Mendoza, Argentina

We've covered a bit of ground since I last posted.  Right now we're relaxing on our balcony overlooking Plaza Indepencia, the centre square in Mendoza.  It was a beautiful sunny day, 24C, for walking around, seeing the town, having a beer in the pedestrian street while figuring out our next few steps.

After seeing Perito Moreno glacier near El Calafate, we took the bus back to Puerto Natales, and then caught another bus to Punta Arenas.  The crossing into Chile was much more labourious than going to Argentina.  Everyone had to get their luggage from the bus, have it scanned (for prohibited items such as fruit and meat). We had a couple hard boiled eggs for a snack on the long bus ride, which they cracked to make sure they were in fact cooked.

We stayed at Hotel Ilaia in Punta Arenas, which is run by a very nice family.  It also had the one of the best breakfasts so far, including home made chapatis, and steeped tea!  And a rainhead shower.

We took a day trip to Isla Magdalena to see a penguin colony.  We saw thousands of Magellanic penguins, although not as a big group, but rather dotted all across the island in their burrows.  We took a two-hour ferry to the island through the Strait of Magellan (which was quite comfortable), then had an hour on the island before returning back to Punta Arenas.  There is a roped qalking path from the docking area to a lighthouse at the centre of the island.  Penguins are all around you as you walk.  It was extremely windy, and we were concerned about being blown off our feet into a penguin burrow.  Fortunately no penguins were killed by our walk!

It's a long way back from Punta Arenas to Santiago (almost 48 hours by bus), so we flew with Sky Airlines, $150 one-way, about half the price of LAN Chile.  It was a mill run, stopping down in a couple cities along the way.

Stayed overnight in Santiago at Casa Bonita (same place as our first night), then took a bus through the Andes to Mendoza.  We had the front seats on the upper level of a double decker semi-cama bus (semi-cama means 'half-bed' in spanish, and refers to the fact that the seats fold back to 140*, almost flat).  This is the way to take this trip.  The views of the Andes and the road, especially near the top of the Chilean side where there's about 30 switchbacks, is amazing. Near the top it tunnels through the peak, reaching an altitude of 3195m.

Unfortunately it takes forever to get through customs.  We waited 2.5 hours at the crossing.  Definitely not as efficient as the crossing to El Calafate. There was an excellent stall selling sandwiches which helped.

We arrived in Mendoza and checked into Hotel San Martin.  We had emailed them earlier but they said they were full, but they seem to have plenty of rooms available.

We had lunch in the market this afternoon which was great, much better than the overbooked steak we had on the touristy Av Sarmiento. Tonight we are looking for a restaurant on the trendy Aristides Villanueva.