Wanted to go to El Chalten, which would make my trip from Puerto Madryn a total of 30 hours. When I arrived in a mid point, and asked for a bus ticket to El Chalten, the agent asked me if I'll go to Puerto Natales later on, I said yes, and he said that El Chalten is the same as Puerto Natales, but smaller, so there is no really a point of going there. I didn't argue to much about it, since I just saved 6 hours of bus rides :) instead I went to El Calafate which supposed to have the most amazing glacier ever. In El Calafate, most of the houses are made out of wood, and the hostel that I stayed in, was huge, and entirely made out of tree logs. The main street is filled with souvenir shops, and the chocolates that cost in Bariloche 100 pesos/kg, cost here 160!! I’ll let you guess if that stopped me from buying them :))
The cheapest "excursion" to the glacier cost 120 pesos, which just consists of a bus ride there that picks you up in the hostel. It went up to 150 pesos! At the end, what I do most of the time anyway, I went to the bus terminal and got a ticket on a regular public bus for 100.
The glacier - Perito Moreno, is one of the most beautiful natural things I've ever seen. It's so huge and blue and it glows !! It's 32 km long, 5 km wide, and 72 meters tall. I felt like I was watching some animal, you never know what it's going to do next, it's like it was alive. It advances about 2 meters a day, and because of it, it constantly breaks. The little chunks of ice make such an unbelievable sound, like a thunder. First it hits the water, and only afterwards you hear the splash, which doesn't sound like a splash at all. It was like a meditation watching it, I had no thoughts of the present, no feelings, no sense of time.
Every picture I've seen of it, was completely different, and unrecognizable, since it changes its shape almost daily.
Since it advances 2 meters a day, one part of it, hits the ground, and has nowhere to go, so the ice goes up and the water on both sides wants to flow and so the tunnel is produced. And about every 4-5 years, this tunnel collapses, which is supposed to be the most amazing thing ever. Well, I can imagine, if a little chunk produces so much noise, how much noise will that make!! There is a video of it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLazY-5zxFQ, too bad it's without a sound :(
Arrived in Chile in Puerto Natales in the afternoon. Puerto Natales is a gateway to the most important national park in South America "Torres del Paine". The next day I wanted to go to the park, but I met 2 nice people in the hostel, and they convinced me to stay in town for the Christmas eve. Ok, I stayed. The owner made a very nice dinner, and everybody else pitched in somehow. In the eve everybody went out, except me ... I went to sleep :) Got up for the breakfast, quickly run out of energy, wanted to lie down for a bit, but instead slept till 3pm, a total of 15 hours! All I've been doing this last time is sleep and eat, but apparently, I'm not the only one :)
Merry Christmas everybody !! :)) That day went with the girl to do a warm up hike to a nearby hill. After half an hour, we discovered that we went in the wrong direction, and that's after asking people if we're going in the right direction :S We were walking all the way back with our thumb up hoping to hitchhike, and about 20 cars later, somebody did stop :)) We said that we want to go to the hill "hill name", but instead he took us to the "hill name" town. We gave him a confused look saying we wanted to go to the hill, and not town. So he was very nice and drove us back, which was a 20 minute round trip. After huffing and puffing for an hour to the top, we almost got blown away, I haven't felt those kind of winds in my life. The view wasn't impressive, and at some time I couldn't breathe due to the wind speed, and we headed down right away. While there was no view, it was very nice to get out of the hostel and do some exercise.
The next day I headed to the national park. I only took with me 10 buns, salami, peanut butter, 4 bananas as my breakfast/lunch for 3 days. This was my first hike by myself, and it wasn't bad at all. I got to go with my speed, and actually didn't hate it that much this time. The views were nice, and there wasn't too much uphill. The weather predicted 40-60 km/hr winds, but only the first day it was very very windy, at times I had to sit down and hold on to a big rock. A part of the trail on the first day went by a lake, and the wind picked up some water and went like a sand storm towards me. The first time, I got pretty splashed, the second time I learned, and hid behind a tree. Good that the trail was on a flat ground because at times I would want to put my foot forward, and it ended up across the other foot on the other side :) Got to the refuge 6 hours later, had nice dinner, debated for a while if I want a $20 tent or a $40 bed, looked outside, and decided not to count my money :) Went to the bed, closed my eyes, and the next thing I've heard was an alarm clock. That was the first time in any hike that I've done when I slept for 12 hours :)) The next 2 days the weather was absolutely amazing, not a drop of rain, not wind to throw me off a cliff :) Arrived in the next refuge at 3pm, and met a very nice modern day Indian couple, who have a travel bug, and travel for 3 months each year :) They said it comes off their salary, but they don't care :) I asked if they had an arranged marriage, no they didn't. But they told me that about 50 years ago, there was only 1 person chosen for them, and they had to marry him/her. But now, there are about 5-6, you see each one of them for a few days, then decide, and then do regular dating for a few months before getting married. Which seems like a much better option. But they said that since divorce is still frowned upon in some villages, the couple actually makes a bigger effort to have the relationship work out.
2.5 hours from the refuge there was a lookout place with mountains which are supposed to glow red in the sunrise, so me and the couple got up at 3am to make it up to the top in time for the sunrise. Well, what do you know? A minute after we got out of the hostel, there was a river crossing, and I didn't see one rock very well, stepped on its side, twisted my ankle and fell into the river. All wet, dirty, and in pain :( A few minutes later, I checked if the foot moves, yes it did, so I gathered myself up, and continued limping till the top of the mountain. On the hardest part we split because the couple was walking slower, and I ran up to the top not to miss the sunrise. I've seen it somewhere 4/5 up, but that was a good place to see it from. It lasted less than 5 minutes, and then the colors turned regular. At the top, there were about 30 people, I stayed for 20 minutes, started to get cold, and headed back. 2.5 hours back to the refuge, and another 2 to the bus, I was finally there :) Back in town my foot hurt more and more, it was cracking as I was walking, and then it cracked again, and hurt less, I think it readjusted itself. I went to the hospital anyway. The doctor said that I stretched the "suhojilie" (sinew - if that's the word, I just translated it), prescribed me anti inflammatory pills and some sock which should make my foot move less.
http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/ElCalafateTorresDelPaine#
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Puerto Madryn
Puerto Madryn is a city in the middle of nowhere and there is nothing to see there except a million of penguins and southern right whales, which is kinda of a compromise :)
I guess I got tired of a night bus, and was just sleeping everywhere. Was the first one to go to sleep in the dorm, and when other 7 people got in, I never heard them. Slept in the car to the tours both back and forth, something I was never been able to do before. I went to the tours with a more private and cheaper company. First we stopped at the beach with elephant seals. They just peacefully lie there, producing these weird sounds. The guide said is to get the salt out. We got pretty close to them, and I thought I could run away (just in case), that's until the guide started throwing stones at them. And the peaceful seals started growling, with sharp and fast movements towards us, their eyes got blood red, and opening their mouths as wide as they can. I don't think I could run away from that. The seals are about 4 meters long, and the way they move (like a wave), they could cover a distance of 3 meters with one move. That was very scary ! And he's like, come on, get a bit closer, I'll take a picture. Slowly, I got closer, smiled and got the hell out :)) Also, you can't stand between them and the sea, because it's their emergency exit, and they get upset, and when you get close, you can't stand up, since then you'll be taller then them, and they'll perceive it as a challenge. Then it was funny, the 2 males would fight for space, stand beside each other, growl, show their teeth, and half a minute later lie beside each other ... friends again :)
Next we drove the penguins. As soon as we got into the national park, we saw a penguin, and that was 3 kilometers from the ocean, I guess they like to walk. They're everywhere, and now all the penguins have babies, so the whole park was full of crying babies asking for food. These penguins dig holes, and just sit there, wait for their partners to come with some food. Some penguins were curious, so I played with them, gave them my hand which they pocked; sat beside one, and he was biting at my jeans (of course I let him :); One was turning his head (clockwise, counterclockwise, clockwise, counterclockwise) X 10 :) Then a lot were coming from the sea to feed their babies. I saw one feed, since it was sitting 1 meter from the path. The baby got so deep into the parent's throat that it almost disappeared :) Then another one was sun-tanning, and I sat beside him. He was good for a minute, until he got his wings up, head forward, and started to attack me ... ok, ok there penguin, I get your point.
Next day went to a whale trip. It's name is southern right whale because it lives in the "southern" hemisphere and is a "right" whale to kill. It's right because of its slow speed, its curiosity, it gets to the boat by itself, has a lot of fat, and floats when killed. Did I mention they are endangered?
The season has ended 2 days before I got there, but I still took my chances, and yep, there were still whales :) In the guidebook it said that the boat has to be with its engine off within a 100 meter radius from the whale and is not allowed to follow it, well I guess it's only guidebooks guidelines. They were close, but still a bit too far to clearly see. It was fun to see how they show their tail, but it means that they go deep, and off we went in search of another whale.
There were 3 people from the company on the boat. I was wondering why. I understood it when 2 whales, a mother and a baby approached really really close. A whale on the left side of the boat, MAXIMUM PROXIMITY! EVERYBODY KEEP YOUR SEATS, DO NOT MOVE TO ANOTHER SIDE OF THE BOAT!! Now I understood why, those people were running around, keeping everybody in their place, otherwise the boat would flip. The baby got about 1 meter away from where I was sitting, I was so concentrated about taking pictures, and looking through the camera, that I almost forgot to look at the actual thing, of course then I just got a few pictures of the sky and water, but at least I got a closer look :)) Then the 5.5 meter long, 5 tons heavy, and a 3 months old baby that demands 100 liters of milk a day, went right under the boat to another side where the mother appeared. ooooh, I wish I could be on the other side of the boat too !!!!!!!! :)))
http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/PuertoMadryn
I guess I got tired of a night bus, and was just sleeping everywhere. Was the first one to go to sleep in the dorm, and when other 7 people got in, I never heard them. Slept in the car to the tours both back and forth, something I was never been able to do before. I went to the tours with a more private and cheaper company. First we stopped at the beach with elephant seals. They just peacefully lie there, producing these weird sounds. The guide said is to get the salt out. We got pretty close to them, and I thought I could run away (just in case), that's until the guide started throwing stones at them. And the peaceful seals started growling, with sharp and fast movements towards us, their eyes got blood red, and opening their mouths as wide as they can. I don't think I could run away from that. The seals are about 4 meters long, and the way they move (like a wave), they could cover a distance of 3 meters with one move. That was very scary ! And he's like, come on, get a bit closer, I'll take a picture. Slowly, I got closer, smiled and got the hell out :)) Also, you can't stand between them and the sea, because it's their emergency exit, and they get upset, and when you get close, you can't stand up, since then you'll be taller then them, and they'll perceive it as a challenge. Then it was funny, the 2 males would fight for space, stand beside each other, growl, show their teeth, and half a minute later lie beside each other ... friends again :)
Next we drove the penguins. As soon as we got into the national park, we saw a penguin, and that was 3 kilometers from the ocean, I guess they like to walk. They're everywhere, and now all the penguins have babies, so the whole park was full of crying babies asking for food. These penguins dig holes, and just sit there, wait for their partners to come with some food. Some penguins were curious, so I played with them, gave them my hand which they pocked; sat beside one, and he was biting at my jeans (of course I let him :); One was turning his head (clockwise, counterclockwise, clockwise, counterclockwise) X 10 :) Then a lot were coming from the sea to feed their babies. I saw one feed, since it was sitting 1 meter from the path. The baby got so deep into the parent's throat that it almost disappeared :) Then another one was sun-tanning, and I sat beside him. He was good for a minute, until he got his wings up, head forward, and started to attack me ... ok, ok there penguin, I get your point.
Next day went to a whale trip. It's name is southern right whale because it lives in the "southern" hemisphere and is a "right" whale to kill. It's right because of its slow speed, its curiosity, it gets to the boat by itself, has a lot of fat, and floats when killed. Did I mention they are endangered?
The season has ended 2 days before I got there, but I still took my chances, and yep, there were still whales :) In the guidebook it said that the boat has to be with its engine off within a 100 meter radius from the whale and is not allowed to follow it, well I guess it's only guidebooks guidelines. They were close, but still a bit too far to clearly see. It was fun to see how they show their tail, but it means that they go deep, and off we went in search of another whale.
There were 3 people from the company on the boat. I was wondering why. I understood it when 2 whales, a mother and a baby approached really really close. A whale on the left side of the boat, MAXIMUM PROXIMITY! EVERYBODY KEEP YOUR SEATS, DO NOT MOVE TO ANOTHER SIDE OF THE BOAT!! Now I understood why, those people were running around, keeping everybody in their place, otherwise the boat would flip. The baby got about 1 meter away from where I was sitting, I was so concentrated about taking pictures, and looking through the camera, that I almost forgot to look at the actual thing, of course then I just got a few pictures of the sky and water, but at least I got a closer look :)) Then the 5.5 meter long, 5 tons heavy, and a 3 months old baby that demands 100 liters of milk a day, went right under the boat to another side where the mother appeared. ooooh, I wish I could be on the other side of the boat too !!!!!!!! :)))
http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/PuertoMadryn
Friday, December 17, 2010
Bariloche
Arrived in Bariloche very tired.
The city is beautiful, it sits on the lake, surrounded by snow covered mountains and has a lot of houses looking like chalets, and a bunch of chocolates and ice cream stores on every corner. They are so good !!! Much better than the world knows Swiss chocolate!!! It's a place where there are 4 seasons in 1 day. It could go from rain to sun to snow to sun from freezing to hot in a matter of minutes! Back in Mendoza it was really very hot, and after an overnight bus to the south, it suddenly became cold, so I'm back into my double sweaters, wool hat and scarf. It makes me think of how small the world is, how such a little inclination of the earth can cause such dramatic temperature changes!
Next day wanted to visit some cave, but the hostel people said it was not interesting, so I had a day to do nothing. After a trip to the chocolate store, I couldn't finish all of my chocolates because my tooth was hurting, so instead of going to the cave, I headed for a dentist with a hope that it will be a little tiny cavity. The dentist looked everywhere, and said that he can't find anything, and that my teeth are fine. We debated and debated, yes they're fine, no they're not, and so on and so on. He blew air into it, did some more sadistic stuff, and nothing. Finally I asked him to give me some chocolate :) He found one, and I could barely feel it, that was strange, but then I felt a little sensation at the back. He looked and said that there is no cavity, but some other thing, where the sweet goes inside under the tooth which causes pain. I asked how to fix it, he said that it can't be fixed, and he would actually recommend to remove the tooth .... WHHHHHAAAAATTTT?????? Here I am coming to the doctor thinking of a small cavity and ending up with a removal????
D - I suggest to remove it
Y - remove it, as in take it out?? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!
D - you don't need this tooth, it doesn't serve any purpose
Y - aga, I get it, but can't it just be there
D - it's hard to clean, food can be stuck in between this tooth and the important tooth, and cause a cavity
Y - yes, it makes perfect sense, but no no no NO !!
D - come on!
at this point, I'm in a mild panicking state, can't imagine how it turned out to be that way. I think I have nightmares of the dentists since Russia. He tried to convince me for 10 minutes that it should be removed, while I asked every possible question on earth about it! Good thing dentists charge per visit, and not per time :)
Finally I agreed, and asked for a sedative. Mind you that a month ago I had lasik, and I was not even 10% as freaked out, as I was on that chair. I tried to close my ears, but I still heard cracking. Half a minute later, it was removed and I didn't feel a thing! All that was done without any assistant, the shshshshshshsh machine, no napkin on the chest. I got out of the chair all wet (from exhaustive sweating), toothless and happy :)) In the evening to compensate for it, I signed up for a 1.5 hour massage :)
Went for a trip to the thunder mountain and the black glacier. It was ok, but not worth the money. Well, I guess that I've been to enough snow covered mountains, and seen so much beauty that it just doesn't cut it for me anymore. When we got out to walk, the guide said to be back in the van at 5 to 4 and not to go where there are signs that the road is closed. I understood it as quarter to five, went one way, and then crossed to some road. There was nothing much to do, so I walked and sat beside a waterfall, waiting for the time to return. When I casually returned back, there were no people and only a guide waiting, that looked weird. Where is everybody? ... We're waiting for you for 20 minutes already. That was the first ooops. Then he said that I was not allowed to go where I went, there is a sign ... and the 2nd oooops !! I got on the road after the sign, so I missed it :S
The next 2 days it was raining and snowing, and all the beautiful view has disappeared. We all got stuck in the hostel, and there was no point going anywhere nearby because in all of Patagonia there was a bad weather. By the time the weather got cleared up, I met enough people in the hostel to rent a car, and make a much cheaper trip through the 7 lakes region. So an Israeli guy (Omar) my age, and 3 girls around 20 set off. It was so beautiful, I think the most beautiful ride I ever took, and it wasn't like in chunks, pretty here, and not pretty there, it was amazingly beautiful everywhere ! On the way back we went on a very poorly maintained road while Omar was driving. The girls at the back didn't let him live, every second they had a comment about how he drives. At one point the whole right side was with pot holes, while the left side of the road was ok, and there were no cars as far as you could see. The girls started yelling, "I'd prefer you not to drive at all, but since you do, stay on the right side of the road!" and on and on and on, they really ganged up on him! Poor guy!
Since the weather was bad, and I didn't want to sit at hostel and do nothing, I got in touch with some couch surfers. We went to a nice house party, where there was home cooking and singing. Everybody knows how to play some sort on instrument, and knows how to have fun, and nobody's shy, but really gives it all :) What I discovered later is that it's a group of friends, and they get together almost every day and do something. And while in Canada at 10 pm is usually some tv time followed by bed time, in here at 10 they still decide what will they be making for dinner (note that shopping has still not been done).
The next day was a full sports day. First I climbed on top of the hill from where there was a 360 degree view of the surrounding, and now I'm happy that it snowed because all the mountains where white, which made it look so beautiful! This was one of my favorite hikes. First of all, it was only half an hour, and second those kinds of views. Plus there were hawks, and they would fly around, and above, and kinda float in the air just 2 meters above us. If every hike was like that, I might even consider getting back in shape :)
Afterwards I rented a bike, and did a 4 hour circle tour. Of course I was walking my bike every time there was a hill, so I returned very tired, but it was so worth it, the whole trip was accompanied by wow, WOW, wow, WOW, wooooooowwwww !!!!
The next day we went up to a refuge in the mountain, but I didn't like it too much because the hike up was always up, and very steep, and we were walking way too fast, and the views were the same. Actually I liked the views better from the smaller hill because it was much more close and personal.
At the end, I ended up staying over a week in Bariloche because of bad weather, and I'm so glad it was bad, since it got me more time to appreciate the beauty of the city and the nature around it. Overall, I think it's my favorite city in South America so far (beauty wise).
Another night bus away, I ended up in some sort of desert ... lets see what it's all about ...
http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/Bariloche#
The city is beautiful, it sits on the lake, surrounded by snow covered mountains and has a lot of houses looking like chalets, and a bunch of chocolates and ice cream stores on every corner. They are so good !!! Much better than the world knows Swiss chocolate!!! It's a place where there are 4 seasons in 1 day. It could go from rain to sun to snow to sun from freezing to hot in a matter of minutes! Back in Mendoza it was really very hot, and after an overnight bus to the south, it suddenly became cold, so I'm back into my double sweaters, wool hat and scarf. It makes me think of how small the world is, how such a little inclination of the earth can cause such dramatic temperature changes!
Next day wanted to visit some cave, but the hostel people said it was not interesting, so I had a day to do nothing. After a trip to the chocolate store, I couldn't finish all of my chocolates because my tooth was hurting, so instead of going to the cave, I headed for a dentist with a hope that it will be a little tiny cavity. The dentist looked everywhere, and said that he can't find anything, and that my teeth are fine. We debated and debated, yes they're fine, no they're not, and so on and so on. He blew air into it, did some more sadistic stuff, and nothing. Finally I asked him to give me some chocolate :) He found one, and I could barely feel it, that was strange, but then I felt a little sensation at the back. He looked and said that there is no cavity, but some other thing, where the sweet goes inside under the tooth which causes pain. I asked how to fix it, he said that it can't be fixed, and he would actually recommend to remove the tooth .... WHHHHHAAAAATTTT?????? Here I am coming to the doctor thinking of a small cavity and ending up with a removal????
D - I suggest to remove it
Y - remove it, as in take it out?? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!
D - you don't need this tooth, it doesn't serve any purpose
Y - aga, I get it, but can't it just be there
D - it's hard to clean, food can be stuck in between this tooth and the important tooth, and cause a cavity
Y - yes, it makes perfect sense, but no no no NO !!
D - come on!
at this point, I'm in a mild panicking state, can't imagine how it turned out to be that way. I think I have nightmares of the dentists since Russia. He tried to convince me for 10 minutes that it should be removed, while I asked every possible question on earth about it! Good thing dentists charge per visit, and not per time :)
Finally I agreed, and asked for a sedative. Mind you that a month ago I had lasik, and I was not even 10% as freaked out, as I was on that chair. I tried to close my ears, but I still heard cracking. Half a minute later, it was removed and I didn't feel a thing! All that was done without any assistant, the shshshshshshsh machine, no napkin on the chest. I got out of the chair all wet (from exhaustive sweating), toothless and happy :)) In the evening to compensate for it, I signed up for a 1.5 hour massage :)
Went for a trip to the thunder mountain and the black glacier. It was ok, but not worth the money. Well, I guess that I've been to enough snow covered mountains, and seen so much beauty that it just doesn't cut it for me anymore. When we got out to walk, the guide said to be back in the van at 5 to 4 and not to go where there are signs that the road is closed. I understood it as quarter to five, went one way, and then crossed to some road. There was nothing much to do, so I walked and sat beside a waterfall, waiting for the time to return. When I casually returned back, there were no people and only a guide waiting, that looked weird. Where is everybody? ... We're waiting for you for 20 minutes already. That was the first ooops. Then he said that I was not allowed to go where I went, there is a sign ... and the 2nd oooops !! I got on the road after the sign, so I missed it :S
The next 2 days it was raining and snowing, and all the beautiful view has disappeared. We all got stuck in the hostel, and there was no point going anywhere nearby because in all of Patagonia there was a bad weather. By the time the weather got cleared up, I met enough people in the hostel to rent a car, and make a much cheaper trip through the 7 lakes region. So an Israeli guy (Omar) my age, and 3 girls around 20 set off. It was so beautiful, I think the most beautiful ride I ever took, and it wasn't like in chunks, pretty here, and not pretty there, it was amazingly beautiful everywhere ! On the way back we went on a very poorly maintained road while Omar was driving. The girls at the back didn't let him live, every second they had a comment about how he drives. At one point the whole right side was with pot holes, while the left side of the road was ok, and there were no cars as far as you could see. The girls started yelling, "I'd prefer you not to drive at all, but since you do, stay on the right side of the road!" and on and on and on, they really ganged up on him! Poor guy!
Since the weather was bad, and I didn't want to sit at hostel and do nothing, I got in touch with some couch surfers. We went to a nice house party, where there was home cooking and singing. Everybody knows how to play some sort on instrument, and knows how to have fun, and nobody's shy, but really gives it all :) What I discovered later is that it's a group of friends, and they get together almost every day and do something. And while in Canada at 10 pm is usually some tv time followed by bed time, in here at 10 they still decide what will they be making for dinner (note that shopping has still not been done).
The next day was a full sports day. First I climbed on top of the hill from where there was a 360 degree view of the surrounding, and now I'm happy that it snowed because all the mountains where white, which made it look so beautiful! This was one of my favorite hikes. First of all, it was only half an hour, and second those kinds of views. Plus there were hawks, and they would fly around, and above, and kinda float in the air just 2 meters above us. If every hike was like that, I might even consider getting back in shape :)
Afterwards I rented a bike, and did a 4 hour circle tour. Of course I was walking my bike every time there was a hill, so I returned very tired, but it was so worth it, the whole trip was accompanied by wow, WOW, wow, WOW, wooooooowwwww !!!!
The next day we went up to a refuge in the mountain, but I didn't like it too much because the hike up was always up, and very steep, and we were walking way too fast, and the views were the same. Actually I liked the views better from the smaller hill because it was much more close and personal.
At the end, I ended up staying over a week in Bariloche because of bad weather, and I'm so glad it was bad, since it got me more time to appreciate the beauty of the city and the nature around it. Overall, I think it's my favorite city in South America so far (beauty wise).
Another night bus away, I ended up in some sort of desert ... lets see what it's all about ...
http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/Bariloche#
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Mendoza
So you know how when you get into the taxi and they start chatting with you ... like "where are you from?", "how many days will you be here?", "do you like Argentina?", "is this your first time in the city?" ... how does that sound like? If this sounds normal to you, well get ready to be fooled, cause this last question is not innocent at all ! If you say "yes", the taxi will drive you round and round, and you'll end up paying double than you were supposed to. I discovered it in Cordoba, when the regular price was 10 pesos, and I paid 15. Although it's only a dollar or so more, from now on my answer will be "sure, I know this city as the palm of my hand".
Arrived in Mendoza in the wine city of Argentina. Since it was 9pm, I chose a hostel close to the bus station, so I won't have to walk far in the dark, well the girl in the tourist information, sent me the wrong way, and instead of 3 blocks, I ended up walking 10. The hostel had great reviews on the internet, especially how friendly the stuff is ... no they're not! They're the most unfriendly people (well expect one hostel in Bolivia) I've ever seen, so the first thing in the morning, I was out of there.
Mendoza is so hot! We went to walk in a park, and at 8pm, I was still sweating, next day I didn't get out of the hostel until 7pm. The city is in the middle of a desert, but there was one genius who planted so many trees everywhere that makes living in Mendoza a little bit more bareble.
I met a guy (Jacob) and a girl (Zabu) in the hostel from France and Germany, and both of them live in Belgium right now, and we went to a wine tour together. All the tour agencies charge 70 pesos to go to a town half an hour away, and rent a bicycle, but we took a public bus which cost 4 pesos both ways, and rented a bicycle on the location, which was another 20 pesos. These tour agencies!!
There are approximately 14 wineries accessed by the bicycle, but in the 4 hours, we only had enough time for 4. One of the vineries produces 13 million litters of wine per year. I can't even imagine this kind of number! So the point of these vineries is to visit them, the owners will give a short explanation, and then give you to try their wine either for free or for a small charge. One was a chocolate factory. The owners weren't friendly, but for $4, we ate bread with various olive/pepper/eggplant dips, had 2 shots of licor each, different jams, and chocolates. Then we ended up in one very modern vinery, where we had lunch.
In the evening me and Jacob went to a salsa congress. In this city of 100,000 people, there were truely professional dancers, I was very surprised. Then a show started. A few couples were really very bad. Then another couple came in, the girl walked on the stage, then turned around, and she had this ballet skirt on (the one that goes horizontaly out), and a j-string. My eyes got popped out!! Then another couple danced bachata, and in the middle of the dance, the guy took off the girls dress, so she ended up in a bra and underware, by that time, my jaw had dropped :))I danced the night away with some locals, they dance so good that at 1am I already wanted to go back to the hostel, and I stayed there till 4am.
When me and Jacob got out, it turned out that he was drunk. He pulled me closed to him for a kiss ... what the hell? where did that come from?
note: all of the below was pretty much whined and not said
J - come on I want a kiss
Y - no
J - but why not?
Y - can we just go
J - why won't you kiss me, I thought you liked me
Y - 'thinking' - when did you get this thought from. everytime you tried to touch me, I took a step back, you didn't pay for any drinks or food, and I was dancing the whole night with other people
J - why did you invite me to go salsa with you then?
Y - 'thinking' ... no I didn't. I said that I'm going salsa, and you invited yourself over ... come on lets go
J - oh come on, kiss me kiss me kiss me
Y - .... dragging him out of the club, and starting walking very very fast
J - why are you running?
Y - thinking ... gee, I wonder why??
J - but why why why why why why whhhhhyyyyyyyyyyy????
J - for 20 minutes, he was jumping in front of me begging for a kiss ... talking about playing hard to get!!
I was thinking if I should kiss him, just to get rid of him, but then thought, what kind of behaviour is that? At 4:30am, I couldn't walk to the hostel by myself, and didn't really want to take a taxi either, so he was my only choice to get to the hostel safe. OMG! why was this club half an hour walking distance from the hostel, the walk never seemed to end!
Conclusion ... how can a guy in his 30s act that way??? And what's up with all this selfishness? "I want to kiss you" ... well kissing involves 2 people, and why am I supposed to feel uncomfortable with that kind of persistance?? Then I remembered a few of those moments, as in "I like you", "I'd like to kiss you", "I love kissing you" ??? What's wrong with men these days?? Since when is it a 1 person wish??? And on top of that all, they usually lean forward with a kiss, not giving a girl any change to back out. How about a test? Touch the hand or the waist to see how the girl reacts, take it slowly and make sure that she wants it too, instead of fullfilling his own wishes, and creating and uncomfortable situation? And then I have to explain myself? And he would usually feel upset and rejected? Well, look beyond your nose buddy!
Thank god next day I was checking out, I don't know what I would've done if I stayed in the hostel for more days, probably will fill my days up so I wouldn't show up there, but then again, why did it become my problem?
Anywho ... the next day, I went to the bus station to buy a ticket to another town, well all the buses were full, and the next bus was in 7 hours. I didn't want to wait, so I looked at the map, and there was an interesting spot 3 hours to the east, I bought a ticket there, and when I got there, it was saturday, everything was closed, and the tourist agencies only opened on monday. There was absolutely nothing to do at that place, so 3 hours later, 2 bus tickets, 2 taxies, and half an amount of the hostel, I went back to Mendoza. That was a fun day.
I arrived back at midnight, found a police station in the terminal, and asked the police to walk me to the hostel, since the way out of the terminal passes through tunnels, and no way I'm walking by myself in the dark in the tunnel.
Next day, I woke up sick :( took a shower, which took all of my energy away, and went back to sleep. woke up at 3pm. What to do, where to go? I was thinking to stay in Mendoza until I get better, but I was already tired of the city, and figured out that since I need to lay down and do nothing anyway, it's a perfect way to take a night bus to a new place, so I bought a ticket to Bariloche.
Buses are getting better and better. The hosts walk you to your sit, there is wifi, and in this one we were playing bingo.
The bus was full, and my seat didn't really work, at first it didn't decline at all, and then it didn't keep it's position, it's just my luck an 18 hour trip with a broken seat :( but then the person who was supposed to sit beside me didn't show up, and I was the only one on the bus with 2 seats ... yep, it is my luck !! :)) But in the middle of the night, one of the tires exploded, and then there was a road block, so we arrived 2 hours later, I could barely sit anymore, that was a long drive!
If I knew how the north of Argentina was, I would've skipped everything and came straight to Mendoza, or better yet, Bariloche.
http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/Mendoza#
Arrived in Mendoza in the wine city of Argentina. Since it was 9pm, I chose a hostel close to the bus station, so I won't have to walk far in the dark, well the girl in the tourist information, sent me the wrong way, and instead of 3 blocks, I ended up walking 10. The hostel had great reviews on the internet, especially how friendly the stuff is ... no they're not! They're the most unfriendly people (well expect one hostel in Bolivia) I've ever seen, so the first thing in the morning, I was out of there.
Mendoza is so hot! We went to walk in a park, and at 8pm, I was still sweating, next day I didn't get out of the hostel until 7pm. The city is in the middle of a desert, but there was one genius who planted so many trees everywhere that makes living in Mendoza a little bit more bareble.
I met a guy (Jacob) and a girl (Zabu) in the hostel from France and Germany, and both of them live in Belgium right now, and we went to a wine tour together. All the tour agencies charge 70 pesos to go to a town half an hour away, and rent a bicycle, but we took a public bus which cost 4 pesos both ways, and rented a bicycle on the location, which was another 20 pesos. These tour agencies!!
There are approximately 14 wineries accessed by the bicycle, but in the 4 hours, we only had enough time for 4. One of the vineries produces 13 million litters of wine per year. I can't even imagine this kind of number! So the point of these vineries is to visit them, the owners will give a short explanation, and then give you to try their wine either for free or for a small charge. One was a chocolate factory. The owners weren't friendly, but for $4, we ate bread with various olive/pepper/eggplant dips, had 2 shots of licor each, different jams, and chocolates. Then we ended up in one very modern vinery, where we had lunch.
In the evening me and Jacob went to a salsa congress. In this city of 100,000 people, there were truely professional dancers, I was very surprised. Then a show started. A few couples were really very bad. Then another couple came in, the girl walked on the stage, then turned around, and she had this ballet skirt on (the one that goes horizontaly out), and a j-string. My eyes got popped out!! Then another couple danced bachata, and in the middle of the dance, the guy took off the girls dress, so she ended up in a bra and underware, by that time, my jaw had dropped :))I danced the night away with some locals, they dance so good that at 1am I already wanted to go back to the hostel, and I stayed there till 4am.
When me and Jacob got out, it turned out that he was drunk. He pulled me closed to him for a kiss ... what the hell? where did that come from?
note: all of the below was pretty much whined and not said
J - come on I want a kiss
Y - no
J - but why not?
Y - can we just go
J - why won't you kiss me, I thought you liked me
Y - 'thinking' - when did you get this thought from. everytime you tried to touch me, I took a step back, you didn't pay for any drinks or food, and I was dancing the whole night with other people
J - why did you invite me to go salsa with you then?
Y - 'thinking' ... no I didn't. I said that I'm going salsa, and you invited yourself over ... come on lets go
J - oh come on, kiss me kiss me kiss me
Y - .... dragging him out of the club, and starting walking very very fast
J - why are you running?
Y - thinking ... gee, I wonder why??
J - but why why why why why why whhhhhyyyyyyyyyyy????
J - for 20 minutes, he was jumping in front of me begging for a kiss ... talking about playing hard to get!!
I was thinking if I should kiss him, just to get rid of him, but then thought, what kind of behaviour is that? At 4:30am, I couldn't walk to the hostel by myself, and didn't really want to take a taxi either, so he was my only choice to get to the hostel safe. OMG! why was this club half an hour walking distance from the hostel, the walk never seemed to end!
Conclusion ... how can a guy in his 30s act that way??? And what's up with all this selfishness? "I want to kiss you" ... well kissing involves 2 people, and why am I supposed to feel uncomfortable with that kind of persistance?? Then I remembered a few of those moments, as in "I like you", "I'd like to kiss you", "I love kissing you" ??? What's wrong with men these days?? Since when is it a 1 person wish??? And on top of that all, they usually lean forward with a kiss, not giving a girl any change to back out. How about a test? Touch the hand or the waist to see how the girl reacts, take it slowly and make sure that she wants it too, instead of fullfilling his own wishes, and creating and uncomfortable situation? And then I have to explain myself? And he would usually feel upset and rejected? Well, look beyond your nose buddy!
Thank god next day I was checking out, I don't know what I would've done if I stayed in the hostel for more days, probably will fill my days up so I wouldn't show up there, but then again, why did it become my problem?
Anywho ... the next day, I went to the bus station to buy a ticket to another town, well all the buses were full, and the next bus was in 7 hours. I didn't want to wait, so I looked at the map, and there was an interesting spot 3 hours to the east, I bought a ticket there, and when I got there, it was saturday, everything was closed, and the tourist agencies only opened on monday. There was absolutely nothing to do at that place, so 3 hours later, 2 bus tickets, 2 taxies, and half an amount of the hostel, I went back to Mendoza. That was a fun day.
I arrived back at midnight, found a police station in the terminal, and asked the police to walk me to the hostel, since the way out of the terminal passes through tunnels, and no way I'm walking by myself in the dark in the tunnel.
Next day, I woke up sick :( took a shower, which took all of my energy away, and went back to sleep. woke up at 3pm. What to do, where to go? I was thinking to stay in Mendoza until I get better, but I was already tired of the city, and figured out that since I need to lay down and do nothing anyway, it's a perfect way to take a night bus to a new place, so I bought a ticket to Bariloche.
Buses are getting better and better. The hosts walk you to your sit, there is wifi, and in this one we were playing bingo.
The bus was full, and my seat didn't really work, at first it didn't decline at all, and then it didn't keep it's position, it's just my luck an 18 hour trip with a broken seat :( but then the person who was supposed to sit beside me didn't show up, and I was the only one on the bus with 2 seats ... yep, it is my luck !! :)) But in the middle of the night, one of the tires exploded, and then there was a road block, so we arrived 2 hours later, I could barely sit anymore, that was a long drive!
If I knew how the north of Argentina was, I would've skipped everything and came straight to Mendoza, or better yet, Bariloche.
http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/Mendoza#
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