Uspa-what-ah? (Uspallata)

Erik's entry:

Uspallata (oos-pai-shah-tah). Nope, I'd never heard of it, either, but apparently it's where they filmed "7 years in Tibet." I'm not that weird kind of film nut who seeks out shooting locales, and I've never even seen the film, but the fact that the terrain is so varied and beautiful that one might mistake it for Tibet was enough to sell me on a short sojourn there. Besides, it was on the way to Chile, where we were heading anyway.

Unfortunately, our timing killed us again. It was prime winter holiday, and Uspallata is a prime skiing location. There was not a cheap hotel room to be had in town. Luckily, just out of town was an affordable and very clean hostel. Not the "partying hippie backpacker" type of hostel, but one filled with families trying to make a skiing vacation affordable. It was comfortable, on beautiful grounds with a goose/duck pond in the middle, and the Andes dominating the background on one side, and the "cordillera" (foothills, but don't tell them that, they're huge) on the other. It was really an idealic setting, except for that walk into town. Only 15 minutes, but it was COLD and we had to walk along the major international thoroughfare leading to Chile, so we had huge trucks and buses wooshing past us all the time, in deafening rushes of noise, wind and dust. We tried not to walk into town too often!

Despite the temptation to hit the slopes, though, I opted against it, as my knee has been iffy since the Moskitia, and our budget was stretched thin in Argentina as it was. Instead we just hung around the next day, taking in the spectacular scenery. Besides we were very eager to get to Chile, and finally get a little variation in our diet (oh, yeah, and meet new people, see a new country, all that stuff...). Chile has seafood, and Talor loves seafood.

The trip across the Andes into Chile was the most beautiful bus ride I'd ever been on. In the course of a few hours, you see desert, multi-red-hued foothills, dramatic cliffs, snow-topped, jagged peaks, ski slopes etc. On the Chilean side as you descend, the ski slopes give way to hills draped in vineyards and valleys green with produce. It was really an amazing ride, except for the 2+ hours we had to spend in customs. Line after line after line. We were a bit anxious going through customs as well, as we'd heard that there was a new $131 "reciprocity tax" for Americans entering Chile. (Reciprocal, as they only instituted it in response to the US charging that for Chileans entering our country.) We really didn't have $262 to just throw away, but we heard a rumor that they only enforced it at the airport, not at road frontiers. So we were biting our nails a little as we handed over our passports, but not only did they not charge us the huge fee, they didn't charge us anything at all - the first time in all our travels we'd been allowed into a country for free. Woohoo! They did make us eat our bananas before we crossed the border, though. Fair enough...

Photos of Uspallata and the Andes passage: http://picasaweb.google.com/erikandtalor/Uspallata

Circus in San Rafael

Erik´s entry:
We'd heard from a few locals we'd met along the way that San Rafael was a very nice place to visit. It was only a couple of hours further along the highway from Tunuyan, and our guidebook mentioned it as a town with more bikes than cars, so we thought we'd give it try. What we found wasn´t amazing (and there were plenty of cars), but we did have a nice time there. San Rafael is a bit like a smaller, rougher Mendoza. It is near to skiing and some national parks, so quite popular with national tourists. As it was still winter vacation time, the town was quite busy. Upon arrival at the bus station, the local tourist information center recommended that for economical lodging, we couldn't do better than some mini-apartments, just south of the town center. We agreed to have a look, and the owner, Ricardo, actually came and picked us up at the station. What we found was small, cramped and not-quite-clean, but it was fairly affordable, and the decor so outlandishly '70´s (velvet paintings, plush headboards and drawers, etc.), that we decided we could do worse, and it was likely only for a few days.

The following day we walked around town, looked at few other options for lodging, and generally got the lay of the land. We considered taking a tour in the national parks or a trip up to the slopes, but what we saw in the brochures wasn't amazing enough to spend a lot of money, and the trips were expensive. As for night life, all the bars we found were empty, until we again checked into the casino - jam packed full! Instead of taking a pricey tour or losing money at the tables, though, we hunkered in and did what any self-respecting, mature adults would do: we hit a chinese all-you-can-eat buffet, went to the circus and saw a hollywood blockbuster dubbed in Spanish.

The buffet was at the suggestion of Ricardo and his wife, who were very, very nice, but as we've said, with eccentric taste. The food was pretty mediocre, but not too pricey. Talor was happy to be eating anything other than steak, pasta or pizza (the Argentine staples), and I dug into the full parilla (BBQ meats of all kinds). All in all, we got our money's worth from the experience.

The circus the next day was fun. I'd seen the tent set up on the edge of town as we'd come in on the bus. With not much else to do, I borrowed one of Ricardo's bikes, which was too small for me and had no functioning brakes, and peddled trepiditiously out there to find out show times, prices, etc. Later that day we went out there to see the show. There happened to be another bodega (vineyard, not corner store) on the way, so we stopped in to take the tour and taste the offerings and get in the right mood for the circus. The show itself ended up being quite fun. Calling themselves "Circus Evolution," they seemed to be aspiring to be a sort of low-rent Cirque du Soleil, with fancy costumes, dance mixed in with circus acts, and lots of fancy lights and whimsy. It really could have been much, much worse. We did enjoy ourselves and the kids in the audience loved it. There was the typical juggling, balancing, trampolines, and a few too many flexible ladies dangling from various swinging objects (rings, curtains, ropes, etc.) There was even the "sphere of death" - the huge ball with motorcyclists driving around inside. We really had fun. So much so that on the way home, we decided not to be responsible and go to home to pack (we were leaving the next day), we decided to go eat hot dogs (called "super panchos" here), and see "Hancock" dubbed in Spanish. We understood very little of the dialogue, but with a film like that, who needs to? Again, it was fun, and the hot dogs were actually quite good, with toppings like mushroom, corn, hot sauce, etc. yum. With warmer weather we probably would have spent a bit more time to see the parks, etc., but we enjoyed our couple of days in San Rafael. Next stop - Uspallata, at the base of the Andes.

Photos from San Rafael: http://picasaweb.google.com/erikandtalor/SanRafael

Why Tunuyan?

Talor: Why? Because it was a dot on the map in our guidebook, but we couldn´t find a word about the place anywhere. After reading through our Lonely Planet Argentina, we weren´t really feeling terribly excited about any of the places we read about so we decided to create our own excitement by being adventurous...

Just over an hour by bus from Mendoza, Tunuyan is just a quiet little town with nothing going on. When we visited the tourist kiosk, the only thing they could suggest to us was to take a taxi about 40km away to Manzano Historico, "Historical Apple Tree" where we could ride horses and pick apples... ummm, nah. Didn´t really appeal to us. What did appeal to us was that it was peaceful, the air was clean, and we were forced to do nothing... wow, what a relief! So that is exactly what we did... felt really good.

We pampered ourselves with deluxe accommodations at Hotel Tunuyan and had a king-size bed! Although it sagged alot (think it´s seen better days), it was our first since leaving home. We also found a couple of great places to eat... a diner next to the gas station, perpetually packed with locals at lunchtime, served up Spanish home-cooking in large portions. And, then there was the super-divey cafe by the bus terminal that had the cheapest, down-and-dirty, tastiest grub we´d had in (dare I say?) all of Argentina! Nothing but class for us!

In the evenings, we wandered out looking for signs of life, but found none... hmmm... where is everybody? Was it that it was early in the week? Are folks in Tunuyan just not the going-out types? Maybe a little of both, but then, we peeked into the casino, and found where they were all hiding... it was the happening-est place in town!

A few days later, we were ready to move on, but were glad we stopped in...

To see more photos... http://picasaweb.google.com/erikandtalor/Tunuyan

Mendoza - good people, bad timing.

Erik´s entry: The overnight bus from Rosario to Mendoza was painless, once we finally succeeded in actually getting on the bus. (See Rosario entry for more about that.) All the long-haul buses are equiped with "cama" (bed) or "semi-cama" (almost a bed) seats. We had the cheaper - but still pricey - semi-cama seats and we both were able to sleep a decent amount during the 12 hour ride. Pulling into the Mendoza terminal, we could see the surrounding desert framed by the snowy Andes mountains, which made for quite a dramatic arrival.

We were able to check our packs at the station, and so could relax and take our time as we sought out our lodgings. Good thing, too, as Mendoza is pricey, and we'd timed our arrival perfectly to coincide with a major school holiday. Cheap hotels were full, and prices were all high-season rates. We spent the better part of the entire day going from hostel, to hotel, to hospedaje. Everything was either full or too expensive. Mid-afternoon we decided to take a break and get something to eat. We found a tiny, divey cafe called "Flako's" ("Slim's"), with a cheap Menu del Dia, and sat down to a great, simple meal of Argentine pot roast. Delicious, filling, and affordable - what a combo. While we were eating, a man sitting near us asked us where we were from. His name was Jorge, and it turns out he'd spent several years working in New Jersey, so we chatted for a while. As he paid his check, he gave us his phone number in case we'd like to meet up another time. He also gave us a tip on a hostel near the bus station, where we ended up staying for the first night. It was absolutely tiny, with bunk beds and pretty much nothing else (including floor space), but it was affordable, so we took it for one night. It actually reminded me a little of the sleeper cars on the trains in Vietnam. (Photo makes it look more spacious than it was.)

The next morning we moved to another hostel, and that was to set a trend. In five days, we slept in 5 different rooms in 3 different hostels. It's not that we're so insanely picky, but the places were busy, and we'd always get the crappy room to start, either with a broken bed, or that adjoined the common room where people were partying and playing music until 4am.

We finally settled into a room in Hostal Central Parque, which seemed a nice, small, quiet hostel. That was on our 4th day, a Thursday. We woke up the next morning, and the breakfast table was jammed full of people. Where had they all come from? Where were they all staying? Turns out the place was bigger than it seemed, with secret little dorm rooms everywhere, and the place had filled up for the holiday weekend. We even had a famous alternative rock band staying in one of the rooms. Everyone pointed out how lucky we all were because they played free concerts for us in the evening, which was nice, but the entire weekend was very crowded and very noisy.

Luckily, Mendoza is the epicenter of Argentine wine, which helped take the edge off the noise and crowding. 70% of Argentina's wine is made in Mendoza county. We went out one chilly, sunny day to a central spot in vineyard country and did a little tasting tour. It´s a little too far to walk to these places, but not worth it to rent a car, so most people rent bikes. We'd been meaning to work on Talor's pedaling skills - she's not biked since childhood, and despite the generally-held wisdom, it's not just like riding a bike - so we rented a bicycle built for two and hit the road. Or the road hit us, is a better way of putting it. Riding a two person bike is difficult, and you can't simply stop pedaling to cushion yourself agains bumps/dips in the road, both of which there were in abundance. So with aching legs and bruised butts, we made our way to a few wineries. We took at tour at one of the oldest wineries in Mendoza, San Felipe, which also has a museum attached with loads and loads of centuries-old equipment, which was interesting. The free wine wasn't bad, either. The high points of the day, though, were the delicious, and deliciously cheap, empanadas we found at a tiny bodega along the way, as well as Mr. Hugo, the lovely man who rented us our bike and made us sit down and drink more wine with him and his dog once we 'd finished our tour. He reminded us both of our friend Gerry, and we kicked ourselves for not getting a photo of him.

Just a quick side note on my use of the term "bodega" here, which in New Yorker parlance, is a corner store. In Argentina, a bodega is a winery. In this case I was referring to the corner store, not the winery, despite our being in wine country. (Confused yet?) All throughout Central and South America, we've found different terms in each country for a convenience store, none of which is "bodega", which literally means "store room." In Mexico, they were "tiendas", but tiendas are clothing shops in most other countries. In Honduras and Nicaragua, they are referred to as "pulperias." In Argentina, they are called "almacens", though also referred to as anything from "kiosko" to "mercado", "mini-mercado", "super-mercado", "super-mini-mercado" (no kidding). Anything except "bodega." Oh, and don´t try asking for drugs at the "drugstores" either because all you´ll find is snacks and groceries.

We'd had such a nice meal at Flako´s the first day, that we continued to go back and lunch there nearly every day, often twice a day. Everything else we found in Mendoza was fairly pricey, fancy and touristy. Flako´s never disappointed, and helped us to stay in budget as well. We'd hoped to run into Jorge again there, but finally decided to call him. He agreed to meet us for a drink and drove us around the city, giving us a quick tour, before taking us to his sports club for a nice bottle of wine and picada (meat, cheese and olive snack tray.) He had little time, as he was very busy at work, but he drove us back home, and we made him promise to let us take him out next time. What a nice man! Everyone we'd met in Argentina had been friendly, but Jorge's hospitality was almost overwhelming.

We managed to return the favor a few nights later. Jorge again picked us up in his car, accompanied by his wife, Susana. We'd insisted on picking up the bill this time, and so Jorge was sly and took us to the fancy Mendoza mall, where there was a cheap but cheerful italian restaurant - he was gracious enough to have chosen a spot where we could treat them, but which wouldn't put too much of a dent in our budget as well. They are a wonderful couple, and we hope to meet them again sometime, perhaps in New York. Thank you, Jorge!

One nice thing about the cramped quarters at the hostel, was that we were forced to meet people. One morning we commented on a young boy's new bright-0range nike soccer shoes, which he kept shining throughout breakfast. His name was Martin, and he was very, very proud of his new shoes. We ended up spending a good deal of time with Martin, his sister Belen, and his parents, Patty and Marco. They were from Chile and vacationing in Mendoza. From what I could understand in my bad Spanish (I'm truly embarrassed that I still struggle to understand after 6 months in Spanish-speaking countries), they'd decided to vacation in Mendoza because that was the nearest place that Martin could buy his fancy footwear! It's always interesting to hear how people choose to travel where they do. We spent one very fun night drinking wine with Patty and Marco while being entertained by Martin and Belen. It was a very fun evening, and Patti and Marco were SO patient with our poor Spanish skills. Evenings such as that that are exactly how we'll learn to speak better. We were leaving Mendoza the next day, but we exchanged emails, and hope to meet up in Santiago, Chile. As has nearly always been the case in our travels, it's the people we remember, not the sites. Thus we tend to avoid the speedy sight-seeing type of travel experience.

Talor: Highlights for me included a small aquarium, where we saw a kooky collection of exotic fish, including this crazy looking albino with no eyes. Pushed and shoved the annoying kids out of the way so I can have a closer look, and when I did, it gave me the creeps, but I couldn´t stop staring! Then great sadness came when we went into another room and found a giant sea turtle swimming in a not too giant fish bowl. After that we decided to forgo checking out the snake museum across the street, where we heard they house the snakes in equally tight quarters.

After eating in the same cafe every single day for lunch, we were at a loss on Sunday because... (gulp!) Flako´s was closed! In fact lots of places were closed, except for the touristy strips, which we swore we wouldn´t go to. We wandered around aimlessly searching for food, and a couple of hours later, we were almost at that desperate point, when things could have come to blows (weak blows since we had no food in us...) when we spotted a very cute, very tiny Middle Eastern restaurant that was (could it be?) very open. Ordered a tapas-type tasting platter, and dove in. Although it all looked like the Middle Eastern food we know and love, somehow the flavors were a bit different. In the end, we agreed it wasn´t the best we´d ever had, but put together a nice, relaxing, homey ambience with a very warm and patient waiter, the fact that we were starving, and we were eating non-Argentinian food for a change, added up to all smiles in the end.

And finally, but not lastly, my most favorite moment? The swing at the Parque O´Higgins... wheeee! OK, all is well in the world again...

More photos from Mendoza: http://picasaweb.google.com/erikandtalor/Mendoza

Restless in Rosario

Erik's entry: Continuing our rollercoaster travels from one extreme to another, we next opted on Rosario, the 2nd largest city in Argentina. According to our guide book, it boasted a beautiful riverfront, great food and night life, and some interesting cultural diversions (museums, etc.) Upon nearing the city, our bus entered into a fog bank that was to last for several days. The weather matched our opinion of the big, noisy city: grey, cold and boring.

We spent the better part of the first day lugging our packs around looking for affordable lodging. Every place we found that we could afford had some major drawback - no windows, no heating, dirty, or uncomfortable bed, etc. Finally, after 4-5 hours of searching, as we were about to give up and go back to one of the windowless rooms we´d seen, we found an old, run-down, but charismatic hotel, Hotel Romijor. It didn´t have heating, but the room was enormous, and the bathroom ridiculously large - about 8 large strides from one end to the other, and with a large, claw-footed bathtub to boot! It even had its own private balcony next to the retro neon hotel sign. The staff were very welcoming and friendly, and as we´d find out later, breakfast included the best espresso coffee we´d found in Argentina thus far. We were a little cold, but happy.

The next day was foggy and cold again, but we walked all over town, including the riverfront, which, contrary to the guidebook, was ugly, dirty and run down. So far we were none too impressed with Rosario. We did manage to find a small, divey neighborhood lunch place, with delicious, simple dishes (steaks, pastas, arroz con pollo, etc.) It was cheap and very cheerful, and brightened our moods. The city still seemed grey and boring, but at least we were eating well. After lunch we wandered back down to river, and up to Rosario's main landmark, a huge edifice dedicated to the national flag. The outline of it is that of a ship, as Rosario is a port town, and the front boasts a huge phallic tower, with the back of the ship dominated by a greek-collumned mausoleum to the unknown soldier. We took a ride to the top of the tower and were underwhelmed by the dull grey vistas, though the monument itself was quite impressive. (and we do like Argentina´s flag as well...) In fact, the monument, despite being a bit overbearingly partritoic, was more impressive than most things we saw in Buenos Aires.

It was about this point in our Argentinian explorations that we were fighting off regret at not having stayed in Central America and spent some time in Panama. It was warm, cheap, and mostly cheerful there. While the Argentine people had been nothing but kind to us, the country was (comparatively) very expensive - lodging, eating and traveling all cost about 3 times more than we'd been led to believe, partly due to the overabundance of tourists visiting Argentina these days, and partly due to the huge inflation the country is suffering from. It was also very cold, and as it turned out, both difficult and expensive to get into other countries in South America. When you add in the fact that we'd paid a princely sum to fly down there (rather than a $28 bus ride ride to Panama from Nicaragua), we had plenty to feel down about. But regret is not a healthy thing, and we chose to simply make good note of the misstep for future travel reference, and try to get the most out of our time in Argentina.

The next night we did just that. Talor had heard about a small, local "peña", or folk music club, where locals go to hear traditional tunes from all over the country. True to the Argentine rhythm, the place didn´t even open until 11pm, and we were the only ones in the place when we arrived. Once we´d been served our bottle of wine, the two musicians on stage and started playing. It was a very simple set up - a guitar player and a drummer-singer, but they were very good. I had thought at first that this was a club set up for the tourist trade, but there really is very little international tourist traffic there, especially during winter, and we were happy when about 1am, groups of locals began coming in and filling up the small room. The first to arrive were a group of 5 women, who sat at the table just behind us. Between songs, they would ask us questions about where we were from, what were doing in Rosario, etc., and soon they asked us to join them. They were great fun to hang out with. They loved the folk music, and would let us know which region each song was from, as well as where they were each from and which areas were the best to visit (usually the same place they were from!) After several bottles of wine (taken with a splash of soda from a soda siphon on the table), we were all having a great time. As the evening progressed, more musicians joined the ensemble, including a vivacious older woman who (I believe) ran the club. She was dressed in a silk suit and sang with an amazing, gravelly voice. At one point, to my great embarrassement, she spent an entire song serenading me. By about 3am, the place was really getting going, and all the tables were taken with people standing near the back. Unfortunately, we'd not yet adapted to Argentine time (well, we never actually did), and having consumed several bottles of wine, we said goodbye to our new friends and stumbled home, which was thankfully only a few blocks away.

The next day we woke up feeling none too well, and after several of days of cold weather, and a late evening of too much wine, I started coming down with a cold. I wouldn't have cared much, except that we'd decided to move on that day, and had an overnight bus that evening to Mendoza. I'd really wanted to go north up to the Iguazu waterfalls, but given that we had only about 10 days left in Argentina, we decided that we should relax a little, and get to know a couple of places well, rather than making a mad, sight-seeing dash across a very large country, and end up feeling frustrated and tired. We spent our last day in Rosario (which finally turned out to be a bright, sunny, warm day), walking around, trying to see museums which were mostly closed for renovation. So much for what guide books will tell you! At this point in our travels, we've finally learned to use them only as rough indicators, and sometimes more as guides for what to avoid rather than what to see.

Perhaps the funniest and scariest moment of our time in Rosario came as we were killing time waiting for our bus. We had dinner in a none-too-special restaurant across the street from the bus station. We had about 2 hours to kill, so we ate slowly, studied spanish, etc. I'd thought the bus was at 8pm, but Talor, who had the tickets, assured me that it was 8:30pm. A little before 8 we decided we saunter over to the station and find out which gate the bus was leaving from. Inside the station, we looked on the big board, but it didn't list our bus. The ticket agent had said that it would leave from one of 3 gates, so we went there, but there were no buses going to Mendoza. Talor pulled out the tickets to recheck the gate numbers, and saw to both our surprise that the bus was indeed at 8pm, and it was now 8:10 or so. Oops! We ran back to the ticket agent, who was at a loss as to what to do. There were no more buses to Mendoza that night. He then disappeared in the back for several minutes. When he reappeared, he said blabbered something very quickly in Spanish that we didn't understand and shoved us gently out towards the taxi stand. He spoke to a taxi driver and put us in the cab. Finally we understood that he'd radioed the bus, which was now waiting for us on the outskirts of town. He told the cabbie to hurry, which he did. About 10 minutes later we squealed around a corner and there was our bus, idling by the curb, patiently waiting for us. Unbelievable! With much humility we thanked the driver and fellow passengers as we got on and took our places in our plush semi-cama (half bed) seats for the over night trip to Mendoza.

Talor: Just a few curiosities...

1. The local lottery places were all run by the Chinese... why? Chinese mafia? Perhaps...

2. Rather than washing car windows on street intersections, people juggle for change. Probably about the same amount of work, but far more entertaining, don´t you think?

3. On Friday, it was the last day of school before winter break. Students from all over the city gathered at the flag monument to celebrate with loud singing, dancing, marching, fireworks, and best of all, tearing up pages and pages of school notes and homework and scattering the bits and pieces all over!

Our photos for Rosario: http://picasaweb.google.com/erikandtalor/Rosario