Travel for Love

As I mentioned in my Buenos Aires post, Roberto and I took the overnight bus to Mendoza as a side trip from the capital city. Originally we planned on staying just one night – two full days – in the city. Upon seeing the incredible snow-capped mountains rising from the desert as we approached Mendoza, we decided to stay an extra day. We changed our bus reservation at the madhouse of a bus station, and set off to find a rental car.

Disclaimer: This was not a well-researched trip. As I mentioned here, we were hoping to visit Patagonia on this trip. Unfortunately, we found out the gringo prices on Argentinas Airlines were around twice as much as indicated on the website, and flights there would cost around $400 per person.

We found a campground in the San Martin park on the edge of central Mendoza. It seemed that the campground and some other amenities in this park were built in the 70s when Mendoza hosted the World Cup. The campground was very… concrete, with identical campsites. It was more than adequate though, and we enjoyed our night there. They even had wi-fi.

We enjoyed a nice dinner near the park, in a fairly touristy area. Roberto came back from the restaurant men’s room with this photo:

Right. So…

The next day we waned to drive to the mountains. The guy at the campground told us to take the road to Chile to see Aconcagua. I had never heard of this place but apparently it’s the tallest mountain in South America. And the Southern Hemisphere. And the Western Hemisphere. Actually, the tallest mountain outside of Asia! It’s 22840 feet, with Everest being 29002. Mount McKinley is 20,320. So yea, we had to check that out.

We set out on a beautiful dessert blue sky day, on a breathtaking drive into the mountains. First we climbed grassy foothills, which gradually gave way to rockier hills covered in cacti. As we climbed higher and higher, the mountains got more and more rugged. We marveled at how each one had a unique color, as we caught glimpses of snowy peaks beyond the hills. We couldn’t get enough of the beautiful scenery.

As we drove up into higher elevations, the scenery continued to be spectacular. We had a nice lunch at a mountain restaurant, and noticed a couple ski resorts (closed for the summer of course). We also noticed quite a few campgrounds, and decided to stay in the mountains that evening at one of them. We also saw countless groups of Argentines having picnics and cookouts.

We continued up the mountains to Puente de Inca, a strange rock formation and old building.

Just a couple miles up the road was Aconcagua national park. We parked and decided to hike the 3km loop trail in the beautiful valley below the peak. As we got a bit further up the trail we realized we could hike much further than the 3km loop, taking the mule path used by the mountain climbers. We did see several herds of mules, driven by Andean cowboys, carrying supplies to the base camp.

Interestingly when I got out of the car and started hiking, I felt kinda funny. As if I was coming down with something, or hungover… just off. Then, I realized it was due to the high elevation. It made the hike a little more difficult.

I thought the “mountain climbing” vibe was really cool. We talked with some of the climbers returning from summit attempts, which was interesting. I had not expected to see that sort of thing! We ended up hiking for most of the day, only turning back when we knew we’d run out of daylight. It was not a difficult hike, but between the elevation, the dust and rocks, and the hot sun yet cold wind, it was grueling.

Hiking in Aconcagua national park made me want to climb a mountain sometime. Not that one… too advanced for me! But I can definitely see the appeal. A mountain like that just inspires the urge to get closer and closer to the top. This was my first experience with really big mountains, and I definitely think I will seek more out in the future.

We finished the day off with a drive up a crazy road to Christo Redentor on the Chilean border.

It was COLD up there, but very pretty!

We crashed at a nice little campground in one of the gorgeous mountain valleys. It was only 10 pesos per person, less than $3! I was surprised at how many hiking backpackers and mountain bikers were camping there, but we didn’t really get to know anyone that night. We slept very well after our long day, and I have never seen so many stars.

And I thought Mendoza was all about wineries.

… is quite an experience. We decided it would be fun to camp near Iguazu falls instead of staying in a hotel. After stopping and asking at several gas stations (a Brazilian tradition – who says men don’t ask for directions?) we found a camp ground right next to the entrance to the Iguazu Falls National Park. It was incredibly hot and humid when we showed up and the campground only had 2 other groups there. It was a nice campground with plenty of shade, picnic tables and churrascos, and full bathrooms and electrical outlets. And, it was surrounded by the jungle.

Once we selected our spot and started setting up, I went to look around the facilities and almost stepped on a GIANT spider that was poking out of a hole in the ground. It may have been a tarantula and I was so freaked out I changed from flip flops into tennis shoes. Further inspection showed hundreds of such holes all over the place and eventually I just gave up and decided not to look at the ground. In addition to the tarantulas, there were great big orb spiders with webs everywhere. I did couldn’t walk between two trees within 20 feet of each other because there would be a web or several. Shudder.

We set up our tents for the tarantulas to crawl in and went to the Bird Park and grocery store. We got back right before dusk and there were tons of really interesting birds around. Parrots, woodpeckers, canaries… very nice. As we started the fire, there was lots of rustling in the tree right above our campsite and something made a weird, almost meowing noise. Turns out it was a MONKEY! A monkey, eating a banana, in the tree right above the tent (we knew this because when he was done, he dropped the banana peel and it landed on the tent!). There were several more monkeys hanging around the campsite and it was so much fun watching them!

As the sun set, the night creatures really started to come out. And by that I mean the various mysterious things in trees that make really weird noises. There were some really absurd sounds and I had no idea how I could ever sleep in all that racket, but luckily they shut up for the most part after a couple hours. Here is a video I made recording the crazy sounds.

We had a nice barbecue and built a campfire to keep the mosquitoes out, and it was really great being outside. The temperature had cooled down and there was a pleasant breeze and those night creatures had shut up for the most part. It was a fine evening. That is, until 3 am or so when it started POURING. The tent held up for awhile, about 45 minutes I’d say. Then it started dripping in a couple places. Then, a couple more (why did I think it would be a good idea to camp with a down comforter?).

When the drips became streams with no signs of the rain stopping we knew we’d have to go to the car. Roberto made several trips back and forth in the downpour, taking stuff to the car, getting the keys from the other guy (whose tent wasn’t leaking, WTF!), and rushing me through under a towel. I balled up the comforter under the air mattress and hoped for the best. Oh and the electricity in the campground went out, so everything was pitch black.

We settled in to sleep in the car and it rained for about another hour and then let up. Trying to sleep there was uncomfortable, and it was too hot to keep the windows up but mosquitoes came in immediately if we cracked them. We decided to see if we could sleep in the tent. Flipping the air mattress over was fairly dry and the comforter was just a little wet, so we had a damp rest of the night. One good thing about the rain was it was really nice and cool the next day at the falls. It was also cloudy and a little drizzly all day, so not ideal. But, overall, the camping experience was great despite the rain. We’ll do it again, but this time with a tarp just in case!

My advice for camping in this part of the world: be prepared for rain – it is the rain forest after all. Also, the mosquitoes are very bad. We used tons of insect repellent with DEET. I would consider taking malaria pills if I was camping for a more extended period, but preventing bites by religiously applying bug spray is supposed to be safe for short stays. Also be prepared for night visits from all sorts of interesting critters.