Mendoza, wine, and party

After the frustration of the week with the pack we decide to get down to what we came for, wine tasting. We reserved a rental car for 9 the next morning. We have decided the best way to visit the most wineries is to drive ourselves. First mistake, we actually expected the car to be available at 9:00. We arrive to find the office (which opens at 8:30) locked. After waiting for 15 minutes an employ shows up and says, "something must be wrong, he is always here (speaking of the other worker)." After he makes a call we are told another client got in an accident at the airport and he had to get see about the car. The guy who is at the office says he will go get our car. We finally at 10:00. We soon find out the maps SUCK! It is dificult to find anything. We do manage to get to Alta Vista winery where we joined the inprogress english tour. We than had a great tasting and even ordered a glass of thier reserve. The bottle cost $120 pecos, about $33 USD. It was by far the best wine I had ever drank. Every sip was like a bite of fine cuisine you savored. We left with a less expensive, but very good bottle of malbec ($39 pecos/ $10.25 usd).

After hitting a few other wineries and finding they were all closed for the 3 hour lunch break we got a bite to eat and went to a little place that makes olive oils, jams, chocolate, and spirits. We had a extensive tasting there and purchased a jar of jam, some chocolates, and olive oil. These items are only sold at this shop where they are made. This is small operation where the man experiments and creates. He definates knows his stuff and it is worth the stop if you are in Maipu near Mendoza. It is 300 meter down the road past La Rural vineyard and museum.

We then darted off to another vineyard, Di Tomasa Familia, in Maipu. These people knew what we were there for, no tour just tasting. This was by far the largest group of people doing a tasting that I have ever been a part of, about 25. These wines were rather dissapointing and we left quickly to try to fit in one more tasting, no luck. We went back to Mendoza, parked the car in the supermaket parking and walked to The Vines, a tasting room in the city.

The Vines is a tasting room where they have a lot of different wines from small noncommercial vineyards. These wines are all of very good quality. We found out that on the following evening (wednessday) they have 1/2 glasses on all open bottles. Well then, we will see you tomorrow. We then found a resturant and had a very satifying meal for about $20 usd (including, tip, wine, and dessert for all 4 of us). Then to bed. Ken goes to drop off the car the next morning and the guy who is never late...isn't there and the office is locked at 10:00. The parking attendant tries to get Ken to pay to park the car infront of the office while he waits. A cop shows up and he tells teh parking lady to let it be. Eventually, the guys shows up and Ken returns the car. I will not be renting from Budget anytime soon.

Wednessday we went to the museum and saw some other architectural sites. Mendoza was hit with an earthquake a while ago which means there are not a lot of old buildings. We had lunch at the museum and learned what a triple sandwich is. It is a thin ham and cheese sandwich on double size very thin white bread with mayonaise. These are a staple here. They sell them on just about ever corner. If you get them at a resturant they will cut them into pretty triangles for you. The kids had \pizza and did not like the cheese. After our site seeing we went back to the hostel to cook supper before going to The Vines. We find the stove removed from the kitchen and torn apart. Oh well, I can go wine tasting on an empty stomach, hahahahaha!!!! At the vines we are on our secound glass when I realize I NEED food and the kids are hungry. So we order thier cheese and meat tray. This was good and helped hold us over. We met lots of people and had 3 glasses of good wines each and the meat &cheese tray for about $30 usd including tip. Then across the street to purchase a couple of the bottles we had sampled. Back to the hostel at 10:00 still no stove. We add our hamburgers to the grill which is going and continue to drink. Eat and send the kids to bed. We end up partying till 1:00 am. Next morning is a late one. It was a wild night.

The days move on as we try to figure out where to go next. We do school and laundry and try to fix Theodore's feet. Adrian cooked traditional asado for us one night and we let the kids stay up till midnight to eat. Supper is late in Argentina. This was also a party night with picture to prove it. Every night at Sosa Haus is a party, we just did not always participate. We finally decide to go to Cordoba next. We go to the Vines again for 1/2 price Wed. and invite a doctor from Ireland who is staying at the hostel. We leave the continued partying to the young guys this night. Late Thursday evening (October 8, 2008) we board a bus to Cordoba(10 hours) and reluctantly hand over our bags. Ken gets off the bus at every stop to watch the baggage handlers and our bags. It was a rather sleepless night.

Mendoza and the Missing Pack

We arrived in Mendoza about 6:30 am. by the time we managed to get off the bus and down to the luggage, there were three of our bags on the ground minus the forth large pack. You would have to have been through this to understand what goes on. All the bags are tagged before they are loaded onto the bus and you are given the matching end of the ticket. Then when you get off the bus there are men who unload the luggage and it is thier job to be sure you have the matching ticket before you get the bag. Sounds like a good system, right. Well this is South America and people here can be pushy. So the tidy theory goes thrown out the window when everyone starts shoving tickets at the and grabbing bags. We had never experienced this and have now developed a plan for it in the future. Back to the missing bag. We look and it is gone. The company says wait till 8:00, which actually means close to 9. Then I am told to get copies of my ticket, take that to the police station, and get a police report. So before we set off I check Theodore's feet, which he has been complaining of a lot. Appearantly his feet got wet and he had been in the same socks for two straight days. I found lots of blisters and some other concerning looking places. Nothing we can do for him except take his pack. We manage to find the police station, file a report, and get back to the bus station. While waiting my turn in line I spot what appear to be some English speakers outside, so i go get them to interpret. They end up being a couple of very nice German men studying abroad for a semester. They spoke German, English, and Spanish fluently, yeah! Bus company says wait two days. It is now after 10:00.

We speak with the local tourist office to get a map and brochures. Grab a taxi to the hostel, Sosa Haus. What can I say about Sosa Haus? It has comfy beds, but you still will not sleep. If you are looking for a party this is the place! The people are very nice, but cleanliness and quiet are not something they are familiar with. Adrian, lives and works there and is a great person. We settle into our room, 1 double bed and 1 twin. Now it is time to go in search of some nescessities, underwear and socks. Return to the hostel after stopping at the grocery store 1 block away. Yeah, showers and clean unders. We clean Theodore's feet and sit him outside in the sun. This foot thing does not go away with out a fight, we will come to find. Supper and colapse into bed.

I awake the next morning a complete snotty, sneezy mess. Guess who is highly allergic to the beautiful trees which line every street in Mendoza. The next few days are a blurr. AT some point we bought a few clothing items, found meds for me, which helped, and made multiple calls to the bus company.

By the following Monday we went to the tourist police who called the bus company for us. They were told if we went to the bus station we could speak with the director. This is a complete fabrication. After a week of waiting then at the bus station lots of argueing, we are told to wait there 10 minutes and he will be over to pay us the small amount to cover our pack, NO contents. We wait 20 minutes call back and are told to go to another town at 6 in the evening. That is it for me. I start screaming in both Spanish and English. The police soon arrive. I explain my problem and they completely understand. This is apparantly a normal tactic. The bus company knows you are traveling and will have to leave at some point and then they do not have to pay you at all. The police have no real authority to help me, but they call anyways. I tell them, "now you know they have said they will pay me tonight, so if I am back here screaming tomorrow you will know why." I have to say the police and tourist office we very nice and helpful, they just have no power in this situation. We did manage to get paid that night and move on to other things.

mina Clavero, and Octoberfest

Due to Octoberfest in nearby Valle Gen. Belgano, we had to seek lodging outside Cordoba. This was a blessing. We found a wonderful hostel called Anda Mundos Hostel in Mina Clavero, http://www.andamundoshostel.com.ar/
The couple who own the hostel are very sweet, helpful, genuine people. They do all they can to be sure you enjoy your visit to there beautiful town. In addition, they are very knowledgable of sites and surrounding areas. They run a clean calm hostel.

We arrived in M. Clavero on Friday October 9th. Early Sat. morning we caught a bus to Carlos Paz, 2hours away. We had been told we could catch a bus from here to Belgano. Wrong! So we quickly caught a bus to Cordoba (1 hour) Then waited an hour to catch the next bus to Belgano (2 hours). Yes your math is correct, that is 5 hours on buses to get to Octoberfest. It was now 3 pm. Furthermore, in order to catch our bus from Carlos Paz back to Cordoba we needed to leave Belgano right at 6 then get the 8 pm. bus to Carlos Paz. We purchased the 6 pm. tickets and set off in search of cerveza. We soon found the party where we enjoyed beer, sausage, saurkrout, potato salad and dancing. It was a fun three hours. We grabbed some strudel and headed for the bus.

The clock ticks past 6 as we wait for the driver to get the last 3 seats sold. they appearantly would not depart till they had made as much money as possible. They even sold floor space to a couple of guys. So I am freaking out by 6:10 and proceed to tell the driver it is 6 lets go I need to be in Cordoba by 8. He did not care. We ate strudel on the drive as I watched my watch. We arrived in Cordoba at 7:59. I run, carrying one sleeping child the other following close behind, to the 8:00 bus and beg the driver to wait till my husband arrives with the tickets. Meanwhile, Ken has gone the ticket counter to purchase our tickets. Ken arrives, at full sprint, at the bus by 8:02. It was funny to see him running through the bus terminal, but he was not the only one running. We manage to arrive in Carlos Paz with an amazing 15 minutes to spare. Yeah we can pee and get waters, before the 2 hour ride to M.Clavero. No I would not do it again, but it was alot of fun.

A good day

We are sitting in the courtyard at Hostel Centro http://www.hostelcentro.com.ar/cordoba.php
in Cordoba, Argentina. This is the second largest city in Arg. and the largest concentration of students in the city. The sun is shining and the air is a bit cool. The kids are doing school work and I am blogging. Ken is at Spanish class at the Able Spanish school.

We spent the morning looking at some old churches in town. Near the main plaza a group in traditional indian dress were playing panflutes and wood flutes and other wood instuments. We purchased one of there CD's for $4 usd. The quality is not great, but I really enjoy the sound of the woodwind instuments they play. The Cd has familiar songs like Titanic, The Sound of Silence, and Chicita, but played on these traditional instruments. For lunch we purchased some traditional tortes with ham and cheese and a calzones and headed back to the hostel.

Pork tonight. We have been eating red meat for days and I need a break. Steak is just so cheap. We bought ribeyes yesterday for less than $2 usd a pound. Steak is cheaper than milk or eggs. If you just ate bread and steak you could live really cheap. We also got 3 bottles of wine for less than $15 usd total. They were not great, but not bad either.

It is a quiet relaxed day after a busy weekend.

Rancagua (September 1-2, 2009)

First things first, need a map. We head off down the street and Ken asked for directions to the tourist office. We not only got direction, but anice young lady going that direction walk us most of thye way so we would not get lost. This was the best tourist office we have been to. They even printed out a list of hostels with prices. We went to a few and were not happy with the cost. Needing a break we stopped in a park and saw some children dressed in traditional costumes getting ready for some sort of performance. With September 18th being Chilean independence day, these types of celebrations and performances were seen everywhere all month. These children to great joy in showing off their English. We went to another hostel then decided walking all over with our packs was just too hard. This meant using the cell phone we had with us. My Spanish is bad enough in person, now I was going to have too attempt it on the phone. We sat in a park and I managed to call and actually converse with several hostels and hotels. We ended going with a hotel close to where we were. So off to the hotel. Dump bags then go exploring.

We had seen a number of sights on our stroll through looking at hostels, but still had more on our list. We went to the historical museum and were surprise to find a celebration going on. It happened to be the day they were celebrating 100 years of fire department. All firemen in Chile are volunteers. I thought it was very interesting that a country as old as chile has only had a fire department for 100 years. Everyone was extremely welcoming and excited to share with us.

We continued to enjoy the sunshine and wonder around the city. At lunch time we found a resturant offering the common (menu) this is a set meal for a set price which is very common for lunch in Chile. For about $3 we got a small salad or soup, main course of beef or chicken with rice or potato salad, a dish of jello for dessert and bread. It is a good value. Drinks are additional. Being nice and full we did some window shopping. No luck finding a pack for Virginia or shoes for Ken.

We went back to the hotel where we researched wineries and decided wine tasting was not and option, too expensive. We decided we would leave the next day. Found a bus station near the hotel. We researched and emailed hostels in Santiago. Later that night we left the kids watching TV in the hotel room and snuck across the street for a beer.

Come morning I was excited about getting a shower, it did not last long. I have come to understand that hot water in the shower often means..it is not cold or that it will be hot for all of 60 secounds. After my invigerating shower I subjected the kids to the same. Then we enjoyed a decent breakfast and left for the bus station and said goodbye to Rancagua.

रंदोम Pictures

Adventure continues...

We boarded the double decker bus at 9:30 pm. Monday August 31, 2009. We had reserved the very front upper level seats, for which the kids were very excited. We pulled out of Villarrica shortly before 10 pm. Despite his excitement about the view, Theodore was out by 10:10. Virginia was soon to follow. We arrived in Temuco and took on more passangers. this meant moving Theodore to a lap. We usually only purchase 3 tickets and often \find an empty seat to stick Theodore in, not so lucky this time. We managed to get a small bit of sleep on the bus and arrived in Rancagua, Chile at 6:00 am. Since nothing opens before 9 or 10 am. We found a seat, dropped packs, and got coffee. We then took out the smoked salmon and crackersd we had brought and had breakfast. Yes, we ate smoked salmon for breakfast in a Chilean bus station. Hehehehe! Continued to hang out and watch Spanish news and people. Wow the odd things you see in a bus station in 4 hours.

Bare bones

Bare bones

I thought that I had reduced our clothing and curriculum to the nescessities, but I am now reducing even more. Everthing we take will have to fit in our limited luggage. Ken and I will each carry a pack, one 50 liter and one 60 liter. The kids will each have a regular back pack and we have a computer bag. This is it! We are down to 3 sets of clothing, wear one and pack 2, plus the kids have pj"s. Also meds and lenses for 4 months. We each have one change of shoes(sneakers and hiking boots.) The kids have thier curriculum and books and toys in thier packs. This is a lesson in needs as opposed to wants. Ken gave a packing class to the kids and I. I was surprised how much the packs actually held. I still think it is alot. We will need to look for better packs for the kids. The ones they have will be hard on thier developing backs. So we are packed and ready for an adventure.

Not all fun

As for those who think we are down here having the time of our lives, well that is not the case, yet. Atleast for me it is not. It rains here almost constantly. I grew up in Florida and thought it rained a lot there. I was wrong. Compared to here it barely rains at all in Florida. The highs are in the upper 40's and low 50's. The only way to heat the non-insulated house is with a little 1X2 foot fire place. We each have a small rock we take to bed at night. In an effort to cut cost we only shower about every 5 days. (plus side ...every shower is euphoric) We wash dishes and clothes in cold water only. When I say cold I mean it. The pipes are barely under the ground surface so the water get extremely cold. There is very little do to because it is too cold and wet to get out. So basically I am stuck in this wet cold hell with no friends, no way to socialize, no TV, and pretty much little else to do. Warmth and sunshine are a distant memory. We leave here August 31st and head north to warmer weather and hopefully some sun. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!

Volcan Lliama and Parque National Conguillio

Ken, the kids and I took off one Sunday to find a virgin Auracaria forest. I believed this to be in this National parque. Being adventurous we took the scenic route "Ruta Enterlogas" You may think this is a major roadway between towns. Wrong, this is a windy gravel road. We appearantly picked up a sharp rock along the way, which resulted in Ken changing a tire on the side of the road. We finally arrived at the park and were very surprised to not find a forest. I feel what we did find was a wonderful surprise. The park road winds right through the lava field from the 1994 eruption on Volcanoe Lliama. This was incredible. I have never seen anything like this. The massiveness of it is beyond words. We studied volcanoes last year and it was wonderful to be able to now stand on a lava flow and recap all we learned last year. This same volcanoe had a small eruption in April, which my brother witnessed. We were still able to see the hot side of the volcanoe and one of the vents still active. We also explored the nearby lake which had absolutely no fish, but did have algea evidents of its thermal nature. We discussed the exposed rock layers and the kids theorized about the possible geological events which would have lead to the layers. We also discussed why the rocks were different colors. We had an opportunity to show our kids the difference in where the actual lava flow was and the pyroclastic flow and how this affected the land scape and vegetation different. I could never ever ever have given my kids this kind of understanding about volcanoes in books movies or any other media. You just had to be there to completely get it. I would never have thought a lava field could be beautiful, but it was. The awesomeness of nature reminds me how small I really am. How something so devastating can also be so beautiful I will never completely understand. I just thank God for showing it to me. I did not miss the forest we set out to find at all. Our God truely is awesome! If you ever doubt it watch the birth of a child or stand in a massive lava field. You will be humbled.

Temuco

The day started with walking the few hundred yards to the main road to wait for the bus. This is something I have never encountered. I am aware you can stop a bus in the city and get on, even if it is not a bus stop. I know of no place in the US where you can stand on a highway between towns and flagdown the bus. So after allowing the JAC bus to pass we flagged the rural bus (it is cheaper) and boarded. Arriving in Temuco we got off at what we assumed to be an appropriate place, orientated ourselves, and set off in what we hoped to be the correct direction. We located the tourist office and acquired a map. This is a good thing to have. hehehehe. We did some shopping and had lunch. I learned that latin american women have small feet. I wear a size 41(eur) . Not only do they not carry this size anywhere, but I actually had a guy look at me and say, " 41, MUCHO GRANDE." This proves that Latin american men also say stupid things to women. We purchased a 50 liter pack, stopped at the market and headed for the bus terminal. Spotting the man hollaring Villarrica we approached him at which point he directed us to the small office where we could buy our tickets and told us the bus would be there in 5 minutes. After the passangers boarded and the seats were full we set off. I was soon to understand that when a bus's seats are full it is only half full. We stopped 3 more time before leaving Temuco for the 1 hour trip to Villarrica. There were people everywhere, even a few sitting on the dash. We arrive at our stopped and realized in the future we should take a flashlight, if we vplan to arrive home after dark. Luckily, my brother happened along in the truck at exactly that moment. Thanks bro.

These are pics on the return trip from Argentina. It is the exact same route the other pics were taken on only 48n hours before. It was tense and spectacular.

San Martin de los Andes, Argentina August 2-4, 2009

Due to our 90 day tourist card being up, we had to leave Chile briefly. We decided to go across the boarder to Argentina. This was to be a 6 hour trip over the Andes in a 40 passenger tour style bus. The bus left at 10 am and we were served the onboard snack of cookie covered in a chocolate flavored substance and almost undrinkably sweet coffee. It was a pleasant drive through National Parque Villarrica. I was amazed by the gravel road we were traveling. This would never happened in the states. No one would ride a bus on this road. We were subjected to some horrible 80's spanish music, but the scenery made up for it.
We found the Auracaria forest we had sought previously. These are amazing trees, which take 500 yrs to mature. Some of the ones we saw were 1200 years old. They are protected, which would explain why there was one right in the middle of the road. The boarder crossing was smooth. I only had to walk into the Argentinan boarder office to immeadiately notice a difference. The building was warm. This may seem minor to those who have no frame of reference, but when you have spent 3 month in winter in an area where the highs are between 40-55 and they feel no need to heat the interior of ANY buildings, this is incredible. I was also surprised by how simple the entrance into Argentina was. There was almost no paperwork, not even a customs form. There was a noticable difference in the landscape on the east side of the Andes, less tall vegetation. I think this is due to a reduced rain fall. One of the first things we noticed was how pretty the buildings were. Keep in mind, any statement is based on one town in Argentina only. They seem much more concerned with the aesthetics of things, not just functionallity which has been my experience in Chile. We arrived in San Martin, as I stepped off the bus i was immeadiately faced with the extremely pushy man trying to rent us a room in his house nearby. What makes this man think that getting in my face between me and my children as I am literally stepping of a bus in a new country might possibly cause me to want to do business with him, i will never understand. It did however cause me to feel the need to take him out at the knees so I could reach my children again. After recovering from the stress of refraining from flogging the idiot who got between me and my kids, we acquired a map and chose a direction in which we knew there were some hostels. We investigated a few and returned to the cheapest one, Secuoya Hostel. Nacho, the guy who works there was very helpful and nice. He recommended places and marked them all on a map for us. We set out and did lots of window shopping, got supper, stopped by the grocery store and returned to our hostel. Theodore spent the night hacking his head off, as the cold he was coming down with when we left Chile took up full residency. I feel so bad for the couple who were attempting to sleep in the room next door. We arose in the morning, and were greeted by a very nice woman who served the breakfast (toast and coffee) . Off for another day of shopping, equiped for the expected wet weather, we were happy to find Theodore in good spirits despite his unpleasant night. As the rain started to come down heavily and we were hungy we duct into Munich (a parrilla resturant). We all enjoyed some very good meat and being warm and dry. Since it was still raining and the shops do not open back up till 4 pm. We then slipped around the corner to a coffee shop called Havanna. The kids enjoyed the largest hot chocolate I have ever seen. Ken and I enjoyed a cafe latte negro ( coffee, cream, and small chunks of real chocolate. YUM~!!!! We hung out and enjoyed watching the effects of Virginia's sugar and chocolate induced euforia. This manifested itself as uncontrollable laughing. It was very cute and a bit concerning. We then did some more looking around. Went back to the hostel and spend a while talking with the owner and another guest. I really enjoyed hearing thier stories and sharing ours. We then went to buy the bus tickets for in the morning and go by the store to get food for supper. Back at the hostel, showers, supper, and packing. San Martin had good chocolate and excellent pastries. We medicated Theodore and got some sleep. Alarm went off at 4:30 am. We headed for the bus in the rain and dark. I was surprised at the amount of street lights. It was not far up the road before we encountered snow. We spent 40 minutes in Junin, i assume waiting on other passengers or the weather. I kept expecting someone to get on the bus and tell us we would have too take a diffent route due to the snow. After all, the Tromen pass is at 1207 meters and a gravel road which would certainly be covered with snow. This did not happen. We begin down the road at a slow cautious speed. As the sun came up God's beauty unfolded before my eyes. Seeing this untouched wilderness blanketed in a foot or more of snow was glorious. Had it not been for the occassional brief lose of traction the bus experienced and my overwhelming plotting on the best course of action to take in the event of an accident, i may have become completely entranced by the splender. I was truely amazed that we were actually driving this slippery route. We made it to the Argentinan border. I got some great pictures of the beauty around us. The snow here was more than a foot deep and still falling hard. Then onto the Chilean crossing. This took 3 times as long as getting into Argentina. The difference in the buracracy of these two countries is interesting. On down the gravel snow covered road. The winding past the lake (which you could not see due to the heavy snow falling) was a bit tense for me. I have a new respect for our driver. We arrived safely in Villarrica were my awesome brother was waiting to pick us up. Based on San Martin, I really like Argentina. Warm buildings make it move to the top of my SA countries of choice list.
After thought: Those of you who know of my great fear of bridges would be amazed by the wooden bridges I have crossed in these buses. Also, wood is slippery when wet and covered in snow.