By bus, the trip from Mendoza to Salta takes something like 16 or 18 hours. Bus riders, I have been told, are treated to movies, bingo games, reclining or lie flat beds and get to relax and watch the scenery go by. It´s important to point out that Argentinian buses are no Central American...
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When I first got to Mendoza, I wasn’t too taken by the place. The scenery didn’t quite match that of the Lakes District and the relatively large number of people living here was a bit overwhelming. Truth be told, I think that the ever present shade trees planted around town made me feel claustrophobic,...
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In this post, I will be writing about some of the day-to-day lifestyle habits and practices that I have found to be unique to Argentina. In other words, below are some observations that I have made of how things differ in Argentina, compared to in the U.S. Napkins: In the U.S., we use everything...
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Per Wikipedia: Mendoza is the capital city of Mendoza Province, in Argentina. It is located in the northern-central part of the province, in a region of foothills and high plains, on the eastern side of the Andes. As of the 2001 census, Mendoza’s population was 110,993. The metropolitan population was 848,660 in 2001, making...
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After leaving San Martin de los Andes, Amanda and I began heading north to a town called Zapala. The ride started with a short section of dirt road, then transitioned into a nicely paved, but increasingly flat and boring ride. The landscape looked similar to the area surrounding Death Valley. Lots of dry dusty...
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After another long day which again included some tough gravel roads, I finished my portion of the Carretera Austral and made it to the white water rafting / kayaking mecca of Futaleufu, Chile. I stopped briefly and spoke with an American couple who lived in the area. Based on their advice, and since I...
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I arrived in El Chalten feeling fairly well beaten and flogged after a cold and incredibly windy ride from El Calafate. For most of the 150 mile route, fortunately almost all of it on pavement, I was blown all over the road and limited to a maximum speed of 40 or 45 mph. I...
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From Puerto Natales, Chile and the Torries del Paine National Park, I rode north towards the Argentinian town of El Calafate, which is famous for its proximity to the Perito Morino Glacier. After leaving Puerto Natales, I rode on nice, fairly newly paved roads to a remote border crossing near Cerro Castillo, Chile. ...
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Tierra del Fuego translates to “land of fire”. As far as I can tell, this is some sort of marketing scheme, along the lines of “Greenland” and other pleasant sounding place names like that. A more accurate translation would be something like freakishly windy, often raining, sparsely inhabited and damn cold. After leaving Ushuaia,...
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After a well deserved rest and a chance for my clothes to get fairly close to being dry, I was on my way from San Sebastian to Ushuaia. But of course, not before another breakfast of toasted leftover bread, marmalade of some sort and sparing amounts of coffee. In total, I had about 170...
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