Mendoza & Cordoba

After a wonderful ride through the Andes I finally arrived back in Argentina in the late afternoon. This time in Mendoza. I couldn´t book myself into a hostel the day before, so I decided to just go and look for a hostel upon arrival. Once I arrived some guys came up to me again asking me whether I needed accomodation. While I usually tell them to get the hell away from me, I this time accepted the offer. Eventhough the guy told me the hostel was in the citycenter, I found myself on the edge of the city. Apart from that the hostel was really nice. Swimmingpool in the backyard, internet in the dormrooms and free wine all day – as much as you can drink. I could definitely tell I had to be in a wine region with offers like that. As it happened to be saturdaynight, I decided to go and check out town. I met up with 2 english girls I met back in Pucon. I had to walk a mere 6 blocks to only get to the mainstreet where I could grab a taxi. The neighbourhood my hostel happened to be in was really quiet and dark. I felt really uncomfortable walking on those streets so as soon as I found a taxi I jumped into it and headed for the center. Once I arrived I found the 2 english girls having dinner with a big group of other travelers. I joined them and we had some drinks. Afterwards we went out to a club in town. It was a typical argentinian club, and we danced the night away til the early morning.

The next day I was checking out of my hostel. I didn´t feel like spending another night in such a remote place, even if they were offering free wine. Without any sleep I checked out, and checked in into another hostel in the citycenter. After a few hours of sleep I got up and joined the people I partied with the night before for some lunch. We had lunch at a really nice, fancy restaurant in a big garden. It was perfect with the sun shining. After lunch I went to see the legendary Boca – River match in a bar nearby. This footbal match is THE match of the year, so I had to watch along with the argentinians and taste their passion for footbal. Afterwards I went back to the hostel and watched some tv.

The next day I went for a walk in town. I had some breakfast with a Canadian guy. Once back in the hostel we decided to check out a park nearby. There´s a big hill there which gives some nice panoramic views of the city and surroundings. Afterwards we walked a bit more through the park and chilled out a bit. Once back in the hostel I picked up my laundry and watched some tv again. That night the hostel organised a BBQ night, which was good fun too.

The next day I had booked myself onto a winetour to the vineyardsin the neighbourhood. Mendoza is the capital of wine, so it´s a must-do kind of thing. We were picked up around 10 in the morning. Two Irish people joined the tour as well, which was fun as it would have been a tad boring having to do it on my own. We biked all day to the different vineyards around. At every vineyard we had to pay a small fee, but in turn we learned a lot about how to make wine and we were able to taste countless numbers of different Argentinian wines, Malbec being one of the most popular ones. The day turned out wonderful. I had great fun and the weather was really nice too. That night I went for dinner with 2 dutch guys who were staying at the hostel too. After dinner we were all tired and went to bed.

The next day I had my organisational day. I went to have a haircut and walked a bit through the city. I needed to buy some other stuff too as I am heading to Bolivia soon, where I´m probably going to need some pills against food poisoning, as that´s quite a common thing around there apparently. That night I caught the bus to my next destination; Cordoba.

After a nice 10 hour busride I finally arrived to Cordoba in the early morning. I hadn´t  booked a hostel yet , so I was  thinking of just  looking one up in the Lonely Planet. There happened to be 2 Isreali girls on my bus too, so I asked them whether they were heading to a hostel too. They happened to do so, so I decided to join them to their hostel. They told me it was a really good hostel and it was recommended by their friends. Once I checked in it turned out to be a big shithole and worse, FULL of Isreali people. I kind of should of known about this, as they happen to have their own websites and hostels where just Isreali people go to. Once I saw the messages and advertisements in the hostel completely written in Hebrew I knew I was in the wrong place. I phoned up another hostel and asked them whether they had a bed available. I then told the lady at the other hostel I was going to stay with friends and got the hell out of there. Once I checked in to the other hostel I knew I had made the right choice. I then had a shower and went to check out the city. I joined a French girl I met in my room and we went to visit some musuem and a few churches, as Cordoba is full of churches. I picked up a tourist map from the tourist office and walked some more through town. I then went to a town about 30 KM´s away from Cordoba to go and check out the ¨Che¨ musuem. It happened to be the former house of an incredible famous liberator / revolutionist of Argentina. I didn´t know too much about him so I was happy to go to the musuem about him and learn some stuff about him. The musuem turned out to be really great and I had a good afternoon. Just by chance the French girl happened to be there as well, so we went back to Cordoba on the same bus. That night it happened to be thursday night. Cordoba counts 7 universities, so no doubt the city has got a booming nightlife. I went out with some guys I met in the hostel. We first went to a real typical south-american bar. By typical I mean, broken chairs, dirty tables and cheap drinks. It seemed really quiet and I really didn´t feel like spending a long time there. But was I wrong, an hour later the bar was packed with locals which was good fun. I was able to practice my spanish really well with some local studentgirls. Later that night I went together with one of the guys of my hostel to a club in the northern part of town called Dorian Gray. We danced the night away which was fun. At 5 the club shut and I joined some other locals to an afterparty in a club next door. After a while I had enough and went back to my hostel.

The next day I slept the whole morning. I got up around 2PM. I had a shower and I met a dutch guy I had met back in Santiago. Afterwards I went to write my last adventures on here. Tonight I am catching the bus to Salta, the for north of Argentina. I am planning to spend some longer there, as there seems to be a lot of stuff you can do and see in the surroundings..

More news soon from Salta!

May 3rd 2008 – May 9th 2008