“Oh. My. Gosh. That car just stopped for me to cross the road!”
That is how my trip to Chile and Argentina began. In January I got the opportunity to meet up with my aunt and uncle and another couple who are cousins of theirs in Argentina. In order to get to Mendoza, Argentina, I decided to go by bus to the coast of Chile, to a town called Iquique. That is where the cultural changes started to hit me.
First, cars actually respect pedestrians and let them cross the road with ample space. There was less trash lying around. There was soap in the bathroom. There were hot and cold water handles in the shower instead of having an electric shower head. There were a LOT less stray dogs. I ate really good fish and ceviche (because I was by the ocean!). The list goes on, but that gives you an idea for now of some of the differences I first encountered.
After getting off the bus in Iquique around 3pm, I was very happy, having left Cochabamba at 9pm the night before, not having been able to sleep much on a very bumpy overnight ride, and spending 4 hours at the Bolivia-Chile border (where I had to pick out all the raisins from the granola I had made because Chile is super strict about what you can bring into their country). Before getting on another, but MUCH nicer luxurious bus, for a 24 hour ride to Santiago, I ate good fish and went in the ocean!!!
I only spent a hot minute in Santiago because the next morning I left with my aunt and uncle for Mendoza, Argentina. We spent a couple days in the city of Mendoza (as opposed to the region Mendoza), where we walked through many beautiful plazas and toured two wineries and a small olive oil factory.
The day we were supposed to make the 7 hour drive to Las Leñas, a ski resort south of the city of Mendoza where we would stay for about a week, my ATM card got stuck and remained in the machine. We ended up leaving, just much later than expected and I was feeling a lot of things, a mix of frustration and amazement. It was maddening that there was no way to get the card back because it was the weekend, and it was amazing that despite the loss of my only immediate access to money, I was not gone for because my aunt and uncle were there…but how many people in the world have a support network who will back them up when they literally have no more access to money? I’m very grateful for my aunt and uncle taking care of me in this situation and grateful that there are people to help me when I have nothing left. Quite a humbling moment. Yet! Also maddening that a whole lot of people in the world do not have such security through absolutely no fault of their own.
Returning back to our trip. We got to the hotel at Las Leñas, which was rather abonded since it was summer, not winter. It was a comfy small apartment with a hot plate to cook on…and cook on it we did! Maybe it took 3 hours to cook lentils and maybe we ate late every day, but it was a fun experience overall! If there were a prize for best meals cooked on a hot plate, I would give it hands down to my four traveling companions.
We spent the next 4 days exploring the mountains and other beautiful parts of our surroundings. I loved being there. There were beautiful rivers, water holes, goats, open country and more open country.
On Monday January 24th we drove into Malargüe and visited a little museum and convention center, which was a highlight for me because the man who gave us a short but thorough tour was just so kind and proud of his center. We got to talking about lots of things including the secret to his popcorn, which he shared with me and I will share with you (but don’t ever tell him please) – oil, sugar and coconut essence. Mmmmm!
Wednesday we spent with Paco. Now, in order to see some of the most beautiful parts of the mountain range, one needs a 4-wheel-drive vehicle, which is where Paco came in. We packed a picnic in the morning and loaded into his Land Rover, and my seat was in the back so I had quite a good view.
At our first stop he showed us all these shell fossils demonstrating how these mountains were at one time ocean floor…incredible. Next he stopped at a small stream humbly, in an almost unnoticeable way, going down the hillside. He got out, unscrewed his water bottle and filled up. Oh my goodness, was that water tasty.
Paco told us the story about the plane that crashed very near to where we were, back in the 70’s (the survivors ate the flesh of some of the other passengers who had died) and showed us the grand Valle Hermoso (beautiful valley), where he has gone skiing and on excursions countless times in his life. This river used to be public but a foreigner bought it as an investment, because as many are predicting, the wars of the future will be about fresh water access.
However we were still able to drive up to it to give David a chance to fish and also us a chance to eat lunch, at the end of which Paco pulled out a lovely bottle of wine from underneath his seat. Hey, can’t pass up an opportunity to drink wine in Argentina!
The next three days involved my travel back to Cochabamba but not without some one-of-a-kind experiences and conversations along the way. I spent another night in Mendoza city, enjoying the amazing peaches, lit-up water fountains and my first tango lesson a park.
Argentina intrigues me with its very visible European influence (both in architecture and physical characteristics of the people…having come from Bolivia, I was shocked on a daily basis to see people with such lighter features), its parking lots that are called “playas” (or “beach”), lots of women wearing shorts, men greeting each other with kisses on the cheek (not just to women, which is how it is here in Cochabamba).
The bus ride from Mendoza to Santiago, Chile was good with some pretty views of the Andes as we crossed through them. I have to say though, I was happy to finally get back to Cochabamba. It was a good trip and I want to go back to Chile when I can actually visit it a little more than looking at its coast from a bus window…we’ll see what the future brings.
To see many more pictures of my first experience in Chile and Argentina, please go to the following link
https://picasaweb.google.com/nora.pfeiffer/ChileArgentinaBlog?authkey=Gv1sRgCNGxhI_ts676Qw#5 Things I’m thankful for today: time to write and reflect; communication with friends; chai tea; being able to walk to work this morning and along the way stopping and chatting with someone (you know, that feeling of comfort in being somewhere where people know your name); an uncomfortable situation that has improved.
