Mendoza, Argentina - Surfing our first couch
We said adiós to Chile and hopped on a bus to cross the border into Argentina. The bus ride took us through the Andes, offering amazing views of the mountains. Apparently in winter the road can be closed for days at a time due to snowfall and there’s even a spot where a skifield crosses the road. Luckily, we had fine weather for our crossing.
The drive takes about three hours on either side of the border. This doesn’t include the time spent in customs (in our case 3.5 hours). It was a bit intimidating going through customs with a language we don’t understand, but our phrasebook and some bilingual passengers helped us make sense of the process. The road on the Chilean side has an impressive series of hairpin bends set into the steep mountainside. We were sitting on the top story of the double decker bus and were very aware of how close we were to the huge trucks passing by!
Road from Chile to Argentina, through the Andes
We arrived in Mendoza, Argentina where we started our first CouchSurfing experience. CouchSurfing.org is a website where travellers can ask volunteer hosts if they can stay with them in their home. We couldn’t have asked for better hosts – we were overwhelmed by their hospitality and kindness. With our hosts we went to a birthday party and a tango lesson (apparently we weren’t too bad :) ), enjoyed delicious wine (which the region is known for), learnt heaps about Mendoza and shared lots of great food. They even gave us a packed breakfast of croissants for our overnight bus!
Charlotte and Agustin - our hosts in Mendoza
Sal outside a Mendozian winery
We’re writing this post from the comfort of our ‘cama’ (bed) seats to Buenos Aires. The bus ride will take 14 hours, but so far so good! BA will likely be a step up in intensity from Santiago and Mendoza, so fingers-crossed for a good nights’ sleep.
Comments from WordPress
Hayley 2012-06-10T05:12:22Z
Really enjoying reading your travel blogs!
Beth Braddock 2012-06-10T22:54:17Z
AAARGH: which colour of green am I? All is the answer! I’ve always wanted to go throught the Andes (preferably via steam train) and there you are doing it. Loved the photos. cheers Beth
Frederieka 2012-06-12T02:46:59Z
Your blog looks really great guys. Love the photos so far - what type of camera did you get? F
Craig and Sal 2012-06-14T00:43:13Z
Hey Fred, Glad you’re enjoying seeing our photos. We ended up getting a Canon Ixus 230HS. It seems to be doing the job well so far and it’s nice and compact. Hugs, Sal
Tim 2012-06-15T22:53:17Z
Hey guys, great to meet you in Buenos Aires. The photos and posts are great; hope the rest of the South American leg is a good one! Tim and Zoe
Charlotte 2012-10-18T02:19:42Z
That’s such a nice article… And it was SO NICE to have you at home! Your kiwi is always with us on our frige, we always wonder were you would be travelling now. I’ve just read all your posts from now to that time, that’s a great blog… I’ve laughed a lot about what you wrote about that french and angry guy that suspect you to be italian because you said “si”!! ahahah. And, well, sorry for him! Craig, Sally, you were great mates, really hope we could meet again some day! Hope you THE BEST for your trip (I see that you go pretty well!) bisous