One aside before I get started - Mendoza had the most international crowd - Americans, Canadians, Ice Land(ians or ers), Saudi Arabians (she looked irish though and was kind of scary on our wine tour), Australians, Italians, Spaniards, etc. It was a little surprising.
Anyway..
It was time for another 7 hour bus ride over the Andes. I was a little worried about getting sick, but it turned out to be a great trip. Ann used her new copper wrist bands and I guess those worked out too.
We left Mendoza a little late and grandpa behind us was getting v. impatient wanting to know when we would be on our way. There were also a lot of soldiers on the bus. They were old soldiers, not cute ones. We each got coffee which I thought was going to be an utter disaster. We got our cups and then the man came down the aisle with the kool-aid style pitcher of hot coffee with no lids. I thought for sure he was going to spill it. But he ´was good and not a drop spilled.
We then got a movie - Die Hard 4.0 dubbed in Spanish. Being that I havent seen any of the other ones, it was hard to want to watch this.
We then met this surfer from Oregon whose mom owns a farm-bodega in northern Mendoza and he was nice enough but a little strange. I still wasnt quite sure what his deal was, but he helped us at customs.
The mountains on the Argentina side were gorgeous. They were very desert like and there were dried river beds, a ton of colors, etc. Every one in a while there would be the higher mountains with snow on them.
On the way up, I couldn´t hold it any longer and had to go to the bathroom. I took my tissues and purel and made my way to the back of the bus. I am shocked I didnt pee all over myself. The bus was twisting and turning and I was holding on to anything for dear life. However I made it and was v. sanitary and grabbed a soldier but made it back to my seat ok.
We dropped the soldiers off in the middle of the mountains at some base or something and then made it to the border.
The border was a process. First we got sandwiches and orange pop. Grandpa couldn´t figure out how to get his open. It was kind of cute and the Oregon guy helped him. Then we had to get out and bring our visas and passports and stand in this one line. Then we had to go to another line to get our tax free purchases stamped. Then we had to go to another line to get another stamp. Then we could change money, go to the bathroom, get drinks, etc. but had to stay on the Argentian side of the breezeway.
After that we all had to get on the bus and then drive 20 feet to the middle of the breeze way. We then had to take all of our stuff off and go stand in a line while our stowed luggage was xrayed and smelled by a drug-fruit-veggie dog. The bus then had to be smelled by the dog - storage, engine, seats, etc. Finally our stuff had to be smelled by the dog and then we had to put it through an xray machine. We were then able to get back on the bus and go down the mountains.
The chilean side of the andes is GORGEOUS and much steaper and more difficult to navigate than the Argentinian side. We also saw these people biking up it. That would be my idea of hell. UGH.
We then made it to Santiago in one piece, got our stuff and made it to the hotel.
Anyway..
It was time for another 7 hour bus ride over the Andes. I was a little worried about getting sick, but it turned out to be a great trip. Ann used her new copper wrist bands and I guess those worked out too.
We left Mendoza a little late and grandpa behind us was getting v. impatient wanting to know when we would be on our way. There were also a lot of soldiers on the bus. They were old soldiers, not cute ones. We each got coffee which I thought was going to be an utter disaster. We got our cups and then the man came down the aisle with the kool-aid style pitcher of hot coffee with no lids. I thought for sure he was going to spill it. But he ´was good and not a drop spilled.
We then got a movie - Die Hard 4.0 dubbed in Spanish. Being that I havent seen any of the other ones, it was hard to want to watch this.
We then met this surfer from Oregon whose mom owns a farm-bodega in northern Mendoza and he was nice enough but a little strange. I still wasnt quite sure what his deal was, but he helped us at customs.
The mountains on the Argentina side were gorgeous. They were very desert like and there were dried river beds, a ton of colors, etc. Every one in a while there would be the higher mountains with snow on them.
On the way up, I couldn´t hold it any longer and had to go to the bathroom. I took my tissues and purel and made my way to the back of the bus. I am shocked I didnt pee all over myself. The bus was twisting and turning and I was holding on to anything for dear life. However I made it and was v. sanitary and grabbed a soldier but made it back to my seat ok.
We dropped the soldiers off in the middle of the mountains at some base or something and then made it to the border.
The border was a process. First we got sandwiches and orange pop. Grandpa couldn´t figure out how to get his open. It was kind of cute and the Oregon guy helped him. Then we had to get out and bring our visas and passports and stand in this one line. Then we had to go to another line to get our tax free purchases stamped. Then we had to go to another line to get another stamp. Then we could change money, go to the bathroom, get drinks, etc. but had to stay on the Argentian side of the breezeway.
After that we all had to get on the bus and then drive 20 feet to the middle of the breeze way. We then had to take all of our stuff off and go stand in a line while our stowed luggage was xrayed and smelled by a drug-fruit-veggie dog. The bus then had to be smelled by the dog - storage, engine, seats, etc. Finally our stuff had to be smelled by the dog and then we had to put it through an xray machine. We were then able to get back on the bus and go down the mountains.
The chilean side of the andes is GORGEOUS and much steaper and more difficult to navigate than the Argentinian side. We also saw these people biking up it. That would be my idea of hell. UGH.
We then made it to Santiago in one piece, got our stuff and made it to the hotel.
1 comment:
man...i started reading soliders and thought there was a hot story coming...to bad they weren't cute! sounds like you're having a great time...miss you babe! it rained here in so cal so there were over 300 car accidents in sd. people here are nuts :)
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