Day 1 - Santiago, CL to Mendoza, AR

We arrived in Santiago on Thursday morning tired from the long trip, knowing we still had to drive 6 hours over the border to Mendoza, the wine region of Argentina. We got our bags, cleared customs no problem, and headed to the car rental agency. As he was filling out the form there, I mentioned that we were going into Argentina. Dee had read that they need to know and might charge you a little more, and I hadn't had a chance to mention it in the internet reservation I made. No es posible, he said. Why not? Well, we need special insurance to go into Argentina, and, in addition to costing a couple hundred dollars, they can't get it for several days. Our first travel snafu happened quickly. I tried a more reputable agency than the Advantage affiliate I had reserved with, but we got the same answer. We really wanted to go, so we decided we would try to take the bus. With our limited Spanish, we determined from information that we could take a bus to the main bus terminal and get a bus to Mendoza from there. It would take 7 hours, but they weren't clear on when the buses left. At the same time, some taxi guy was following us around trying to "help" us. At first, we tried to ignore him, but then he offered what we thought was a cheap ride to the airport, and the driver knew that a bus was leaving shortly. The 20 pesos turned out to mean 20,000, about $40, so the ride was anything but cheap (I hadn't done my research on the exchange rate, and Dee hadn't done the math to realize that they probably weren't offering a 4c ride). Getting fleeced didn't take us long either :). In any case, we did get to the bus station quickly and on a mini-bus leaving almost immediately, so we certainly got to Argentina more quickly than we would have if we had refused help.

Martin on the mini-bus to Mendoza

The ride to Mendoza was beautiful. The Andes are visible from everywhere here in Chile, and once we got out of the haze of the Santiago valley and into the mountains, we could see them in their full glory.

The road wound up to a pass at almost 10,000 feet, and you could see snow on many peaks. We were expedited through the border crossing and drove down the other side, arriving in Mendoza at about 6:30pm.

At the bus station, we smartly went to a tourist office and got a hostel, a map, and a bus ticket back for Saturday. It was really hot out as we arrived at the hostel, so, after relaxing in our double for a few minutes, we headed out in t-shirts to find dinner. Even though it was after 8 now, the restaurants were still pretty empty. I guess people here eat as late as they do in Spain. We walked down a great street with lots of restaurants and bars, all with outside seating, and chose a restaurant called El Palenque. After good food and good wine, and another bottle at a bar nearby, we walked home and collapsed happily in our bed.

Dee with a pinguino of wine