My First Odyssey

I was really sad to be leaving Argentina as over the last month and a half i had had some of the best times and i knew that i would miss the place! My last couple of weeks were really good and really fun!
After coming back to Argentina from Chile i took a couple of buses to Frias...a little town in pretty much the middle of no where in the center of Argentina. Frias is where my friends Diego and Naty live, who had very kindly invited me to stay with them. The town itself is small and really quite, so i had a really good week of relaxing and not spending money which was sorely needed after my week in Chile!
While in Frias i learnt how to make Empanadas, Milenesa and this stuffed pumpkin that was delicious! I also met some of Diego and Natys friends and drank an awful lot of Mate (a herby tea like drink).
When i left Frias i was really sad, i had had a really good week and had met some really lovely people, who made me feel really welcome!
After Frias, i took a bus to Salta, where i had to wait a couple of days for another bus to the top of Chile, to a place called Arica. While in Salta, i went back to the hostel i stayed in before. The people who worked in the hostel were shocked to see me!
On the Sunday morning at 7am i took a bus to Arica in Chile (something like 25hours), then a bus to Tacna (just over the border), a bus from there to Arequipa (11 hours) and then a connecting bus to Cusco (9 hours). Half of that time on the buses i was burning up with a fever and a cold, it was not pleasant! I was so relieved to be back in Cusco, i familiar place and a place where i could sleep and get better!

Ok, here goes! Not sure how far i got with showing the photos so if i have repeated myself, please ignore them!

The first Argentina photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1814&l=20287&id=514709675

Buenos Aires: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1863&l=e535d&id=514709675

Puerto Madryn: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2315&l=bd7e5&id=514709675

Welshness!: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2316&l=41558&id=514709675

Esquel and Lago Puelo: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2388&l=4fbad&id=514709675

Whole mixture: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2390&l=07240&id=514709675

Mendoza is on the west of Argentina near the border with Argentina and Chile. It is the centre of the countries wine region with most of Argentine wine coming from Mendoza and its surrounding regions.
I travelled to Mendoza with Nikki and Rachel as we were all wanting to go there. Luckily Rachel had a teaching friend who was living in Mendoza and offered to put us up. When we arrived it was evening, so we went straight to Rachels friend Greg´s house. I was really worried that he wouldnt want me to stay as he didnt know i was coming but luckily he was a really lovely guy and didnt seem to mind one bit!
The next day in Mendoza was laundry day...all our clothes stank of sulphur and were mucky from the volcanoes. We did a bit of shopping as well and i managed to find a pair of trousers to finally replace the ones i lost in La Paz! We also managed to get a hair cut. Mine took all of 15 minutes and was really good. For 18 pesos (about 3 pounds) it was well worth it! In the evening, as it was a friday we went out for a meal (Mexican) and then to a bar. Nikki was ill so she and Rachel went back early, but the rest of us stayed on and went to a club.
On the Saturday we didnt do anything as Nikki was ill and me and Rachel were really tired.
Sunday was the City Boy Fun Park day. In the Lonely Planet, under the activities in Mendoza it describe the City Boy Fun park as a place to take the kids and can be a fun day out. We went there with so much hope, Rachel and i kept chanting City Boy Fun park, we couldnt wait. We got there and all it was was an tiny carosel painted with Disney characters. We were so disappointed! After the disappointment, we went to the Aquarium...also in the Lonely Planet. It was the most depressing Aquarium and Nikki and I both agreed that all the fish looked really really sad. After all the sadness and disappointment of the morning we felt we needed icecream. Later that evening we bought cakes and sat and watched a clown show, trying not to get picked on!
Nikki and Rachel had to go on the monday, but before their bus in the evening, we went to the wineries. Greg worked for a bike company which rents bikes to people so you can cycle round to all the wineries. We went to the bike rental place, got the bikes and went off to our first stop - the museum. Nikki and Rachel were really scared of the bikes, they kept screaming when cars came past and really didnt seem to like it. I on the other hand loved it. There were no hill so it was really easy, the bikes were good, the sun was shining and there was a gentle breeze...perfect! We cycled round and got our free samples of wine and learnt how to make it. Then we went to a chocolate and liquor shop, where we also got free samples. Free samples are always good in my book. We really wanted to go and try to find the vodka distillery but we didnt have enough time, and to be honest i dont think Rachel and Nikki would have been able to cycle any more! We went back to Mendoza and got everything ready as they had a taxi to the bus station. The taxi came and so we had to say good bye. I was staying for one more day as my bus was a midday one. I cooked dinner and Greg and I had that before going out to a bar and then to the casino. ç
The next day was hard as it was Labour day and so it was a real rush to try and find a taxi to get me to the bus station. Luckily i got one just in time and had to say goodbye to Greg and to Mendoza!

I actually have no idea where this little town was. It was basically a little town from where you could get to caves, volcanoes and hot springs. I went to Malargüe with Nikki and Rachel, the two American girls i met in El Bolson.
On our first main day in Malargüe we went to the thermal baths. There were two different ones. We had to get a car to get up there so we had a guy called Christiano drive us up to the hot springs. The first ones were in a hotel. We were only allowed in them for 10 minutes. Lets just say that they STANK so we werent too bothered about not staying in there. They were really relaxing, but when we got back to the car, we were told we smelt like rotten eggs because of the sulphur. We drove on to the next ones, which were in amongst ruins. We decided not to go in these, instead we put our feet in. It was really really cold, and the thought of changing and getting in was too much. Christiano thought it was funny but said he couldnt blame us!
The next day we did a very expensive tour of the volcanoes and black dessert. We had paid 150 pesos which is about 25 pounds (a lot!) for the trip and we really didnt like it. There were two German girls staying in our room who were on the trip with us. They hadnt said a word to us the whole time they were in our room and they didnt include us in the trip either. We werent really bothered as it meant that we got to go off and climb volcanoes on our own, which was good. The volcanoes were totally black. They hadnt errupted for a few hundred years, so sadly we were very unlikely to see one errupt, but it was really cool to walk around on the black rocks. In the evening of this day we made popcorn and watched Pirates of the Caribbean 1!
In the morning we had a bus from Malagüe to Mendoza so the next day was full of packing and relaxing before our bus.

If you look at any guide book about South America, it will tell you to bypass El Bolson and go straight to Bariloche. Now i have never been one to do as i am told and the fact that Bariloche sounded so touristy turned my right off. El Bolson is quite similar to the tourist hot spot of Bariloche, but is quieter and smaller.
When I arrived there i had to find a hostel. This proved difficult as it was out of season. Eventually i settled for a hostel 4km outside of El Bolson town. It was a little log cabin in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by trees and i little creek that ran through the property. Inside the log fire rawed and the smell of people cooking delicious food hit you straight away. I was really glad that i chose this hostel. The first night was a night of card playing...mostly the game of "shithead" as no one seemed to know anything else. After a good few hours of card playing it was decided that the 7 of us playing the game would go up one of the mountains the next day and visit the Bosque Tollando (a art exhibition where local artists had carved shapes into some of the trees.
We got taxis up the mountain as it was a good 10km up and we felt lazy. When we got to the exhibition there were the most incredible carvings of people, faces and hands (among others) and the sun was shining so it made the carvings look even more spectacular. We walked to the refugio (a little wooden hut on the mountain side, where you can stay the night if you are hiking through the mountains). Two American girls, Nikki and Rachel, and I ate some homemade cake and played with the kittens that lived there. At about 3pm we had to start the hike down so that we would reach El Bolson before nightfall. The hike down took about 3 hours. It was beautiful at first, but soon became quite monotonous and hard on your knees.
The next day was a Saturday which equals Market Day! In the center of El Bolson people gather to sell their jewellery, homemade crafts, jams, bread and cakes, not to mention the chocolate!!! Nikki, Rachel and I walked around the market for hours, sampling the delicious jams and looking at the beautiful jewellery. In the afternoon, whilst everyone was packing up we thought it was only fair to buy a waffle from the waffleman, who turned out to be from south London, and to sample a nice BIG pint of the local ale...it went down very nicely!
Thats it from El Bolson!