Loose End In LatAm

Bariloche - I left my boots in Bariloche:

I arrived late at night in the rain that had followed me across the border. The hostel I was going to stay at was full but the receptionist kindly said I could doss down on the sofa... not that I needed it, instead I went to Pacha Bariloche for the night, by the time I got back my bed was ready!

I had a very "I´m Sparticus" moment whilst in Bariloche: a new (English) couple arrived at the hostel, while I was mouching around one morning. The conversation went something like this:
Me > Hello!
Him > Hello, I´m Barney
Me > What?
Him > Barney
Me > Yes
Him > What?
Me > I´m Barney
...how we laughed...
But it really was very weird. I´ve only ever met one other Barney before and here we were two English Barney´s in Argentina in the same town, hostel, dormitory. Weirder still was that that morning an American girl called Bonnie had left the hostel... we´d also had a vaguely similar conversation, as in her Montana drawl Bonnie sounded just like Barney, as she commented "You say your name like I say mine!"

After a few bits of scrambling around Bariloche, I realised my boots were just about done for trekking (not much grip, and gaffer tape and superglue keeping at crack in the toe at bay). So I left them with the hostel with instructions for them to go to a charity, and being the fabulous hippies they are I´m sure they did.


I didn´t really plan very well, which meant time and inclination, I must admit, worked against furhter travel plans for the South. But sadly, this meant I left Poe (Finnish) and Tone (Norwegian) in Bariloche as well. They are a lovely couple I originally met in Puerto Varas, and I miss them. So, as they headed south I headed north, with promises to try and catch up somewhere else along the line, if not in LatAm then back in the UK.



Mendoza - Wine and women, not much song

In Mendoza the fountains are running pink (literally - they´ve coloured the water pink) as the town is in the throws of Vindimia, the wine harvest festival, the highlight of which is the choosing of the new Queen - I don´t want you to think I´m just on a tour of tacky beauty parades, it´s just coincidence, honest.

Here the contestants are paraded about on floats. Each float has a guy on it with a special stick for lifting up the low slung telephone wires so that the float can get under. Last night one guy misjudged a set of wires, the stick slipped and he gave the queen on his float a glancing blow, thankfully she kept her ballance and her dignaty...just. The contestants throw flyers and sweets from the floats as they pass, someone told me they threw watermelons, which I can´t believe - you´d kill someone. However I did see one throw a carton wine (about 2 pesos at any good supermarket) into the croud...if someone doesn´t catch it the carton explodes on impact covering all the spectators in close proximity with plonk.

I also took a flying visit upto Valle de la Luna, a spectacular Triassic period landscape. Apparently this is the only area where the range of Triassic layers are exposed on the earth surface in one place, and they also found the oldest dinosaur fosil yet discovered. Quite spectacular.

I travelled up from my hostel in San Juan with the hostel owner and a couple of people who worked at the hostel, drinking mate (local herbal tea Argentinians are obsessed by) and telling dirty jokes on the way. It did my Spanish a world of good. And the hostel owner offered me a job! Well, accommodation in exchange for work - but Frankly San Juan is the Coventry of Argentina, having been decimated by an earthquake in the 1940´s, so that was an easy decision.

Tomorrow I will taking off on a three day trek up a chunk of Aconcagua. Apparently it´s "one the seven" mountains of mythical status for climbers - I hope for my sake the other six also include Highgate Hill and Angel station when the escalators aren´t working.