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.

As I mentioned in the previous two posts, Roberto and I drove from Criciuma to to Iguazu Falls with another couple. It was just under 2000 kilometers round trip, and I think the trip was around 26 hours total of driving. We drove through some interesting countryside, including a very nice mountain region, and some interesting small towns. The drive was definitely very different from a US road trip on interstates with all the conveniences designed for long distance drivers.

The trip started out with a climb up the Serra do Rio do Rastro in the fog. The road up the mountains is a windy two lane road that switchbacks up the mountain, with a good deal of truck and bus traffic. We were behind a big double decker bus that could barely make it around the sharp curves, and we could see the nervous passengers looking out the windows at the long drop down.

On top of the mountains the landscape is quite different from the hot and humid areas close to the coast. It’s very windy and rocky, and there are these crazy Dr. Seuss looking pine trees growing everywhere. They are apparently called pinheiro trees and produce and interesting seed/fruit that tastes like a chestnut but looks like a pepper. There are also hydrangea bushes (yes, bushes) all over the place.

We left in the early evening and drove until almost 4 am. As we got into less populated areas the driving got a bit more interesting, since while these roads are two lanes (at best), they are also the main state roads from town to town. That meant there were lots of trucks which required lots of passing. There were also many areas where the roads were very bumpy and full of potholes. AND we also had lombadas to contend with; those are giant speed bumps that will REALLY mess up your car if you hit one at more than like 2 miles per hour. They usually have signs but often they creep up unexpectedly and you really have to pay attention to slow down in time. Plus, the roads are not well lit and there are all sorts of interesting things to watch out for: scooters and motorcycles with no lights, bike riders, horse carts, random pedestrians, cows…. I drove for one hour was exhausted from all that paying attention. Roberto drove the rest. What a trooper.

The first night we tried stopping at a couple hotels in the towns we went through but were not satisfied with any of them. We came close with one place, a mediocre hotel in a quiet area, but bailed after the guy kept changing the price on us. The boys went in first and explained that we were two couples and could either share a room with two beds or take two single rooms (it was 3 am, we probably could have slept in the lobby at that point). They guy said it was R$79 for a double room with two beds or R$45 for a single (about 40/23 dollars). Those prices were actually kinda high for a mediocre hotel in the middle of nowhere but we decided to go for it and take the two singles.

So we brought all our stuff in and then the guy said that the singles were only meant for one person and he could not put two people in one room. Not sure why he offered it when we asked for the options for two couples but anyway… Since we could not book the two singles we decided to take one double room. The guys filled out their information (you can’t do anything much in Brazil without providing lots of information) and handed the guy R$79 cash. He said “No, it’s R$139.” And they told the guy he had just quoted them R$79 for a room for two couples, to which he replied that the quote was for two people, and the additional two people cost R$30 each. We all looked at each other and told the guy to forget it. 3 am or not, I HATE being nickel and dimed like that!

We (well, Roberto. seriously, what a trooper!) drove for about another hour after that and decided to try our luck with a motel. For those not familiar with Brazilian motels, they are not like US motels. They are not made for sleeping. First, they have an hourly rate. They are also very private. Most places are behind tall walls or surrounded by trees. You pull in and speak to the reception through a speaker like you’re ordering a big mac from the drive through. They slide your keys to you and you drive to your room, which you access by pulling your car into a garage, closing the door behind you your car is not visible. This sounds really shady, but apparently it is very normal and socially accepted to “utilize” these motels. The reason they are so popular is because almost all young people in Brazil live with their parents until they get married. They are supposed to be very clean and safe.

So, we pulled into a motel. The four of us. They guy must have raised an eyebrow at 4 people rolling up at 4 am requesting a single room (actually he has probably seen it all). The rate was R$15 for two hours and R$40 for the night. We had our air mattress and had no problem setting it up for the night and sleeping on the floor for 3 hours before getting back on the road. The room was clean and normal but a bit interesting. The walls were a bright pink color and I think the curtains were plastic. There was a condom on the nightstand and a tv with the channels scrawled on a note in Sharpie: 2: News, 3: Soccer, 4: Porno. This was definitely no Marriott. But, it was a cheap place to stay for the night with a clean shower and no roaches or anything.

We got to Iguazu in once piece early the next afternoon. The roads progressively improved as we got closer to the city of Foz and the tourist mecca. But, we definitely paid for the privilege of driving on them: there were 4 toll booths on the road to Foz do Iguazu and the total came to over R$20 one way. This was for less than 50 km of driving! Ridiculous.

The trip back was more of the same. We did make better that way and once again spent one night on the road. This time we opted for a hotel (we found a reasonably priced place in a different town), and checked in before midnight to get more sleep. There was one nail biting part the last night where we found ourselves low on gas in the middle of nowhere (and things do get pretty “nowhere-like” in these parts). Each gas station we pulled up to had a different story: they were out of that type of gas, they were closed but the one down the road 20 km was open… Finally we actually ended up knocking on the door of a closed gas station owner’s house (as explained by some guy at a restaurant) to wake him up to come out and turn on the pumps so we could get some gas. I was quite amused when, after that, about 5 cars pulled up to also get gas. I’m sure the owner was thrilled.

This road trip was definitely an experience. I really appreciate the US interstate system a lot more after traveling long distances without it. But, driving here, while slower, isn’t as scary as I thought it might be. There are definitely plenty of facilities for food and gas (even if you have to wake someone up to open them), people are very helpful when asking directions, and there were plenty of police around. That’s a good thing, I think.