How we ended up in Cordoba

It´s no secret that travel plans tend to change... the weather, illness, and bad luck make sure of that. Rich and I seem to have run into a bit of bad luck lately.

Our plan was to go from Argentina into Chile for about 3 weeks, travel to Patagonia, back up to Santiago, and then cross over into Argentina once more to experience Mendoza. While in Patagonia, Rich finally found an affordable ticket to travel back to the UK for his grandparent´s 60th wedding anniversary. So, we decided that after Mendoza, we would travel to a Northern Argentinian town called Salta. From there, Rich would bus to Santa Cruz, Bolivia to catch his flight, and I would slowly work my way up to Santa Cruz to meet him upon his return. What we weren´t expecting, was Easter. My mother always says that Easter is the highest holiday, and that definitely seems to be true in Latin America. It´s celebrated from the Thursday- Tuesday, and there is a lot of travelers, both nationals and foreigners, visiting their families and beautiful cities.

Before our last day in the park with our new friends in Mendoza to drink out enormous wine, Rich and I stopped by the bus station to purchase some tickets for a bus to Salta that evening. We´ve been buying tickets on the same day, and sometimes 1 or 2 days in advance for our whole trip. We bought two nights in a hostel in Salta that morning, so everything was in order. We went to Andesmar, one our favorite bus companies to get our tickets, and were told all the buses leaving today were full. We tried a few other vendors, and found this to be the case everywhere. Unfortunately, because of Easter, Mendoza was also full, so staying an extra night wasn´t possible. Going back to Andesmar to reconfirm, the ticket salesman told us that yes, all the buses are full from Mendoza, however there are lots of seats leaving from Cordoba. Cordoba is only about 10 hours from Mendoza on the bus. Given our predicament, Rich and I decided that the best thing would be to buy an overnight bus to Cordoba, sleep on the bus, see Cordoba for a day, and catch and overnight to Salta. We bought our tickets to Cordoba leaving at 9PM that night, and headed back to a call center to call our hostel in Salta to change the booking.

I called the google provided number, and was told that this wasn´t the phone number for a hostel any longer, but the man provided me with the number of a hostel. I called that number and was told that was not the hostel where we made out booking. We checked online again, and I called a third number which was disconnect. After scanning various websites, we learned that our hostel had shut down several months ago, and had not yet been removed as an option on the hostel booking website. No other options were pulling online, so we decided to get to Cordoba, and find a hostel there, as we´d run out of time in Mendoza.

A quick overnighter later, we were in Cordoba. I spoke to the tourist information who gave me a list of hostels to call. I went to a call center to try out a few of the recommended ones, and quickly learned they were full. I called all 25 hostels in the list - no one had availability. We looked online, and there was nothing hostel/hotel, nothing in Cordoba, nothing in Salta. When I started to look for camping locations, Rich suggested we catch a 36 hour bus from Cordoba to Santa Cruz in Bolivia. I´m not one for long bus journeys, but even a 36 hour bus ride sounds better then sleeping in the bus station, so we bought tickets for a bus leaving that night. We spent a day walking around the city center, checking out a few museums, and spending the last of our Argentinian pesos on a few good steaks. Then, we went to hostel and asked to pay a small fee to use their internet and showers for a couple of hours, before catching our bus to Bolivia. So, maybe things didn´t go to plan, but it turned out to be a good day in Cordoba, and we have a new plan.

How we ended up with a 5 Litre bottle of wine

We arrived in Mendoza after a quick couple of days in Santiago. Beacuase of Easter, there were only a handfull of average to poorly rated hostels available, for higher prices that we expected. Our hostel was decent. The beds were terrible. The breakfast was low quality white bread with some sort of jam, and bad coffee. But overall, the hostel was clean, and fairly quiet. We got into Mendoza around 1 in the morning, after crossing the border from Chile, and went straight to sleep in order to wake up at 8 AM the next day to head to Maipu. Maipu is where the vineyards are. And, to make things more interesting, you´re permitted to rent bicycles, and ride bikes from one vineyard/brewery/absynth house to the next, tasting as you go.

We met some other tourists on the bus, and joined up for a day of wine and fun. The bike rental people sent us to the olive oil factory first, where we had a quick 2 minute tour of their lone, 2 yr old olive tree, and were told that their rel trees are some 15 km away. However, the tour was concluded with a tasting. At the first table we sampled olive spreads, balsamic vinegar, and different oils on fresh bread. At the second table we tried their jams/dulce de leche on more bread. And, at the third table we each received two shots of liquor. I´m not entirely sure why the olive oil factory has a liquor section made out of everything except olives, but they do. I was told that their Absyth was made with wormwood, which is no longer used in European varieties, so I tried it. It succeeded in burning my chest enough that I had a minor cough for the rest of the day. For my second shot I tried a rose liquor, which was much more delicate (as you would imagine) and much tastier.

From here, we rode our bikes about 8km to the first vineyard, Familia di Tommaso, which was an older, traditional style vineyard. The tour was significantly longer, and we all learned something new about wine. After the tour, we received 4 tastings, a Sauvignon Blanc, a Malbec, a Cabernet Sauvignon, and a sweet dessert wine with a savor of walnuts. They were all good, but the dessert wine was what struck everyone´s fancy, and we bought a couple of different bottles to enjoy later together. Later came much sooner than we expected, since we soon discovered that Rich had a flat tire, and we needed to call on the hire place to swap bikes. We went to the patio of the vineyard to drink a bottle of wine while we waited, and were told that we could only drink bottles bought through the waitress there, so we´d need to bring our shop purchased wine to the picnic area. The picnic area, about 100m from the winery was a couple of logs sitting next to random decaying bits of metal scrap. Nevertheless, the wine was just as tastey the second time around, and when we went back to our bikes, a fresh bike had been left for Rich.

We rode 3km back up the road to the next winery, Mevi, which was a small modern vineyard. At this point, we figured we´d already been to a few tours that day, so why not just buy a couple of bottles of wine between the 5 of us and drink them there? It´s much more cost efficient that way. So, we bought a Torrontes first, and when that had gone, a good red. The wine seemed to be getting better and better, and we savored our drinks for a full 1.5 hours at the second vineyard before we realized it was getting late, and we needed to make it to our last location before they closed at 6 PM.

The last location was just a quick 2k down the side roads to the beer garden. After a full day of drinking wine (in the sun), and riding bikes (in the sun) it was nice to sit in the shade and eat some pizzas, a few empanadas, and have just a quick one or two beers. Stuffed, hot, and very happy, we rode our bikes back to the rental place, with the intention of turning them in and going straight back to Mendoza. However, Mr Hugo´s bikes turned into a patio party with all the different groups mingling in the evening. We sat around for a couple of hours meeting new people and talking about our trips. Someone on a bicycle said something to one of the guys at our table and gave a thumbs up. Rich gave a thumbs up back, and the guy returned with a 35peso (6 USD) 5 litre bottle of wine, that we apparently (mis)communicated wanting. Mr Hugo quickly came by to pop it open, and it took me 10 minutes to chase him down to put the cork back in it. And so, at around 10:30 PM that night, the 5 of us parted ways with promises to meet again tomorrow in the park, to drink the jumbo wine.

Dangerous Items

After many weeks in Brazil, we've arrived in Argentina! I'm in love with Argentina, and am now trying to make a plan to move here some day. We crossed the border at Iguacu/Iguazu after spending a day on the Brazilian side of the falls. Beforing arriving, I asked a lot of people which side of the falls was better, and most people say somthing along the line of "Both sides are great, just different." While I agree that they are both nice, I'd say the Argentian side is better. The park is much larger, and you get the same spectacular views as the Brazilian side + close up views of smaller waterfalls.

Before leaving the states, I made sure to pack several essential items. I have my waterproof jacket, malaria pills, a bikini, and (because of experience living in Prague) a 6 month supply of tampons, with applicators. My supply is made up of a hodge-podge of random sizes and brands, collected by my sister who gets free samples in the mail, and leftovers from my parents house - stuffed into a gallon-sized ziploc bag. What I've learned in my travels is that most of the world either doesn't use tampons, or doesn't use tampons with applicators. And, to be honest, I have no idea how to handle one of the applicator free variety. Unfortunately, just before our arrival at the falls, it was time to break the supply out of the bottom of my big bag, and keep it in the day pack. Rich has had an obsession with getting down to one bag, while I seem to be gathering more and more stuff, so we'd been using his rucksack as the day bag during out tours of Iguazu. 

We had a great time in Iguazu, and I still can't get over how beautiful and impressive it is. We left Iguazu for Buenos Aires, using our favorite mode of transportation - the night bus. We're experts at the night bus now. Armed with snacks, the sleeping bag, a film on the laptop, and spare toilet paper, just in case, we boarded for the 18 hour bus ride from the falls to the big city. We watched "City of God", which is a great film, and settled down for some terrible bus sleep around 11 PM. The next morning, after having our bus-provided breakfast, we stopped at a securty check point, and two policemen boarded the bus. The did a quick scan for suspicious looking persons, and approached us. One policeman asked to see our passports, and then, deciding that we were very suspicious indeed, asked to see the contents of our bags. Rich, being the aisle seat, handed his over first. The policemen riffled through the bag...and that's when he pulled out a gallon of tampons. He opened the ziploc bag, and began to investigate each perfectly sealed packet. Then he turned to Rich:

Policia: Que es esto? (What is this)
Rich: Umm... para ella. (For her)
Policia: Que es?
Rich: (Looking at me in desperation)
Me: Son...algunos productos femininos (They are some feminine products)
Policia: (Calls for his comrade, holding a fistfull of tampons up in the air, shouting across the bus) Sabes que es? (Do you know what this is?)
Policia 2 : (picks up tampon and begins to look it over, feeling the shape of it through the packet.
At this point, everyone in the bus is looking at us. The woman in front of me, gives me a knowing look, and laughs a little under her breath at the genuine ignorance of the policemen, and Rich is frozen in his seat.
Policia 2: AH! (whispers to his comrade) Para Mujeres... (for women).
Policia: (still confused, begins to smell the bag and the individual packets)
Policia 2: (whispering...as if everyone else on the bus hadn't already figured it out) Tampones...(tampons).
The first policemen is still skeptical. "Why are they in his bag?" You can see him wondering. Policeman no. 2 walks away, after giving me a little nod. Suddenly, policeman no. 1 realizes there is an applicator device.
Policia: Ususalmente son pequenos, no? (They are usually small, right?)
Me: Si.
Policia: (smells another one) Y tienen olor? (And they scented?)
Me: Si.
He hands Rich back his bag, and reaches for mine. Upon opening it, bars of chocolate spill out into my lap, followed by two more tampons.

Policia: "Porque tiene muchos?" (why do you have so many?)...