Patagonia: Day 2

December 17, 2008

San Rafael to Malargüe (187 km – 116 miles)

We were exhausted from yesterday, so we got yet another late start on the day. Today’s big excursion was to Caverna de las Brujas (Witches Cavern Link 1 or Link 2). This is a single entry cavern complex in the Andes that was formed from tectonic plates and the ocean carving them out. Once we arrived, we donned a hard hat and hat light and the guide started us on the tour. The first room we arrived in, we had to turn off all of our lights. It was pitch black! (at the end of the tour 2 hours later after your eyes became accustomed, you could see a lot!) Again, 3rd world country and they let you get away with a lot. My mother will probably kill me when she sees some of the pictures from the cavern with me climbing a slippery rock with no safety rope attached. We made our way through the cavern complex, seeing stalagmites and mineral water everywhere. A few places, Carina scared me when she slipped, but she was good. When we left the cave, we had to exit in stages as our eyes had become accustomed to the darkness.

Next, we drove to Pozo de las Animas (Souls Hole). These are two gigantic sinkholes at the base of the Andes. It gets it name from the legend that Indians use to through women into the hole as sacrifices. Up the road was Las Leñas, a world-class ski resort. We got a hot chocolate and drove back to Malargüe, had dinner and retired for the evening.

Patagonia: Day 1

December 16, 2008

Mendoza to San Rafael (235 km – 146 miles)

We got a late start in the morning since Carina had some last minute work issues come up and she had to work early into the morning. We left Mendoza and drove south to San Rafael, which is known as the wine capital of Argentina [Carina Edit: wine capital according San Rafael’eans]. When you buy a Malbec from “Mendoza”, you aren’t buying a wine that came from the city of Mendoza (which is what I use to thing), but wine from Mendoza is actually Mendoza Provence.

Once we arrived to San Rafael, we checked into the “San Martin” hotel, which was off of downtown. After taking our bags upstairs, we headed off on an excursion to “Valle Grande” and “Cañón del Atuel”. But first, I was introduced to driving in Argentina when Carina let me take control of the car. It’s amazing how quickly you adapt to the observed “guidelines” of the road…

The day’s excursion was basically a circuit that started from San Rafael, through a curvy, paved road though Valle Grande to a huge dam. From there, we drove through Cañón del Atuel, which was a curvy, treacherous road, but this time it was gravel and full of ruts from water erosion. Since Argentina is essentially a 3rd world country [Carina’s correction, 2nd world!!!!!!!!!!!!! – I’m getting offended], , you can do almost anything you want… including driving a tiny Peugeot through a national treasure like the Grand Canyon. Carina started to get scared because we went through a ½ a tank of gas driving through the canyon (1st and 2nd gears mostly). It was also getting dark, so she took control and drove at a faster rate than I was driving back to town.

After we arrived back at the hotel, we went to the spa in the hotel and messed around in their “water garden”… which was essentially a big hot swimming pool with high-pressure water jets. It was totally relaxing. Afterward, we went to the hotel restaurant for a late meal (10:00 p.m. is actually early here), then retired for the evening.

Mendoza

I arrived in Mendoza around 11:30 this morning (8:30 CST). The flight to Mendoza was beautiful since we flew over the Andes, and the mountains were right below us.

Carina's family is coming over to her house to cook "asado", which is grilling meat over a wooden oven.

We walked around downtown on the way back from the airport and had lunch at a street side pizzeria. Afterwords, we went to a large grocery store to buy items for the asado. Not surprisingly, the beer section was lacking... but the wine section was ginormous!

Santiago

I arrived in Santiago around 4:45 a.m. CST. Thanks to Carina, I flew business class. I think the plane was a 767. I had a new seat that converted into a bed... along with a entertainment center that I could play movies, tv shows, music and games on demand.

Another perk in using business class is that you get to use the VIP lounges in the airports... which is how I'm writing this. They have a coffee/espresso machine, beverages, tiny sandwiches. The coolest thing I find on trips abroad are the beverages. I'm sipping blood-red strawberry juice and a light green melon juice.

Argentina... Here I come.

I'm sitting in the Miami airport, awaiting my 8 p.m. flight to Santiago, Chile. It's a short flight from there to Mendoza, which is my ultimate destination. I should be in Mendoza at 9:30 a.m. CST.

So far, the trip has been good. I was upgraded to 1st class on Houston to Miami leg. I sat next to an older guy who was in real estate in Mexico City. He was a Cuban, but left in 1962 and lives in Miami. Nice guy.