Back in Uruguay

With a few nights in hotels without internet access and many miles on the road, I have neglected our online travelogue. We arrived back at La Gaia yesterday just before dark after driving all day from the city of Santa Fe, in Argentina’s Entre Rios province. Chile we will save for a future trip.

During our two weeks on the road, we covered approximately 5500 kilometers, stayed in eight cities/towns, and ate way too much red meat. Our “Cordoba trip” took us to Mendoza, Uspallata, San Juan, and Tupungato. Uspallata and Tupungato are interesting and beautiful; I will write about them in future blog posts. San Juan, the city in the province of the same name, I will neglect because the only redeeming thing about this ugly and depressing city is the Graffigna winery and wine museum.

I may have quipped that the best thing about Uruguay is its proximity to Argentina. After this trip, that still holds true. However, peaceful, bucolic Uruguay is nice to come home to after a long and tiring trip. The animalitos were all beyond happy to see us again. They were well cared for by our fantastic house-sitters. Except for missing the cats a bit, I did not worry about them at all, because I knew they were in good hands.

Highlights of our trip included the awe-inspiring scenery of the Andes, two fantastic hotels – the Ca’Montana in La Falda, Cordoba province and Tupungato Divino in Tupungato, Mendoza province – Mendoza wine and the freedom of deciding from day to day where the road would take us.

Our little Volkswagon Parati held up incredibly well. Cesar has dubbed it “Sherman”, because it proved to be a little tank. We took it up Andean roads at 2800 meters, along unpaved rocky roads and covered many miles of highway. It performed like a champ.

We came home with further appreciation for our vast and diverse neighbor across the Rio de la Plata. Argentina is so much more that tango and Buenos Aires, the two things most North Americans know about it.

The scenery around Tupungato Divino, in the Uco Valley of the province of Mendoza.

Argentine Road Trip, Days 4-6

Surprise! We’re in Mendoza, land of vineyards and majestic mountains. I would say this wasn’t in the plans, but then we didn’t really have any plans, so maybe it is not so surprising. After two days in the province of Cordoba, Cesar started dreaming of Mendoza. I think he had our shared fascination with Aconcagua in mind.

By Thursday morning, when we were getting ready to check out of the delightful Ca’Montana hotel, we had pretty much decided to head for Mendoza. The only thing holding us back was lack of knowledge about the quality of the roads and just how long it would take us to get there. By kismet, Alejandro, co-owner of Ca’Montana is a walking encyclopedia of Argentina and has made this drive at least several times. He invited us into his family’s private home on the grounds of Ca’Montana and got out his many maps. As we sat around their table discussing the route and the sights, I got the feeling he was as excited about our trip as we were. I felt very privileged that he was sharing his information and love of travel with us.

Alejandro was right on the money. We were able to follow his directions easily and admire some incredible scenery along the way. Taking a road through the Sierras Grandes of Cordoba, we climbed and twisted and turned our way through mountains where condors soared. Before that section of the road, we had randomly put in a CD of Beethoven. The grand soaring lines of the second movement of the fifth symphony were a perfect accompaniment to the scenery. With jaw-dropping mountain scenery and exposed two lane roads, it was an exhilarating drive. At one point I had to brake hard for a loose goat that trotted out in front of the car. Did I mention the local specialty? I felt like having some at that moment.

We came into Mendoza at night. Finding your way in a strange city in a foreign country is not easy, but we managed just fine - with some stern words between a tired, irritable pilot and his exhausted, grumpy navigator - and found a hotel for the night. The city of Mendoza, capital of the province of the same name is attractive and welcoming. Unlike other Argentine cities, it has very wide streets - in case evacuation is necessary for a super earthquake.

Mendoza has it all - an attractive city with every convenience and good shopping (including mountaineering gear), the best vineyards on the continent, the highest mountain in the western and southern hemispheres, and good food. I know a certain Irishman who left Mendoza for Uruguay because he was bored here. Now that I have seen this place, I want to grab this man by the ears and shake him hard, and ask “what the heck is wrong with you, brother?”. Oh well, different strokes for different folks.

So, here we are today in Uspallata, a small village about 90 km north of the city of Mendoza. It was another awe-inspiring drive. The mountains looked close enough to reach out and touch. After our time in Patagonia, we know that distances in grand places are seriously misleading. What looked close enough to reach out and grab is probably a three day walk away. After checking in, we drove west along Ruta 7 to ogle more Andean scenery. We ended up at the Aconcagua national park to get a glimpse of the great mountain for ourselves. We saw an interesting thing on the way back to the village. Two fully laden tractor trailers overtook two more fully laden tractor trailers, going downhill, on a two lane road, with another big rig coming the opposite way. We both breathed a sigh of relief when all four trucks going our way were single file again. That could have been very ugly. I expect a trucker or two had to change his shorts after that.

Tomorrow’s plans include a hike in the Parque Provincial Aconcagua, to ogle the giant again, a visit to a natural stone bridge called Puente del Inca and who knows what else. Maybe we’ll end up in Chile. I’ll try to keep you posted. Hasta Luego.

On our hike to the top of La Banderita in La Falda, Cordoba.

Ruta 7 to Uspallata from Aconcagua

Aconcagua

Argentine Road Trip, Days 1-3

Since my last post, we have been to Argentina twice. The weekend before last we spent in Buenos Aries getting our fill of the city. Ostensibly, the purpose of that trip was to pick up a few things to get ready for our next trip to Argentina, a road trip to the province of Cordoba, but really we just wanted to hang out in the big city again. A week after returning home from Buenos Aires, we were off to Cordoba, this time by car.

I had meant to do a blog post at the beginning of our trip, but was overcome with packing and getting ready. So, here we are, three days into our trip and I am finally getting around to it. Beyond planning to spend up to two weeks on the road, and knowing where we were going to stop for the first night, we have no itinerary. Road trips are best when you wing it.

Well, winging it didn't really pay off for the first two nights. Trusting our guide book, we decided that our stop-over point on the road to Cordoba should be the slightly out of the way city of Rosario, in the provice of Santa Fe. Our Rough Guide to Argentina described Rosario, birthplace of Che Guevara and Argentina's third largest city, as "one of the most attractive cities in Argentina".

Pedestrian street in Rosario

Its charms did not exactly jump out at us and grab our attention, and with only one night there we did not try very hard to seek them out. I am sure that if one was stuck in Rosario long enough, one cound find some interesting things to do, but we were there long enough to have dinner, sleep and go for a walk the next morning before driving off in search of greener pastures. Greener pastures we did see (literal ones, not the figurative ones ot which I was referring) on Ruta 9 to Cordoba. We were crossing the litoral - the bread basket of Argentina - and along the way the sides of the road were nothing but enormous, Kansas-sized farms, nothing but fertile flatness for as far as the eye could see. Then as we approached the city of Cordoba, capital of the provice of Cordoba, the landscape changed all at once. Beyond the city, the sierras lurked like a low hanging cloud. All we could discern was a large shape in the distance, about the same size as the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia, but it was nice to finally see hills. I was expecting Cordoba city to be lovely, but the approach to it was anything but. There was smoke and haze everywhere. We drove by a large area of rubble that looked like a dump for construction materials, with little smoldering piles everywhere. It was the worst introduction to any city that I have ever seen. Cordoba has a rich colonial history, owing to the Jesuits who developed much of it and founded what would become the second largest university in South America. Alas, the Jesuits eventually lost favor with the Spanish crown and were expelled in 1767 by King Charles III. The city continued to thrive and is Argentina's second largest city.

Almost immediately, we knew Cordoba city was not what we want. What we want is beautiful alpine scenery and fresh air. Obviously one does not go to the country's second city for those things. After navigating our way to the city's filthy, smoggy and very convenient beltway, the circunvalacion, we headed north on Ruta 38 for the Punilla Valley. Our destination was a boutique hotel just outside the city of La Falda. First we stopped for lunch in Carlos Paz, a bustling resort town built around a large reservoir with sandy beaches. After sinking our teeth into a pile of fresh, hot, delicious empanadas, we were back in the car and bound for La Falda. We passed through many small towns which clung to the hillsides. After about an hour and an half we arrived in La Falda and asked for directions twice before finding this very private and out of the way hotel that looks like a private residence. We were greeted warmly by its proprietors and shown to our room. What a pleasant surprise after two days on the road and basic hotel accomodations. The hotel itself is an extremely solid and well made home from 1944. The woodwork in it, all local indigenous hardwood, is exquisite and shows remarkable craftsmanship of a quality that simply does not exist in modern buildings. To my delight, our bathroom has an enormous round Jacuzzi surrounded by windows and a glass ceiling and includes a small rooftop patio. We spent the afternoon playing with the two hotel Rotweillers, napping and exploring the town. Then we spent the first hour of darkness trying to find the hotel again after exploring the town. We finally admitted we were utterly lost, found a taxi and together with the driver managed to find the hotel. That was followed by a luxurious soak in the giant tub and a sumptuous dinner prepared by the onsite chef who is the daughter of the hotel owners.

For tomorrow, we are looking forward to a morning hike, hopefully followed by a lunch of the local specialty, grilled suckling goat, and planning the rest of our trip - a little bit. I will try to keep up with the blog postings. Hasta luego.