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Just got back Thurs. night (the 18th) around 6pm from my 5 day venture to Argentina. Visited Mendoza, which is right on the border of Chile and Argentina, (only about 14 hours by bus from where I live.) It takes a little longer when you travel by bus but is definitely worth it! To get to Argentina from Chile you must cross the Andes but you obviously can't drive straight through. You're literally "climbing the mts." like stairs for about 2 hours. Definitely gives you a headache but the view is spectacular!
We left Concepcion around midnight Friday and arrived in Argentina around 4:30pm Sat. Checked into our hostel at around 5pm. Our hostel was definitely one of my least favorite parts of the trip. It was so dirty, looked like it hadn't been cleaned in about a year (no joke.) The shower needed a plumber like no other. We took turns showering and had to wait about 20 min. in between each person due to the FLOOD in the bathroom. There were cobwebs and bugs everywhere! Really though, it was less than $10/day/person to stay there, so I wasn't going to complain too much. I'd rather spend my money on other things.
Mendoza (if you don't know already) is the capital of the world for WINE! They produce tons and tons of wine!! "Malbec" is their most popular red wine they produce and export all over the world. Because wine is their biggest export, it is incredibly cheap! We were shocked to buy a bottle of wine at a restaurant for only 8 pesos (which is only about $2.50US) then to have a guy tell us a later that we "got ripped off."
The 5 day venture was full of touring the city, shopping, and relaxing/people-watching, etc. Argentina itself is known for their abundant supply of cow, so with that said leather (clothes, belts, wallets) and FANTASTIC steaks at restaurants are incredibly cheap. Mendoza is a very clean city when compared with Concepcion/Santiago. Every day there were trucks/people sweeping the streets. There's public garbages every block (unlike Concepcion.) Even though it was exceptionally clean, you still had to pay around 40 cents to use a restroom, (unless you ate at the restaurant/cafe) The public transportation isn't as modernized as Santiago. In Mendoza, they have buses and taxis. The buses are a little difficult to figure out. You purchase a card, then have to go to a store to put money on the card, and figure out which particular bus number you need to find, which can be hectic in itself. Taxis are pretty easy and definitely cheap to take (which is what we did most of the time.) For a 25-30 min. taxi ride, it only cost about $5 US.
Mendoza is a very popular city for tourism. We met lots of people from Sweden, Australia, all over the US, Spain, Brazil, etc. With all the turism, there was lots of public entertainment: Street dancers, bands, jugglers, etc. The city is full of about 5 different public parks/plazas. Each one is gorgeous (has fountains, statues, public art fairs) and always filled with locals/tourists relaxing in the sunshine (it was an average of about 75 degrees every day.)
The difference in appearance with the people was very drastic compared to Chile! It's very interesting considering we were only 5 hours from the border. The people in Argentina have a sort-of Italian looking appearance. Their skin/eyes aren't as dark. Along with appearance, their Spanish accent is different as well. SO MUCH EASIER to understand than that of Chile. Even though they appear a little more "European" per-say, we still stick-out like a sore thumb! When we strolled the streets each day, we'd constantly hear, "Gringas! Gringas! Hello, how are you?" I had a couple older guys (around 40 or so I'd say) following me around with a camera one day, wanting to take my picture! It was funny, but still a little weird when I'd look around and there's a man with a huge zoom camera pointed at me!
All in all, it was an amazing time in Argentina! I definitely want to go back again....Maybe Buenos Aires??
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