Sunday, Oct. 12, 2003 - 7:36 p.m.
Touring the Countryside
Froukje woke me up in the AM and I got ready and waited for word on if I could join the others on their tour. Soon I learned I could go on the tour, but with a different group. I wouldn't be with the others. I was disappointed I couldn't be with my new friends, but I wanted to go on the tour anyways.
I was picked up at the hostel by a minibus and met the tour guide, a young female Argentinian who spoke some English but was relieved to learn that I spoke some Spanish. It turned out that most of the other people on the tour were young Argentinians with one mom, grandma and son & three German travelers who had good Spanish. Therefore the guide spoke only in Spanish and she talked really fast, so a lot of times stuff went right over my head.
We left Mendoza and headed northwest towards the snow capped Andes mountains on the border between Argentina and Chile. We were in the beautiful countryside, it was very green. This is wine country, we saw a bunch of vineyards, this is where Argentina's best wine comes from. This scenic valley in and around the town of Uspallata (10 km west of Mendoza) is where the movie "Seven Years in Tibet" staring Brad Pitt was filmed (a great movie I highly recommend).
We rode for awhile, the road parallel to a red muddy river and barren mountainous landscape, the tour guide rambled on about things I couldn't understand. I actually fell asleep for a bit, I was so tired, being up late the previous night. Then the bus took a small unpaved side road where we followed a small creek. Soon to our left we saw a tiny old arch bridge made out of stones. The guide was rambling again & I caught that this area had some historical significance.
The bus stopped and we clambered out, the Argentinians were really into it. Everyone was getting their picture taken. The bridge was narrow, high and short, spanning a small & shallow creek. There were a few small green trees nearby, the sun was glaring in this parched, sparse landscape. I asked the guide and she told me that this is where some of the Argentinian army (maybe 1500 out of 25,000) passed through when they crossed over into Chile to gain independence in 1816. They were led by the war hero San Martin. The bridge was a replica of a bridge the army made at that time. I wondered why they had bothered. The bridge was only wide enough for two people to cross abreast, the creek wasn't that deep or wide. It seemed a waste of time, energy and resources. But it was a pretty area and picturesque with the bridge.
We continued on farther into the mountains until we reached a ski resort. Past the ski season, there were lots of imposing buildings and ski resorts at the mountain feet and it all seemed pretty quiet. There was one chairlift that was functioning. The guide asked if we'd like to go up to see the view and the young Argentinian girls all chimed happily "Si!". So we stopped and got in line to buy tickets. I debated whether to go or not. I was really short on Argentinian pesos. I asked the guide if I could pay for the excursion with US dollars and she said fine.
Then one of the Germans started talking to me, saying he'd heard the chairlift ride wasn't worth the price. I chatted with him a little, but since everyone else was going up and we had 20 minutes to kill, we decided to go up anyways. While it was anice view, he was right. We weren't that much higher up from the road and it was a nice view regardless of where you are.
After that we returned to the bus and kept driving west, towards Chile. Our next stop was the Puente del Inca (Inca Bridge) which is a natural land formation, a bridge made of minerals like calcium, sulfer and iron that spans the Rio Mendoza. It's called the Inca Bridge because it's believed the Inca people crossed here. We approached the bridge, next to the road, and saw the solitary one room stone church next to some ruins on the other side. Down below, at the armpit of the bridge was another structure built around natural hot springs. Befor we crossed the bride our guide explained that there used to be ahotel and other buildings here next to the church. Then an avalanche in 1965 destroyed all the buildings, but bypassed the church. The hot spring structure down below was built in 1905 and was unaffected by the avalanche. We crossed the bridge on a wooden boardwalk and passed a bunch of young Argentinians simmering in one of the natural thermal pools. Then we walked down to the ruins of the old spa and explored the many bath rooms, the interior had a running stream carving through the floor and at one point a small natural fountain fountain spewing foamy water. Nature was taking over, the walls and ceiling had minerals encrusted into it. Water dripped everywhere.
After that we continued on in the bus for awhile until we stopped for lunch at another winter resort town. Then I learned we were supposed to bring our own lunch, I'd thought lunch was provided. I bought some overpriced snacks at a tiny shop and joined the others on a small hill where there was a strange little hut made of stone that was also built by San Martin's army.
It was a beautiful day in a beautiful barren place. Everyone was chatting in Spanish and laughing. I've noticed a difference in the Argentinian and Chilean Spanish...they use some different grammar than in Ecuador and Peru and have totally different slang and talk a lot faster. It's really difficult for me to understand people and for them to understand me.
On the drive back our guide took some empty soda bottles, put them out the window, collecting air and then put the caps on.
When we got back to Uspallata we stopped for snacks and bathrooms and I paid for my tour with the last US $20 bill I had and got change back in Argentinian pesos.
When we got back to Mendoza all the plastic soda bottles were crushed, we had been at a much higher altitude and now, being lower and having a stronger air pressure, the outside air pressure had crushed the bottles with lower air pressure inside. It was cool to see, although it didn't surprise me at all, I'd actually noticed this before through all my travels, just not as pronounced a difference.
All through the tour, when we stopped someplace where lots of other tour groups were, I looked for Froukje, Laszlow and the Argentinian guys, but I never saw them. I was dropped off at the hostel and the others returned about 15 minutes later. We chatted about our tours, which were identical and later on we went out for dinner. I joined Laszlow, Froukje & Muriel to a "tenedor libre" place, which literally means "free fork" and figuretively means all-you-can-eat. It was cheap, about $4, and not the classiset joint, some of the plates at the buffet table hadn't been thouroughly cleaned, which was kind of gross, but the food was good.
Then we walked Muriel to the bus station, she was returning to Santiago by night bus. At the station I bought a ticket for myself with the same company for Tuesday (Oct 14th). The bus ride was about 7 hour long and only about $7.
