at the Lago Nahuel Huapí (also the nature reserve there). The afternoon we used to have some ice-cream, going to the beach, realizing it is too windy and decided to have some beer and cook together in the hostel. This ended up with a very funny evening with a huge group of other hostel guests and several bottles of beer and wine.
One day without action is enough, so we (Andreas, Paul, Noam and myself) took a bus the next morning to first climb to the „Cerro Campenario“ (wonderful viewpoint hill) and then rent bikes to cycle the „Circuito Chico“ - a 30km circle, up and down, along different lakes, through wonderful streets surrounded by green trees and yellow flowers, stops at the harbor, a beach (swimming and lunch), a hidden lagoon (again swimming) and topped by the last stop - the Patagonia Cervezeria! Wow, we decided together this day to be one of our most beautiful days of our lives and celebrated it with few pints of good beer and fries. Happily the way back to the bike store was not too far. ^^
Saturday was used as a social media day and I spent a lot of time outside, laying on the beach, reading, and entering one after the other of all these small chocolate shops to try some chocolate for free. After a chocolate beer (which is not very delicious) I went with Andreas and Paul to the - supposed to be - best restaurant in town - where we can agree in now: Alto el Fuego - one of the best steaks ever!! The 6 days in Bariloche were amazing and beautiful - what a wonderful world!!
After a 19h bus ride we arrived in Mendoza on Monday morning. After a shower and a nap we joined the Free Walking Tour and learnt a lot about the city. Mendoza is build very easily in quarters, Plaza Independencia marks the middle of the city, surrounded by 4 other places (Plaza San Martín, Plaza Chile, Plaza Italia and Plaza Espana), everything is in Spanish style and there are no sky scrapers as after the earthquake in the 19th century they were only allowed to build max. 10 floors. In general Mendoza is super dry and the fountains in the city only work few hours a day. After the tour we were very thirsty and went to a small brewery restaurant together with Rosie, a Dutch girl we met on the tour. Besides of several beers (one was a refreshing ginger beer, mmmh) we had some snacks and Pizza and a long walk back to the hostel where I fall asleep immediately.
Yesterday the four of us went for a wine-cycling. After a 1h bus drive to one of the wine regions Luján we rent bikes and cycled around to visit some wineries (bodegas) and to do few wine tastings. The lunch there was super expensive, so we decided for a proper picnic with snacks from a supermarket - mmmh! Wonderful landscape, great company, delicious wine, more than 30°C and sun - HAPPY!! Back in Mendoza we were super hungry and trusted in a recommendation of a woman in one winery - but after the best steak in Bariloche we were a bit disappointed there (overcooked). Anyhow, wonderful day.
Today I did an other 12km hike with the guys up to „Cerro Arco“ and back down, a hill where you can enjoy the overview of the surrounding (Mendoza city, vineyards and the highest mountain of the Andres, >7000m). Exhausting doing this around midday without any shadow in the spring/summer sun of this dry area - but definitively worth it.
Back in the hostel, I’m relaxing, waiting for working WiFi (as so often) to upload this article and after a shower and dinner I will take the nightbus to Córdoba - my second last stop and the second biggest city of Argentina (after Buenos Aires, to where I will move on afterwards as last stop).
Many thanks to Paul and Andreas for all the talks, the fun, the action, the too much beer and wine and your friendship - that was and is what I need(ed)! *to be continued* :-)
Ok, I’m still missing Peru, probably because it just became like a second home during my almost 3 months there and I miss my new friends. But Argentina has definitively the better meat and wine. :-)
PS: Now it is already the next day afternoon, I had a horrible 1,5h delayed 10h night bus ride to Córdoba with 10 teenage Argentinians around me who made party the whole night next to me, I got beer over my feet and slept max. 2h. After arrival in the nice hostel I directly went to a free walking tour and had a nice lunch with some friendly people who joined the tour too. Let’s see what this city brings. :-)