I had slight reservations as to whether or not we would successfully wake up and be at the bus stop for 8.30am. Thankfully we managed it. The walk wasn't too bad in the end. We blended into the midst of commuters. Thus started the end of our time in Chile.
It wasn't long before we left the thick fog of Santiago (odd) and got into the clear of the mountains. The transition of the surface of the mountain went from grass and trees into just rock before ending up with snow and ice. To my surprise we even managed to go basically through a ski resort. It didn't seem like they had much snow though unfortunately.
The ordeal of the border crossing seemed to drag more than the endless drag lifts taking the skiers up the mountains. We seemed to be waiting for absolutely no reason. Nothing seemed to be working or moving. This was South American ethic at it's finest. I hope the rest of Argentina doesn't follow this trend.
After several hours of pure boredom we made it through into Argentina. Where we will spend the bulk of the rest of our time. This did start to feel like we had half a step through the door to the plane and back to the normality (or perhaps pure craziness) that is Europe.
The walk from the bus stop to the accommodation was quite easy but quite far. We had no money as we were now in another country so we couldn't take a taxi - much to Emma's dislike. All of the shops seemed to be very normal. This was even more modern than Chile!
We settled into our accommodation before heading out to get the feel of Mendoza. Emma's phone went into meltdown mode for zero reason so we had to leave it and with it, our source of maps and location.
The lack of seemingly ideginous looking people had continued to evaporate. This seemed like Europe again! Sure you'd have the occasional quite tanned person, but the majority looked like northern Europeans. The shops reflected this. We saw the most amount of McDonald's and Burger king and similar than we had for pretty much the entire rest of the trip.
We found a tour agency and booked into a wine tour for the following day. This is what Mendoza is known for and naturally we must oblige. I continued the Argentinian trend over dinner with a steak and some red wine. The food was cheaper than Chile which was a relief. More expensive than Bolivia but the quality of the food reflected this. It is very much a you get what you pay for attitude to food and restaurants here. The first day in Argentina was mostly just easing us in and I hope to explore some more. It seems alright though.
