Mendoza is the 3rd largest city in Argentina, 6 hours from Santiago by way of the Andes. The actual distance isn´t that far but it takes 6 hours because the only way to get there is to go up and over the mountains. The pass closes in the winter for obvious reasons, but officially closing it would just be too much so basically you can get the bus to Mendoza at any time, only theres no guarantee you can make it back if it snows. One of my roomates and I took the chance and went the last weekend they recommend you go, and it truly was amazing...
First up, the drive was INCREDIBLE. It literally was driving up a mountain until a random spot where you go through customs in the middle of the mountains. On the ride back I got to sit in the very front seat on the top level of the bus, with just a big window and mountains straight in front of me. The biggest difference with Chilean and Argentinian mountains is that they are RIGHT off the highway, they start like 2 feet over. It was interesting to see the differences with Chilean border patrol and Argentinian border patrol. The Chilean cross was much more serious, everyone needing to get out of the bus, have their bags scanned, fill out forms, etc., etc., whereas going into Argentina was much more relaxed. I later learned from my students that this is because people try to bring drugs into Chile to sell because there is so much more money in CHile than other South American countries and so dealers can make more money. At the border my friend and I ran off for a second to take pictures near the border sign (hence the picture below marking the cross from Argentina to Chile.) We almost missed the bus... for the second time...
Its official, Argentina has more culture than Chile. Lo siento to any Chileans who find this blog. I´m going to Buenos Aires next weekend to meet up with a friend I met in Greece, and I will allow that to officially OFFICIALLY confirm. From the second I got there I could feel the energy and attitude which I would claim is the Argentinian culture. We spent most of the time sitting at cafes people watching and one thing I noticed is just how happy everyone was. People were sincerely interested in who we were and where we were from.
The most exciting part of the weekend was going to dinner on Saturday night and getting (and all delicious) 2 salad bars, a huge steak to share, 2 sides, 2 desserts and drinks all for $33... yes dollars.... oh wait, it gets better. That day PUMA, the national Argentian rugby team, beat Italy and it just so happens that they came to the restaurant we were at to celebrate. So basically my friend and I sat in the middle of a restuarant surrounded by 40 Argentinian rugby players. They cheered and sang for hours, little kids running in to take pictures with their cell phones and then running out- it was all quite entertaining. One of the Chilean roomies plays rugby and had spent the last week watching rugby on our one television for 14 people (not that anyones complaining) and so we decided that we needed to bring some souvenir back for him. After the team left we were looking for something cool, something Argentinian, something PUMA, until I heard my friend do a little shriek of laughter and I looked over to see that one of the player´s hair had been cut and was sitting on the table. So even though the waitor was horrified at these two American girls gawking at the team and stealing PUMA hair, we brought back our souvenir, and our roommate just loved it.
