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Santiago 2 - Return to Ceviches
We landed at Santiago airport at about 8pm and went straight to Granjad's Cafe (Gatsby's) and ate a delicious, huge and expensive salad with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. We slept here but soon another traveller joined us and slept in a small alcove opposite. She was quite dark-skinned so we assumed she could speak Spanish and was being rude when we were forced to speak to a security guard and she didn't help or speak to him. We were later pleased when she turned out to be an Australian and didn't speak a word of Spanish and thought ours was excellent.
After a late night and a hard floor we made our way to the bus station on Tur Bus and got on our Andesmar bus to Mendoza. We reached a point in the road, some 2 hours from the bus station, over the mountains and it started to snow. The road was closed to most traffic and we had to return to Santiago. We then had a refund on our ticket and tried to see if any of the other companies with smaller minibuses could get through but there was no joy.
They said the road would definately be clear by Friday, they weren't sure about Thursday and as it was Wednesday we decided to go straight back to the airport and enjoyed an all-you-can-eat Buffet at Granjad's Cafe (Gatsby) . Once we had made ourselves feel very sick, we went to our favourite area of the airport for a second night and hoped the security guard we lied to the day before was not hanging around tonight. We enjoyed watching the people milling around below the cafe, having awkward scenes of emotion and enjoyed commenting on the airport fashions of the day. A favourite was the World War 1 guards and Retro Trolley who sparked the initiation of many stories - by this point we had airport fever!
The next day we headed back into Santiago feeling very dirty. We met a guy on the bus, who also spoke no Spanish. and was going skiing in Chile. We all had time to waste and so what better than a trip to the giant supermarket to get snacks for a third night in the airport. Our bus was still not running but as kulaks are noisy and shout a lot we heard the word Mendoza drift sweetly on the wind. We located the noise and happily got ourselves onto the bus at 1:30pm. Chile was very strict with food coming into their country and we hoped that Argentina wouldn't follow suit as we had just bought a lot of food and wine, for our proposed airport picnic. We still thought that we would be turned back but as we passed the guard post we got onto the mountain pass. There was very little traffic on the road as there was still snow and ice at certain points, mainly on dangerous corners. Our driver was obviously not used to driving on ice, or had become confused between what not to do and thought that was how to drive safely. He braked harshly on the ice, turned the wheel with careless abandon and used a low gear. If there was a metre or two of clear road he would accelerate harshly and then repeat the braking process on the ice. Thankfully we were so glad to be getting back to Argentina that it compensated for the fear of death that might have occurred. We were also pleased when our picnic snacks could continue the journey with us as the guards were far too cold at the border and our teeth chattered. The pass we travelled was quite scenic and beautiful but the atmosphere was lost when kulaks were crammed into the small vehicle and one decided to be sick. Charlie graciously gave him some water and left the sick bottle with him.
Final Thoughts: Granjad cafe good, sleeping on floor bad.
Mark out of 10: 5
Next time ............... Mendoza 2
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