We were so impressed with the stunningly picturesque city of Mendoza, with its wide streets and sidewalks, green spaces and parks throughout and huge tree canopies that line every road providing shade and tranquility. It was pure joy walking around this newly constructed city that was destroyed some 50 years ago from a huge earthquake. With the wine, the baguettes, meats and cheeses, ice cream, the mid-day siestas, picnics and people in loving embraces throughout parks and of course soccer; if you did not know any better, you would swear you were somewhere in Europe.
Meeting Gustavo and Laura, our SERVAS hosts had an enormous influence on our stay here in Mendoza. We were blown away by Gustavo and Laura's culinary skills as they fired up the barbecue and treated us to some generous pieces of meat (called parredilla or asado in Argentina). Wow! so good and so filling! This was only to be outdone by Gustavo's gentle and inviting laugh and English vocabulary that generally focused around the word "cookie." Our time in Mendoza was divided up by volunteering (see volunteer page), sharing tea and a lot of good food with our new friends, visiting a huge inner city park (Parque General San Martin) that reminded us of One Tree Hill in Auckland, watching movies and resting.
The next few days can best be described by the well known Patty Loveless song, "What a difference a day makes" as in 24 wee hours we found ourselves going from shorts and t-shirts to freezing temperatures and howling winds that had snapped our flag pole in half and sent us flying off the road and off our bike to the slightly sweat inducing climate that accompanies the city of Santiago, Chile. After our spill we realized that accommodation at Puente del Inca was a 'no brainer' and not going to be in the form of a tent. We quickly sought refuge at a small friendly hostal (El Nico) to rest our sore backs and bottoms and catch up on a few episodes of Law and Order. Puente del Inca translates to "bridge of the Inca" in Spanish and is a naturally formed bridge over the Vacas River which eventually flows into the Mendoza River. Unfortunately the bridge is now closed to the public and wooden fences and gates discourage people from crossing it. Some 2km further down the road we were privy to magnificent views of Mt. Aconcagua towering above us at 6962m, the highest in all the Americas.
The views on both sides of the 3200m high tunnel that separates Chile and Argentina are nothing short of brilliant and we only wished the conditions for cycling would have been more favorable. While focusing for the past 800kms on our fragile and cracked front rim we were plenty upset and in disbelief to discover, that only 5 minutes after going through the Chilean customs building, we had destroyed our rear rim. This left us with one hairline cracked front rim, one massive sidewall cracked rear rim and two very tired and disappointed cyclists that could not enjoy the 29 hairpin downhill turns that followed.
However, after getting past the steepest part of the descent and some help from a friendly local we were back on frail Big Bird and made our way to our host's house on the outskirts of Santiago. Now it's just a matter of sitting tight and waiting for our rims to arrive from The States that Velocity Rims are kindly sending to us for free.
What made the list this week?
- Yerba mate is a very very popular herbal tea here in Argentina and is a social drink where only one cup is used and passed around the group. The cup is called a 'mate gourda' and the metal straw containing a filter is called a 'bombilla'. In fact, it is so popular with these folks that everyone carries around a thermos filled with hot water that you can fill up at any gas station for 1 peso.
- Gauchito Gil is thought of as a folk saint in many parts of Argentina. We have passed many shrines on the side of the road in which everything is red. As the story goes, after a colourful life of love and war, he was tortured and killed by police for alleged robbery and escape. However, close to death he warned his murderer that his child was ill and that he could heal him. After killing Gauchito and going home he discovered that his child was in fact ill. He prayed to Gauchito for help and he was miraculously healed.
- Argentina loves siestas. Particularly in small towns everything closes down between about 1 and 6pm. We really like the concept (and it is necessary in parts as it gets uncomfortably hot under the sun in the afternoon) but it makes it a logistical nightmare for us planning our day i.e. arriving into a town at 3pm with no food means we have to wait to 6pm before the supermarket opens.