Roadtrip Across the Continent
Picture this: you’ve just finished the last steps in planning your trip to trek the famous W Circuit of Torres del Paine National Park in Chilean Patagonia. Your flights, hostels, and campsites have been booked for weeks and you’ve just returned from the supermarket with all of the groceries you will take on your trek with your group. Things are becoming real, the trip you’ve been planning is only ONE DAY AWAY. You start to gather the things you will take with you. This was where eleven others and myself were at this time last week.
BUT that evening, new articles began to pop up about a strike within the airline we were to take, suspending all flights for two days (the latter, of course, being the day we were to fly out). We went to the local office and tried our best to get on another airline that same day, or fly out the day following with no luck. They wouldn’t reschedule any flights until a week after the strike’s end. We could choose to receive a full refund or reschedule after the stated date. With the season ending for backpackers in the near-Antarctic park and the weather worsening by the day, I decided by 11am that morning that I had to give up my dream of seeing the jagged peaks of Torres del Paine for now. But I already had the next few days of class excused… And how could I sit at home all week, knowing I was supposed to be in Patagonia?! So I messaged everyone and asked who’d be interested in busing to Argentina that night. Just a few weeks ago, the American reciprocity fee of USD$160 to enter Argentina was taken away following Obama’s visit. I had two takers, so we spent a few hours texting and were on an overnight bus to Mendoza by 6:15pm. But NOT SO FAST! The bus attendant wouldn’t let us on without our proof of paying the reciprocity fee! He INSISTED it still existed. We thought perhaps we had made a mistake, but we pulled up the Argentine embassy website stating that the fee was no longer in effect, the man would not stop interrupting us or listen to us, however. He took us to the receptionist who also yelled violently at us about needing to pay the fee. When we wouldn’t stand down, he grabbed ANOTHER woman who simply said “correct, they can go into the country for up to 90 days for free”. THANK YOUUUUUU!
We arrived the next morning, disheveled from a relatively uncomfortable bus ride. We talked to the tourism desk and got the wine routes and buses. We arrived near the wineries and rented bikes for the day to follow the wine route. There were vineyards all along the way, very cheap malbecs (pretty much exclusively), and even a neat little off-the-beaten-path beer garden. Before we knew it, we were on another overnight bus to Buenos Aires that we didn’t even book until that morning. We arrived with a few recommended hostels and no reservations, so we had the tourism desk tell us how to get to them. And the first one had a room! This was located in the political and governmental center of the city, just down the road from the Obelisco monument and Casa Rosada, the house of the president (literally a pink palace).
We checked in, took showers, and marked up a map with suggestions of things to see from a friend of Riley and Megan’s. This helped a lot, as we had no time to look up attractions or things to do on such a last minute trip. We visited the cobblestoned, antique shop and café inhabited neighborhood of San Telmo; the historic and lavish neighborhood of Recoleta (featuring the hugest, coolest, eeriest, and most fascinating cemetery you could ever imagine. No headstones, only tombs!); the artsy, modern neighborhood of Palermo Soho (where I had the pleasure of eating a burger voted into the world’s top 29 burgers at a place called “Burger Joint”. We also had steak at the very lavish Don Julio); and the tourist trap of brightly colored buildings, the neighborhood of La Boca. We were sure to pack in all of the Argentina must-dos, including, but not limited to: steak, malbec wine, tango, dulce de leche (a caramel-like spread), and mate (a strong Argentine green tea).
I wish we’d had a bit longer to explore, but our time in Argentina was certainly short and sweet. We grabbed another overnight bus back to Mendoza and another back to Chile just a half-hour after. We had the pleasure of crossing the Andes Mountains during the day, this time, which was an absolutely incredible experience.
BUT I’m back in Viña to relax for a few weeks before I hit the Atacama desert in early May! I’m trying to relax for now and save money before that and before MICHAEL GETS HERE ON SUNDAY! I’m gonna have to spend a whole bunch showing him all of my favorite places and things.
Argentine Fun Facts:
-The Spanish double-L sound (typically pronounced as a “Y”) is pronounced as an “SH” here.
-Hardly anywhere takes debit or credit cards. Including in the metropolitan capital city of Buenos Aires. Not even McDonald’s.