Mendoza

Yesterday I said my goodbyes at the hostel, swapped some email addresses and headed to the bus terminal to catch a bus to Mendoza, Argentina. I was able to find one that left in 10min of me getting there and cost roughly $18AUD. The buses here are fantastic. You have loads of space and the seats recline pretty much to the point of being a bed.

Driving through the Andes was amazing. It´s such a different landscape to anything I´ve seen before. The rocky mountain passes and tight bends where trucks have to wait for the bus to pass before cornering themselves. They have tunnels next to steep mountain faces so the rocks don´t fall onto the road.

I was sitting next to a Peruvian guy who had to ask me how to fill out his border crossing form. I struggled too but we worked it out with the help of my phrase book. It was interesting to note that he was using a cheap film camera. Something I haven´t seen in Australia since the nineties.

I met an American guy, Joe, at the bus terminal in Mendoza and we found a hostel together. He looks like a pot smoker so we get harrassed every time we walk down the street if we wanna buy drugs. It´s kinda funny. We ate out last night, had pasta (gnocchi but spelled noquis), dessert and beers for about $12AUD each.

I immediately liked Argentina better than Chile, the people are friendlier, more helpful and more relaxed I think too. They have some beautiful parks here where people just sit around and chill out for ages. The hostel we are staying in is cool but the rooms are tiny. I won´t stay there longer than tonight I think.

The plan now is to check out the city for a bit, find a cheap tent somewhere and hitch hike to Buenos Aires. Like I mentioned, everyone thats done it says it´s quite easy and safe. Especially in Argentina.

I have had a development with uploading photos so with any luck I´ll be able to put some up within the next few days. The internet is either free or cheap here which is great.

I feel the need to mention: I couldn´t find thongs anywhere in Santiago. I went to about ten shoe stores and none of them had any, let alone size 11 which is rare here as the people have small feet. I ended up finding a little Brazillian store which had a full range of genuine havainas and in my size. Stoked.

My next purchase will be a small african drum of some sort. I found a couple in Santiago that were quite expensive. And the Chileans don´t like to bargain so much. I am yet to find one here but I think I´ll get the first one I see... I want one to take around and play in the parks.

OK Hope everyone is well back home and that it´s not too cold... We have had consistently awesome weather here so far.

Tom