greetings from mendoza and bariloche!

hola!

i had not intended to be online so soon but time flies and things seem to happen quickly when you're on holidays! i had a great time in mendoza seeing some ruins and visiting some wineries before i met up with a chick from france (i am not learning much spanish unfortunately) and we decided to see puenta del inca and mount aconcagua together.  mount aconcagua is the highest mountain in all of the americas at 6,962m in height!  we headed off by bus very early in the morning and hiked around a bit at the base before we dropped down to an altitude of around 3,100m above sea level.  there was snow everywhere and the view was absolutely amazing!  there was no one around except us. we took a picnic and enjoyed the natural beauty. 

we then walked down to puenta del inca which is a bridge made from salt deposits and other minerals.  once upon a time it was entirely naturally made but now the bridge is maintained by humans.  the bridge itself is yellow and a bit smelly of sulfur and underneath are hot springs to bathe in but we didn't bring our suits. 

after our wander, we hitch-hiked back (160km) to mendoza! not to worry mom, dad or gail, i was with someone else and we ended up with a lovely tractortrailer driver as our chauffeur!  he chatted the whole way and served us matte (a traditional tea they drink here which you drink out of special cups, using a metal straw (with a filter on the end) to filter out the loose leaves.  it's quite good with a bit of sugar :)  the ride back in the cab was fun as was the thrill of hitchhiking in general.  he dropped us off on the outskirts of town and we took a bus the rest of the way in. 

while at the bus station, we had a look at the schedule and discovered there was a night bus to bariloche that night (lucky but also completely unplanned!) we raced back to the hostel and had a half hour to get packed and get back to the bus station before the bus left...  it was quite the rush but in true south american style, the bus left late and we were actually left waiting around for its departure. 

we arrived in bariloche this morning (northern patagonia) and it's beautiful!  i think that i'll stay until sunday and then head over to chile.

missing you all!

sarah

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amazing people and amazing waterfalls!!

good morning to all!

i've officially decided that south american people are very nice and friendly!  it was raining like crazy and surprise, i was running late to catch my plane from buenos aires to puerto iguazu. i didn't have time to stop and put on my coat as i had to find the bus that would take me to the aeropuerto ASAP when a nice man offered to share his umbrella with me. he then helped me to find the shuttle bus station  as the bus i had planned to take doesn't run on sundays! he even offered to hire a car (and pay for it!) if there was no shuttle bus.

then, last night, i arrived late (11pm) at the bus terminal in mendoza. i had practiced and prepared my speech for the taxi driver to take me to my hostel however there were no taxis when i left the station. i was dreading the thought of walking in a strange city at that hour of the night with all my junk and my blond hair when a lovely couple stopped and asked if i needed any assistance. they ended up driving me to the hostel and showed me where they lived on the way past, in case i needed anything! how nice is that?!  i think your guardian angel is working matt!

now, about puerto iguazu which is where i've been :)  it's located in the north of argentina (on the border with brazil) and it wasn't on my itinerary when i left however the gentleman at the hostel in buenos aires said it shouldn't be missed!  there's a canadian guy and his traveling companion (an american) who i've befriended at the hostel and we went to see the argentinian side of the falls together. the falls were absolutely amazing!  beaucoup mieux que les chutes de niagara et beaucoup plus magnifique!  there are supposedly 275 of them when the water is lower but when we were there, the water level was huge and i think some of them have been washed into others.

the following day, derek and i headed over to brazil to see the falls from a different perspective - from the argentinian side, you're more in the falls whereas on the brazilian side, you can appreciate them from a distance better. there's between 3 to 4 kilometers of waterfalls, poring all over, it's truly magnificent! we spend the following day in a water park on the brazilian side and then derek and i walked back into argentina which is kind of a cool think to be able to say! 

he and i left puerto iguazu and went to posadas to see some jesuit ruins but we never made it because we enjoyed posadas too much. i arrived in mendoza last night after a long and tedious 30 hour bus ride - i won't be hoping on any long distance bus trips for a bit :)

i hope that all is well!

sarah 

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