mendoza

Before leaving Chile I spent another two more nights in Santiago. This time it was a little more lively than the previous stint there. Had a great night with a Chilean couple who didn't speak one iota of English. It continues to amaze me how effective communication can be achieved even without a working knowledge of the others language. Grunts, nods, gestures and of course, much beer. The true international language.

Chile was good but I cannot say that it will feature on my favourite list. I suppose that coming from Peru, it was always going to have a task to compete with its northern neighbour. I found it expensive and the food was unremarkable. I mean, think of completo's! But in fairness to the country it is easily understood why Chile is considered at the top of the league in South America. It is well organised, clean and functions efficiently. Take at look at Santiago's metro for instance. It has the best education and health care in latin America. And Santiago is a beautiful city. If I were more an outdoors man then this would have increased my enjoyment of the country as it does have fantastic scenery and outdoor pursuits.

So onto Argentina. My final trip over the Andes to the heart of the Argentinian wine growing region. The city is quite beautiful with a lot of thought evidently put into making it a pleasant and comfortable place to live. Whether that is the spacious plaza's, lovely civic buildings or the endless streets blanketed in over arching trees. That feature is both aesthetic and practical. It gets hot here and the tree lined streets provide a natural air conditioner for the inhabitants.

Given my recent moans about the cost of things I was faint at times when seeing the prices of stuff in Argentina. Next to nothing! Easily eat like a king and get proper smashed for $15. Wonderful. And the quality of the food is excellent. Mainly meat dishes but I have not had a bad one. The only thing I regret is the fact that I did not drink any wine while I was there. But Quillmes is in one of best beers in the world so it is forgivable to foresake the vino.

There is not much in the way of sights. A museum or two. It is mainly about atmosphere. Nice parks and plaza's. Just generally relaxing and watching. Boy, I could watch those Argentine girls all day. Beauty personified! It was also nice to see shoe shine vendors on the streets again as this is a favourite of mine. The number of stray dogs was notable but so was their good behaviour too.

But it was soon time to continue the journey. The original plan was to go to Santa Rosa but I couldn't find a bus connection so instead a nightbus to Neuquen would do. Patagonia. It's nice to have the flexibility to change destination at the last minute.