Day 6 - Valparaiso, Chile - Mendoza, Argentina (Saturday 24 March 2012)

Day 6 – Valparaiso, Chile to Mendoza, Argentina (Saturday 24 March 2012)

Early morning today as we had to get to the bus terminal at 7.30am so we could book our tickets to Mendoza, Argentina for an 8.30am departure.  We caught a bus down the road from the hostel to the bus terminal for CH$200 each (about NZ$0.60).  We then purchased our seats to Mendoza for CH$13,900 each (about NZ$40).  We departed at 8.30am and arrived in Mendoza at about 5pm.  So a bus ride of approximately 8 and a half hours.  It was a spectacular trip however.  The road took us through and over the Andes mountain range.  The mountains were amazing, very very high and dry.  Our highest point we reached on the road was 3,185 metres above sea level.  This was reached after a series of 29 curves (I know this because the curves were signposted).   The road up was very similar to the old Otira Gorge ‘zigzag’, however the climb was higher but probably on a par with safety.  Alot of tunnels constructed on this road, very impressive.  At the peak of the mountain was the border between Chile and Argentina.  We had to go through border security and have our passports and tourist cards stamped and then we were back on the bus and on our way.  Probably at the border for about an hour, it was good to get out and get some fresh mountain air while stretching the legs.  It was my first overland border experience, pretty exciting...

When we arrived in Mendoza we had to get out some Argentinean Pesos.  The exchange rate is approximately AR$3.25 to NZ$1.  We caught a taxi to our hostel and set ourselves up.  This hostel is a step up from our hostel in Valparaiso (it couldn’t have been worse...).  We have our own room with bunk beds and we also have our own bathroom!!! The room size is cosy but it is all that we need, somewhere to sleep and safely store our gear.  We are paying AR$120 per night (approx NZ$35).  We have booked the hostel for 3 nights.  When we were all settled in we went for a walk to find somewhere to have dinner.  We found a street close to the hostel which is filled with restaurants.  We had a walk down both sides of the road and scoped out each restaurant to see what looked the best.  We ended up going to an Italian restaurant because we didn’t know what steak meant in Spanish, and we pretty eager to eat as we hadn’t had much food since breakfast.  Now after doing research we know that steak means bistec in Spanish.  Bistec and vino teento (red wine) will probably be on the menu tomorrow night!!!

After dinner we went for a wee stroll around the main square, it was very active with a market happening, which runs every Thursday through to Sunday nights.

Tur Bus - https://www.turbus.cl/wtbus/indexCompra.jsf
Mendoza - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendoza,_Argentina
Hostal Puerta Del Sol - http://www.hostelpuertasdelsol.com.ar/