Argy-Bargy

The fast super ferry across the River Plate takes just over an hour to reach Buenos Aires from Uraguay and we entered a different world of some 13 million in a truely grand and spacious city. We stayed at a lovely old hostel amidst cobbled, tree lined streets with classic pavement cafes and occasional tango dancers. A couple of days were spent dashing around this Paris of the South, including visiting Evitas grave and the worlds widest street - we counted 22 lanes running through the middle of town. Our (mainly my!) tolerance for city life was wearing thin and, after dragging Sarah away from a sudden fight in the underground in which she caught a glancing blow to her wrist, it was a relief to escape the argy-bargy (sorry!) and board the night bus for Mendoza in the west.
15 hrs later, once again sporting a light beard (me, not Sarah) we arrived not in the picturesque alpine wine region we had in mind, but a sprawling drab city of a million people. Rats! The weather turned v cold with snow down to the city limits so it was time to hunker down for a couple of days. We did enjoy a very informative winery tour but it was rather like coals to Newcastle and the famous wines weren´t nearly as good as our locals ones at home. Maybe it was the bitter weather that didnt help the Malbec?
Again it was a relief to leave the big city and head west again into the Andes to stay in an isolated hostel near Uspallata just a couple of hours away. Immediately the scenery exploded into spectacular life - blue skies with white snowy mountains surrounding a monochrome bowl of golden hues...golden trees, leaves, grasses, rocks and soils. Even the hostals 3 labradores were golden! (This area was the setting for the film Seven Years in Tibet as it so resembles Central Asia.)
This was indeed food for the soul and we both recharged our batteries and breathed in fresh life again.
The next stage of our journey was to cross the pass over the Andes to reach Santiago in Chile, but as the winter weather can close the pass for weeks we had to move on to be ready for a likely chance to get through.
We opted to move further into the mountains to stay at a large ski resort and hopefully get a few turns in, but on hopping out of the bus we hopped straight back in again with the lean, icey slopes looking most uninviting.
The road to Chile was currently closed, but was rumoured to open next morning so the bus dropped us at icy cold Punte del Inca which is used as the start point to climb Aconcagua, which, at 6959m is the highest point outside the Himalaya. Exciting!
Next morning, standing by the snowy road watching the backlog of 100s of big trucks grind past, doubts grew about the arrival of our bus, so jumped at the chance of a lift with a Texan family in camper van who we had talked with the night before.
What an awesome ride! With an outstanding nerve Michael overtook some 10km or so of stationary trucks backed up at the border post....all over the double yellow line and at speed with me in the front acting as spotter on the blind corners. Oh my God ...epic stuff in epic scenery. (We would still be in that queue which must last for a couple of days if he hadn´t nailed it so decisevely!)
After the semi-chaotic queues at the crossing we stopped and all went snow tubing with the 3 kids.
They were not heading to our destination of Santiago but to the Pacific coast, so we stuck with them and greatly enjoyed their company for several hours until Vena del Mar. We hope they take up our invitation to visit us in Nelson sometime as we thoroughly enjoyed their company.
And as for Chile - it´s different again and so spectacular!....and with the magnolias just coming out it offers up memories of home.