Aymi’s Adventures

Vina del Mar – really wish I knew how to turn these damn photos round on here!!!

So the 14 hour bus journey was as uncomfortable as ever, but the views coming into Mendoza were amazing, it was so flat but the Andes were in the distance and it just felt like we were driving right into this huge mountain range.

Looking forward to a few days relaxing by the pool in Mendoza we checked into the Andino hostel we had been recommended and were dissapointed to find that their pool was actually more like a pond and just as dirty! Oh well, at least it was nice weather again after the 4 days of rain in Buenos Aries, so we just chilled out all day and tried to book some tours for tomorrow, first the hiking and mountain bike riding in the Andes, no one else wanted to do it so the tour wasnt going, then the horse trecking through a national park but that one was full, so we just decided to chill out and go to the hot springs in the mountains instead. Had a nice Steak for dinner and went to bed, rest and recouperation after Buenos Aries.

Got woke up at various times through the night by the other girls in our dorm and then again at about 5am to loads of banging and shouting outside. Basically some French guy had locked himself into the bathroom next to our dorm and was off his head on drugs and just completely smashing it up. The electric had to be turned off so he didnt electricute himself and eventually after about 2 hours the police came and broke in and threw him out, but there was still no electric and only one other bathroom for everyone in the hostel so we decided we werent going to get our relaxing few days here and decided to check out. The bitch who owned it made us pay for 2 nights even though we had only stayed for 1 and I didnt even think we should have to pay for that, stupid cow, I wish we had just left without paying! The worst thing was though I had still not managed to get all my laundry done as they dont do it on a Sunday so I still had a bag full of clothes stinking of someone elses sick – nice! I was not Happy!

Got the bus over the border and into Santiago, Chile. Another amazing bus journey all through the Andes mountains, past Aconcagua (not sure if that is the name of the mountain or the lake, but either way it was amazing). The border crossing was scary, I felt like I was in a police line up. It took hours, everything had to be taken off the bus put through scanners then searched then put back on the bus, sniffer dogs walking round the whole time, wow, none of the other border crossings were like this. The descent through the mountains was even scarier, Mum you would have hated it (remember the lunar route in Fuerteventura!!)!

Kate at the Argentina / Chile border

Anyway got to Che Lagarto hostel in Chile and felt so much better. My laundry was done by the next morning, the weather was ace, really sunny but with a nice cool mountain breeze and the city felt really clean and safe. There isnt much to do in Chile itself, but there are plenty of daytrips that can be booked that go into the mountains etc. We chose the wine tour, suprise suprise!! It was good apart from the lack of white wine – boo! Also went to Vina del Mar on the bus for the day, it was really pretty and nice to be on the beach again, but it was out of season so also really quiet, the alcohol was good though!!

Wine tour, Vina del Mar beach, Night out in Bella Vista, Santiago

Decided to Fly to Bolivia as we didnt fancy 3 days on the bus so flew into Santa Cruz with the intention of getting the bus across to Sucre, Potosi and Salar de Uyuni to see the salt flats and the silver mines and play with some explosives. Unfortunately due to time constraints and the shitty Bolivian buses (yes I now know that you can fly there too but I didnt at the time!) we ended up not doing any of that and just staying for 2 nights in Santa Cruz and then taking the worst overnight bus journey of my life to La Paz!! 16 hours later, freezing cold and fed up of listening to the woman behind me vomiting we arrived in a very cold and wet La Paz and went straight to bed!

La Paz turned out to be okay after aclimatising to the altitude and extremes of weather, so much for me getting a tan this year, I feel whiter than ever at the moment!!! Met up with Stu from our last tour and he showed us all the hotspots and gringo bars, Kate was happy – somewhere decent to drink, I was happy – somewhere decent to eat – cheers Stu!!! Neither of us happy the next day though with hangovers from hell and having to meet up with our next tour group!!!

Tags: Bolivia, Buenos Aries, Mendoza, Santiago, Travel, Travelling

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 1st, 2006 at 5:45 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.