Argentina: Mendoza, Cordoba, La Cumbrecita, Alta Gracia, Buenos Aires, Puerto Iguazú, Puerto Madryn (Week 27-30)

Mendoza

I crossed over the Andes mountains from Chile into Argentina by bus.  First stop: Mendoza, the wine region of Argentina and South America. I had heard beautiful things about Mendoza from travelers and local South Americans. So, my expectations on how I’d feel about the city were very very high. However, when I arrived in Mendoza, I initially found myself disappointed. I didn’t see what others had been telling me about the city. The streets were dead. The city blocks that I explored the first two days were desolate and run down. My first full day was Sunday and traveling through South America has shown me that Sundays are days of rest for locals. This is shown through closed businesses, quieter streets, and much less people out in public spaces. It also didn’t help that the weather in Mendoza the first few days was a bit gloomy. Luckily, my thoughts about Mendoza did change a bit before leaving. That is because I decided to go on my third and final wine tour of my travels. I felt that I couldn’t leave Mendoza without having visited a winery. Mendoza prides itself with having some of the best wines in the world. But another big reason that pushed me to go on my specific wine tour was because an olive oil factory tour was included. I mean, who would pass a chance to learn about how olives are grown and harvested to make oil? Not me. I love learning about oils! The tour itself was quick and gave fast-paced information on wine, olive oil, and chocolate liquor (a bonus added to the tour). It was not the best wine tour I have been on (Chile’s was my favorite) but it did satisfy my Mendoza wine fix. The most important thing this tour helped me understand was the said beauty many had talked to me about. The tour took me out of Mendoza city and allowed me to get a glimpse of what Mendoza province was like. It was very pretty with flat vineyard landscapes all around. It also helped that the sun was out and bright that day, which helped cast light on the green vegetation highlighting even more of its beauty.

Still, within Mendoza city I noticed specific differences from cities in Chile. After entering a new country, I can’t help but compare similarities and differences I notice between one country and the other. I noticed in Mendoza there were many people with mobility difficulties. There was a significant amount of people with an amputated limb, using wheelchairs or limping. This observation struck me more after learning the country has access to free healthcare. I also noticed right away how living conditions seemed to be more difficult than that of Chile’s. There seemed to be more poverty which may be connected to the current recession Argentina is in.

In Mendoza, I also got in contact with a potential host that would allow me to volunteer at his estancia, or ranch. After the amazing horseback riding experience I had in Chile, I wanted to be somewhere where I can continue having contact with horses. Bestie and I joke how after our one experience horseback riding in South America, we can now call ourselves equestrian riders, because according to us, everyone becomes a pro after one ride. All jokes aside, it really was a one-of-a-kind experience, and I left so inspired to continue being amongst horses. However, the day before I was scheduled to be picked up by the host to drive me three hours south of Mendoza, I had an unexpected emotional breakdown. I didn’t want to go anymore. I wasn’t sure how much access I’d have to horses given the host had mentioned to me that I’d be able to help with branding cows, something that definitely did not interest me. I didn’t want to go to a place where I was already feeling so hesitant on whether I would enjoy it. Also, I wanted to have more time to continue exploring different areas of Argentina and I wanted to continue doing that with Bestie. Especially now that I had purchased my plane ticket home for March and the countdown to leaving South America was in full effect. So, I contacted the host and let him know I wouldn’t be able to volunteer anymore. He very graciously replied back that it was no problem. Bestie had a kick out of my breakdown and feels that my tears represent how much I really do love her. She’s ridiculous. Both her and I watched Wi-Fi Ralph that night and we both agreed the friendship between Vanellope and Ralph is ours.

Cordoba

Cordoba is the second most populated city in Argentina and was in our route heading east. Sarah left a day early and I met her there. I only stayed here for about two days and to be honest, I don’t have too many memories of this city. I do remember spending most of my time researching places to visit for day trips outside of Cordoba. I also took time to plan with bestie the next locations we wanted to visit in the country. This is where I decided I’d be flying to both Iguazu and Puerto Madryn because I did not want to take any more long-distance bus rides. Cordoba really just became mine and Sarah’s home base to visit two small towns outside of the city. Those two small towns were La Cumbrecita and Alta Gracia.

La Cumbrecita

I was really excited to visit La Cumbrecita because it looked and sounded adorable from the research I had done online. With it being a German town, I was really looking forward to seeing potential architecture reflecting Germany and possibly trying some German dishes. The ride to this town was very lovely and green. Our bus passed by a huge lake that gave me great views of Argentinian countryside. When we arrived, we had some challenges getting into a hostel. The hostel we had made reservations with did not accept credit card, and because Argentina is such an expensive place to be withdrawing money from (because of its high atm fees), withdrawing cash was something we tried to do as little as possible. However, in this case we were going to need to do it. We started asking different hotels and hostels if they accepted credit card before arriving to the one atm machine the town had. With more bad luck, the atm machine did not allow us to withdraw money. It seems like international cards were not being accepted.  So now we definitely had to find a place that would take credit card. Luckily, a very fancy hotel we had inquired at redirected us to a brand-new hostel that recently opened. Not only did they accept credit card, but they were also in the center of town, had brand new rooms, and were much cheaper than our original hostel. Win win win for us! Time in La Cumbrecita was very laid back. Sarah and I took a short hike to the river where we sat on the rocks and read for a short while. I didn’t get a chance to try German food, but I did try Hungarian goulash which tasted pretty good to me though Sarah mentioned was not nearly as good as the real deal. I helped bestie take out a nasty splinter from her toe.  I attempted to help my brother Carlos out by participating in a prototype test for his app development course he’s taking, but it was unsuccessful due to not having my laptop with me. I also received extremely heartbreaking news from my sister that I am still processing and will be processing for some time. Lastly, La Cumbrecita was where we finished booking our flights within Argentina to Iguazu and Puerto Madryn. After some unstructured chill time in La Cumbrecita, we headed out to Alta Gracia, to spend a night there and visit Che Guevara’s childhood home that has been converted into a museum.

Alta Gracia

I was in Alta Gracia for one day solely to visit the Che Guevara Museum. Exploring the museum’s different rooms was a delight. The self-guided tour was organized by room, taking visitors through a chronological journey into Che’s life from before his birth to his death. I learned the health issues he struggled with growing up, and his inspiration and interest to learn about those who are less represented, which ultimately led him to be part of different revolutionary movements. It was a museum well worth the visit. And it is in his actual childhood home located within a residential neighborhood. It was easy for me to see the small-town lifestyle he grew up in.

Buenos Aires (Part 1)

Buenos Aires! My favorite capital city in South America now. I loved so many things about this city. The architecture, parks, tasty restaurants, cultural centers, and the accessible fruit and vegetable shops found throughout different neighborhoods. I was so happy I had the opportunity to meet up with Vincent one last time before he headed back home to France. The last time we saw each other was way back in Peru. Vincent, Sarah and I explored the city together during one of our days in Buenos Aires. After grabbing lunch, we visited a gorgeous bookstore that had formally been a theater. The interior very visibly showed how it was once a theater but now housed tons of books and a cafe. I did take the opportunity to find a Spanish copy of Michelle Obama’s “Becoming” and skim through the photographs and read the captions. This got me so excited to read the book when I go back home. From here, we took a long walk to the Museo de Arte Latinoamerica. During our walk we came upon the neighborhood where most of the embassies were located. We began playing an impromptu game of finding the flag and naming the country before arriving to its entrance plaque to confirm if we were right or wrong. As nerdy as that sounds (because it is) it was fun! We eventually arrived at the museum and took some time looking through many art pieces before being exhausted and deciding it was time for us to leave.  The next day, bestie and I took a tour of the Boca neighborhood, home to the Boca Juniors soccer team. One thing I learned was that this neighborhood is arguably where tango was born. Buenos Aires and Montevideo seem to both want to take this honor. Besides receiving a tour, we also visited outside of La Bombanera Stadium and went inside the stadium museum until we realized we didn’t bring enough cash to pay for the entrance. The next day, Vincent and I visited the city’s botanical gardens where we were stopped by a local who began telling us about the history of the gardens but quickly diverted the conversation to personal matters of his life. Vincent had to politely tell him we needed to go, and we continued exploring the gardens before heading to lunch and eventually a huge area in the city where many parks and outdoor open spaces were located.  We coincidentally walked by a free public Zumba class in the park and Vincent and I decided to join. Those few songs we danced to were a lot of fun. We became clearly aware that many participants were regular Zumba class attendees, as many had the choreography well memorized. Later that night, Vincent, Sarah and I decided to attend a tango show at the Tango Porteño Theater. After dinner, Vincent did his impersonations of bus transport and street food salesmen from Peru and Bolivia that he had showed me earlier that day. He was soo good! He clearly paid a lot of attention to what was being shouted out and the intonation of each word. I was cracking up with his Puno Puno Puuuunooooo and Gelatina Gelatina Gelatiiiiinaaaaaa to the point where I asked him to send me a voice recording of each word when he arrived back in France. When we arrived at the theater, we realized how formal the event actually was. We weren’t necessarily dressed for a formal occasion. I for one was wearing running shoes. After laughing out the embarrassment for a bit, we sat down at our dinner table to enjoy the show. It was a very fancy and highly choreographed show. The next morning, I said my final goodbyes to Vincent. He was heading home in about a week, and Sarah and I were headed to the airport to Iguazu to visit the waterfalls.

Puerto Iguazú

After our goodbyes to Vincent, bestie and I headed to the airport to catch our flight to Puerto Iguazu. My travel credit card had the benefit of accessing the Priority Lounges found at airports and boy did Sarah love it. She chowed down on a few sandwiches and even asked if priority pass was available in future flights we later took within Argentina. We arrived at Iguazu with only one main thing in mind: to visit Iguazu Falls found within the Brazilian and Argentinian borders. These are many times compared to Niagara Falls which also are on the international border of Canada and the U.S. The plan was to visit the falls twice, once on the Argentinian side and the other on the Brazilian side, since each seem to give different views of the falls. However, I didn’t get my Brazilian visa in time, so I only got to see the Argentinian side. It was gorgeous nonetheless. We walked a few trails that gave us many views of the waterfalls and ran into some animal friends as well. Bestie and I decided to also do the touristy thing and take a boat ride along the river where we had the chance to get closer to a few waterfalls. I had so much fun, yet I was soooo anxious. The boat ride was fun as we were hitting waves. But I got scared that the force of the falls hitting our boat would sink us. It may be a little intense of a fear, but nonetheless the fear was there. Every time our boat captain drove our boat into a waterfall, I felt safer ducking my head as close to the floor as I could without making eye contact to the waterfall above. By the end of the short boat ride everyone was completely drenched!

Iguazu Falls was indescribable. The falls had such an immense force. There were a few times where I felt the waterfalls looked so perfect they looked like the backdrop to a Disney animated movie. I still am unsure how such a huge supply of water continuously flows year-round.

The three days in Puerto Iguazu were extremely hot and humid. The a/c in our room was malfunctioning throughout the majority of our stay. The specific area we were staying at in town kept getting power outages. According to one of the neighbors, the town has had this issue for a long time now and sadly not much has been done to improve the infrastructure of this area that happens to receive an immense number of visitors every year bringing in a lot of money to the region.

Puerto Madryn

After Iguazu, we flew back to Buenos Aires for a night and took a morning flight south to Puerto Madryn. Puerto Madryn is a coastal city in Argentina and is also considered to be part of Patagonia. We flew down there to visit the Punta Tombo National Reserve and visit a few Welsh towns in the area. I didn’t have original plans to go down south into this region, but Sarah motivated me to check out the reserve and Arwyn inspired me to check out the historically Welsh towns in the region given he’s Welsh. We stayed in our first Welsh town named Trelew that served as our home base to visit the penguins aka penguis (pronounced pang-eez) as we liked to call them. I didn’t do much exploration of this particular town as there wasn’t anything I found that caught my attention. There were a few buildings whose architecture looked different from the typical colonial or French architecture I had been seeing in Argentina, so just from guessing, those very well may have been influenced by Welsh culture. I also saw many Welsh flags that I quickly recognized by the red dragon in the center. It took me back to Medellin, when I was first introduced to that flag by Arwyn through his talks about Wales and Welsh culture.

The day after we arrived in Trelew, bestie and I headed down south about an hour’s drive to visit Punta Tombo National Reserve and see the penguins. This reserve is home to the largest colony of Magellanic penguins in the world. It is estimated that over one million penguins arrive here each year to breed. Our arrival to this region coincided with the time where there were many baby penguins aged from a few weeks old up to a month or so. Initially, I was a little perplexed to see penguins in such a dry and hot environment. Typically, when I think of penguins I think of ice and very cold environments. I learned that there are 17 species of penguins with only a few of those living in the Antarctic region. I also learned that penguins secrete an oil at the base of their tail that they use to spread around their body to help make them impermeable.

This reserve has very clear walking trails for those wanting to visit. It was great to know this natural living and breeding area for Magellanic penguins is classified as a reserve and is protected for conservation purposes. During the beginning of the walk in the reserve, we spotted little groups of penguins. Generally, it was a parent(s) with their baby nearby. The more we walked in, the greater the landscape became, and the more penguins we saw at a distance and close by. Seeing them going about their day waddling through the dirt, taking shade under a bush or sunbathing out in the open was so precious. There were times when penguins would walk right in front of us. It was easy to spot the baby penguins from the adults. The babies had fuzzier plumage that for many was beginning to shed off. There was a penguin hanging out near a bench that I bent down to see closer and take a picture with. I noticed it doing a little wiggle for a few seconds. I later realized that wiggle was most likely because it was getting ready to poop. The baby penguin pooped a few feet from my face. There is a picture below of this baby penguin. The reserve was really wonderful and so incredibly precious with all the penguins. I am so glad that I ended up choosing to come down.

After visiting the penguin reserve, we headed out of Trelew and went to a second smaller Welsh town called Gaiman. Again, it was similar to Trelew in that we didn’t find much to do, but it was a tiny little town with some royal history. When we arrived, we learned that Princess Diana had apparently visited a teahouse in this tiny town back in 1995. So, we decided to go visit it. Teahouses are something that seem to be pretty common in Welsh towns. When visiting a teahouse, one usually pays a flat price that then includes a selection of different desserts and tea. Sarah and I hardly touched our desserts, but we didn’t regret paying the price for visiting a Welsh teahouse and one that Princess Diana herself had visited.

Buenos Aires (Part 2)

I loved Buenos Aires so much I wanted to stay there a few extra days before having to say my goodbyes to cross over into Uruguay. After arriving back from Puerto Madryn, bestie and I went out one night to a music and drumming event called Bomba La Tiempo. To me, it personally felt like we were at an outdoor concert/club. I grooved a bit while bestie hardly moved. She definitely needs to start warming up her hips since Carnaval in Rio is approaching very soon. As entertaining as the musicians were, we left right when the event ended as it was bedtime for us.

The next day I went out into the city to visit the Japanese Gardens and a very famous and beautiful theater called Teatro Colon. The Japanese Gardens was small but enjoyable. I especially really liked the cultural museum found inside showcasing many different aspects of Japanese culture for people to learn about. The gardens were serene and enough for me to take out a book and read for a bit. Before leaving I grabbed lunch in the garden’s food court area. I had a bowl of noodles with a boba drink. It was very tasty!

Teatro Colon was so elegant and grand. Being inside and learning about its history made me want to attend a show, particularly a musical, since I love them so much. I learned tons of info about its purposeful architectural design, such as the openings beneath each seat to help amplify the acoustic sound even more when the orchestra is playing. We walked past a gold room that has the majority of the walls and pillars covered by gold. Traveling has made me more aware of things that interest me and don’t or things that I thought didn’t interest me but in fact do. Architecture has been one of them. I’ve caught myself paying closer attention to how buildings are designed, their interior, color, and material used, so this theater was no exception.

The next day, after completing almost one month in Argentina, I did my first border crossing by boat from Buenos Aires to Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay.

*Continue reading the next blog to learn about my time in Uruguay and some reflections about finishing up my travels.