Argentina, the Latin Country and the Chilean Coast

Just before Christmas I headed towards Mendoza to re-enter Chile and get a new 3-month visa as I was going to stay a total of 4 months in the country. I had planned to stay 3 days in Argentina then go spend the holidays back on the chilean coast in Valparaiso with Gonzalo's family (my cycling partner for Patagonia). The road was one of the most beautiful I've ever seen around the border and the Aconcagua natonal park, especially with the end of the afternoon's light.
In Mendoza, I wlked the first night to plaza Independancia where a diverse crowd was enjoying capoeira and battucada performers all over. It seemed like there were concerts or events almost every night on the plaza, especially as we entered the peak of the touristy season.
I reunited with fellow cyclists Manu and Élise that I hadn't seen since Potosi more than a month ago, and ran into other cyclists I hadn't seen since the very beginning of my trip, at the casa de ciclista in LaPaz. Salva, a Spanish cyclist who's been on the road for 8 years, and Margitt and James, who started their trip at home, near San Francisco. We caught up and had great discussions while eating big ice creams, in the hope to cool down our over-heated bodies as the high temperature never went under 30 degrees celsius even at night. No wonder night life is so big here, as it was difficult to do much during the day!
I also made new friends; I met Pauline who worked in my hostel, with her partner Jean-Charles and their friend Thibault, all French in their mid-20s, and their group of French and Argentinisn friends, including Maxi, an Argentinian French teacher who I had a lot of fun with. I discovered that it was now possible for French to have a work and holiday visa in Argentina. They wecomed me in their group as if I always had been part of it, and I enjoyed Mendoza's nightlife in their company, the highlight being our last night together, during which we partied and danced until dawn. I came back at the hostel at 7:30 in the morning, where it seems like I snored very loudly until noon in the 9-people dorm (they must have been really happy that I came back at the end of their night)... I hesitated about mentioning this episode, as it's not the most classy episode of my life, but don't want to give a false image of myself; I love outdoors adventures but I also still enjoy dancing and laughing all night long while drinking some Cuba Libres prepared by Fidel (I'm not joking, that was his name).

I also learnt that in Chile some people call a Cuba Libre "mentire" (a lie) which confirms the gap between the two countries's political views. Speaking of Cuba, I watched a great documentary about the Che Guevara, as I had arrived in his birth country (I've included the link below if you want to see it). I also discovered some pretty good Argentinian bands that are a bit more my taste than what I had heard so far. Arts seem to have a more important place in Argentinian society than in Chile. The most art I've seen in Chile was in the street, graffitis are everywhere. I wondered if graffitis didn't appear in areas where the people don't have enough space in their cities to express their creativity, so they take that space where they can: the street.

Che Guevara French Documentary 1/10

Documentary about the life of Che Guevara since child to his death.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I58Bu_fO5Vk

As I enjoyed the feel of the area I decided not to go spend the holidays in Valparaiso, but rather stay longer in Argentina to explore another area. And after so much partying I decided to leave town and go help an organic farm for a week, close from San Rafael, 3 hours south of Mendoza. I had considered going to the Aconcagua park for a few days, but the entry fee for the park (USD$250) discouraged me, so I opted for the countryside instead, to ground myself a bit. I actually chatted with a park warden working at the Aconcagua national park at a party who said locals could no longer enjoy the mountain as they couldn't afford the high cost of the park, even though cheaper than the tourist price it was still too much.
I really felt in Argentina that my latin side, quite asleep in the anglo-saxon Yukon was awakening, which was really a nice feel, and a reminder that I shouldn't let this part fall asleep again even when returning up north.
I found a farm thanks to the WWOOF network, and met Nora & Luis and joined them in their organic farm of vineyards, olive trees and fruit trees 25 km from San Rafael, 3 hours south of Mendoza. It was a pretty although rather flat area, more countryside then wilderness, covered of olive trees and vineyards.

Our days would start by working in the yard from 8AM until 1PM when we'd have lunch, then take a nap during the warmest hours of the day. After that we'd often head towards the irrigation channel behind the house to bathe and cool down our bodies, as the temperatures stayed around 38 degrees celsius; it was our saviour, we'd walk upstream in the search of frogs, I loved eating a wild asparagus growing along the water, and play with the dogs. Then we'd get back to work around 6PM, and finish by night time, around 9PM to enjoy dinner together.

Nora organises a youth film festival in Patagonia, so we had great chats about films and saw quite a few during the hottest hours of the day. Her and Luis were quite passionate about politics and we shared many similar values, which led us to share endless conversations about how fucked up and beautiful the world is (all of it in Spanish of course, so I haven't improved my grammar but my flow is definitely more fluid and faster). Being in company of warm-blooded latin friends allowed me to be as naturally passionate as I can be, which was quite pleasant.

If I were a filmmaker, I would make a film about Luis and Nora, they would make a beautiful story in a great scenery.

I helped preparing a new part of the garden to grow tomatoes (before-after)

I sorted out young vines as many were dead (that's the big pile of black plastic bags full of dirt) and attached the big vine growing on the wooden structure

and gave a hand to put wine and olive oil into bottles.

I had forgotten how much we lived in company of insects in the countryside, some that I appreciated more than others...

On Christmas Eve we went to their friends' communal house; a property with 5 families in their thirties who try to live as autonomouly as possible, a bit like what is know as hippie communities, but I'm not sure they'd appreciate the comparison. They asked many questions about the Yukon as they were pretty intrigued by my life up north, and by its rather open-minded community I spoke highly of.
I left Nora and Luis on New Years day after a beautiful stay in their company, to join my French and Argentinian friends back in Mendoza, where we enjoyed a night of chats, wanders in the city, swimming and games; I actually found a French woman who was much better than me at fusball (I had become fairly good at this game after a few nights in Alaskan pubs last summer).

From there I took a bus to Puenta de Inca, close from the Chilean border and from the entry of the Aconcagua park. I found Thibault and Soledad at a refuge, the Estacion Terminal, and went for a little hike with Soledad at the beginning of the park. I actually was glad we didn't plan a too long hike, as I hadn't worn anything else than sandals in 3 weeks my feet really suffered to get back in more stiff shoes, I think they grew 2 sizes more.

The scenery was gorgeous even though it was just the entry of the park, and the flora rich at this time of the year. I also enjoyed a much cooler weather, and thanked the little rain for refreshingbmy body temperature after more than 2 weeks of constant heat.

On our way back we discovered an abandonned bus that seemed to belong to artists who stayed in the area, a lit like the Alaskan bus of the film Into the Wild, in the Andean version. In the the refuge I got to meet a bit more the crowd there; I was a bit intimidated as most had been spending New Years together and had built some pretty strong bonds, but they turned out to be pretty inclusive, and I ended up at a party in the only bar of the community that was celebrating its first birthday, and the 40th birthday of the owner. Two women presented a great show, they were singing play-back on lots of pieces of songs put together one after the other in a hillarious duo of love and hate.

The next day I hitch-hiked back to Santiago, which turned out to be the most easy hitch-hike of my life; each time I'd grab my "Santiago" sign, the first vehicle - a truck - to pass by would stop immediatly, it was pretty hilarious. I had good chats with the truck drivers, one dreamed of studying anthropology and loved philosophy, and the other one was very sensitive and pretty spiritual, not the kind of men we'd expect to meet in such jobs.

Back in Santiago, I went back to Rodrigo's parents' house, where I shared my first impressions of Argentina. His father said that before the dictatorship, Argentina was a very rich and protectionnist country, they could almost shut their doors at the time and be autonomous. After all the family commented the many positive aspects of Argentina and its people, I laughed, asking them why they weren't living there instead of Chile, as they unanimously thought Argentina was better; Ernesto, Rodrigo's brother answered very seriously that they had to stay in Chile because that's where there's the most work to do to change the country.

I left them after two joyful nights, and biked to the bus station to join Gonzalo, who I'd bike with for the next two months in Vina del Mar. I had barely cycled 1 km that I met a road cyclist, who offered to chaperone me until the bus station, 15 km further. We had good chats about the cycling community, and he left me at the ticket office of the bus company, another of these Chilean gentlemen!

Here I am with Gonzalo and his family, getting ready for our Patagonian trip which is really exciting; another dream come true! He brought me to Valparaiso for a little tour of the city today, which is quite unique, I loved its old feel, the hundreds of graffitis, the dozens of stairs climbing up the mountain straight from the ocean.

We met one of his friends who'll join us, and I discovered we wouldn't be 4 but 7 to hit the road... What a team! I'm opened to see how things will go, it should be fun, and we agreed that if people were a bit too diverse in speed it was also possible to split in several groups along the road. The goal is to get to Villa O'Higgins, although I still dream of pushing a bit further, but I don't want to hurry to get there, so we'll see!

Oh, and I added a few pictures to the previous post, I didn't have a good connexion when I wrote it and it was a bit dry.

Comments

[Holly]

Ahhh Argentina... I was in all these places Steph, and even arrived in Mendoza from Chile like you.... and just found that I loved Argentina and Argentinians! Enjoy Patagonia, and if you go to Pucon, you must stay at the hostel 'La Bicileta' and meet the owner Jose!

[Stephanie Chevalier]

Thanks for the tip Holly, I'll check it out :-) Hugs and a wonderful happy new year to you and Karl!