After six months in Asia and more than a month in Polynesia, it is Latin America’s turn to be on our magnificent list of incredible destinations. Easter Island is Chilean and served as a transition between two worlds. But the real South American adventure begins in Argentina and more precisely in Buenos Aires for the chickens.
Buenos Aires: winter disappointment, gastronomy, and city tourism
The first day is dedicated, as you probably guess, to culinary discoveries. Argentina is indeed a land of gastronomy because of its colonial history but also its Indian roots. We therefore set our sights on an old Argentine brewery that will become our canteen for the following days. Reminiscence assured between wine, cheese, cold meats and bread! This first day also allows us to play the fashionistas (or “queens of shopping”), to our great damnation, to find what to equip for the cold. Indeed, the Chilean airline LATAM having somewhat failed to mention to its passengers that the plane bound for Buenos Aires had left our luggage on Easter Island. The whole thing would not have been so problematic (since the chickens are traveling light) if we had not arrived in Buenos Aires in the middle of winter, Ben only wearing shorts and a T-shirt (we would like to highlight that Audrey had anticipated the possible loss of luggage by taking a fleece, a jacket and leggings on her!).
Once our first Argentinian empanadas well digested and after an interminable wait of the deliveryman of luggages (which will come to deliver only the baggage of madam), we visit the great classics of the city at night. And like walking it digs, the day is closed by a restaurant. So we’ll tell you right away, Argentina is still the country where we try on diverse restaurants (yes mom, I’ll pay attention to my weight after this country!), and the portions are, it takes everything to confess it, more than generous! Our walks the following days take us to the popular neighborhood of La Boca, San Telmo and its antique markets, as well as the emblematic cemetery of the Recoleta.
Buenos Aires is often considered a city mixing different European influences in South America. French architecture, Italian traffic, and Spanish gastronomy. Only thing unique and well local, the tango. So we go in the evening in a milonga (a kind of bistro dedicated to dance as there are dozens across the city). We have a good time, even if the chickens were not bluffed by the show, probably because they do not know anything!
After we fought with the call-center of the Chilean airline, the missing luggage ended up arriving at 6:30 am, well yes why not deliver so soon huh ?! We’ve had enough of a drag in this city, it’s time for the chickens to sail to the Andes, and to start in Mendoza city. Well, it will be by plane! Yes we admit, the desire to do twenty hours of bus is a little less present than a few months ago and we play it a little like Americans from time to time!
Mendoza and the San Juan area: wine, mountain and moon
We begin the discovery of the fifth city in the country with a walking tour (not free, you must always drop a small note when it’s not bad, and it’s really great). This allows us to understand the atypical structure of the city, built around five places arranged in cross (you see? No? Go look on google if it’s not clear) to serve as refuges in case of earthquakes. We cultivate a little, and it feels good. As everyone knows, culture is growing, and we must restore ourselves to our first “parillada”. Understand by that a huge grilled meat with pieces of meat the size of the arm of Audrey! Ben is thrilled, and Audrey who remember is not “big fan of meat” will fall back on wine in THE wine region of the country! Surely there are more unfortunate people than the chickens at that time, but it will not last …
This city is rather nice, with shady streets and a huge park bordering the city center. A great opportunity to stroll and climb the Cerró de la Gloria (a small hill) with two Argentinian friends met on the plane and not speaking a word of English. Here again, it is the opportunity for the chickens to perfect the mastery of the language of Don Quixote and to question our new friends about their life of young Argentineans. Especially in these times quite difficult for Argentina.
Small aside on the current situation of the country. When we arrived here, we thought we were discovering a country that was festive, alive, warm, as we imagined Latin America. However, in recent months (and even years for the main lines) the country is suffering from a major financial crisis, the Argentinian peso having been devalued by 50% in one year against the dollar and the euro (and 80% in five years). It is certainly very advantageous for us Europeans to travel to this country known to be one of the most expensive in South America, however this results in a somewhat palpable tension in the country where the population is exasperated by this situation. The Argentineans see their rent increase, their bills doubled and can no longer afford to go out, which gives a somewhat gloomy atmosphere to some bars and neighborhoods in particular in cities.
That said, the chickens attack the privileged activity of the region: the visit of the vineyards of Mendoza by bike, safety above all. Nice fun in perspective, it is certainly rather funny for us to see us give a map of bodegas to visit during the day, by the bike rental. So we spend a nice day a little drunk (but responsibly!) going through the wine domains area, although a little disappointed by the landscape.
The landscape in the background is always the same and calls us. There are snow-capped peaks at reacheable distance, and it’s itching. After the discovery of the city, it is high time for the chickens to leave to make a loop of five days … by car this time! Our first stop is at Puente del Inca (the Inca bridge for Dummies in Spanish) after crossing the beautiful pre-Andes (mountain curtain located before the Andes). Here again we seize the opportunity to discover so many diverse landscapes; Beaches and tropical forests are already far away! We decide to stay sleeping on the spot to be prepared to explore the park of Mount Aconcagua the next day. So there is no doubt that a mountain village 3000 meters above sea level can not be said to be crowded. And so it is in a tiny restaurant, if we can call it that way, rather in the lounge a little austere of a little adorable grandpa that we will enjoy a pizza containing at least 10 kilos of cheese. The next day is therefore dedicated to hiking in the park of the highest peak in the world after the Himalayas: Aconcagua – 6962m. There are few words here to describe such a beautiful view during this walk at the foot of this giant.
We take the direction of Leonicito Park on a road between desert and mountains bright red, it is beautiful, and join the small town of Barreal to stay in a small inn looking like an old ranch. Latin America as we imagined: far west and ranches with lime walls. In good time and in a good mood (this expression is not used enough according to Audrey), the plan is to walk in the natural park of Leonicito. Here again we take full view and in the evening we go to the observatory perched on the heights of the natural park, ideal place devoid of any parasitic light, because very far from the city, to observe this starry sky. A magnificent milky way and Venus, Saturn and Mars admired closer in the telescope available. After a nice sunrise on the culminating peaks at 5000m on the outskirts of the city, we hit the road leading to the small town of Rodeo. Out of season, we are not going to lie, Rodeo is the sadness embodied with a central street in the ground, and many homes planned for the high season. And here the high season is 10 months of kite surfing and windsurfing! The adjacent lake enjoys perfect conditions for these sports with continuous winds over 80 km / h for weeks. Well, we will not see anything of that. Just a few Argentinian tourists come fishing with friends (understand: drink cans on a small boat in the middle of the lake).
On the last day, one of the main stages of this car loop awaits us, namely the park of Ischigualasto, better known under the name of “Valley of the Moon”. The road to reach the park is breathtaking, winding between the mountains, we are already delighted by the panoramas. But that’s without counting on what lies ahead inside the nature park. We browse the site for 4 hours with our lovely guide Daniel. We lead a small caravan of about fifteen cars with Daniel on the back seat which gives us a mountain of infirmation between each stop. Lunar landscapes mixing geological curiosities and fossils of dinosaurs 200 million years old. Delighted and full of landscapes completely different from those previously observed, we take the road back to Mendoza by stopping in San Juan, the time of a restaurant, not crazy the chickens.
| ALERT! Bad news coming in this story! It was necessary that a hazard of the trip falls on the chickens after more than 8 months of travel. Someone stole our camera! The next two days are certainly not the happiest of the chickens who blame themselves a bit. The precious being the birthday gift of Ben to her sweetheart, and can be considered as the privileged friend of Audrey during this trip that does not count the number of beautiful shots taken. |
We decide to change scenery, with twenty hours of bus to reach the city of Salta in northern Argentina. Unfortunately in this country in crisis, it is impossible to find a new camera, the stores are empty. The good mood is a little muted, we will not lie to you. After having brooded, relativised (it could have been much worse we know!) and armed with their new compact device – toy for children – the chickens decide to take the car in the southern region of Salta. The chickens apologize for the quality of the next photos… not possible to work miracles with what we found, but to be forgiven, we will concocte you a homemade video in the next article!
The future adventures will be by car, it will involves cactus, but that’s for the next article of the chickens!
See you soon,
Audrey & Ben