7 - E.T.

The drive from the lowland areas in the Amazon up onto the Altiplano is always one of the more interesting parts of a visit to that part of South America. As the trees get shorter and shorter and the greenery begins to disappear, you continue to rise and the land begins to look like the surface of the moon. It’s grey, dusty, and becomes flatter as you get to the top, occasionally broken by small pointy mountains. Step out of the bus after a 13000 foot climb and you’ll feel like an astronaut, too. It’s a unique world.

Driving down to Patagonia is kind of a similar experience. There’s a billboard with a giant bite taken out of it advertising Caution: Dinosaurs. The road we took followed a river that came complete with small canyons here and there and some inviting places to stop and swim. The trees also become shorter and shorter as you go along, and combined with these puffy-looking, bulbous shrubs carpeting the ground, kind of gives an Alice In Wonderland feel. Most of the mountains are not overwhelmingly tall, but impressive nonetheless because of the sheer rock faces and pointy, dangerous look. Some wispy clouds, a little snow on the tallest peaks and a constant blowing wind complete the scenery.

Before leaving Mendoza however, I had to get on a wine tour for my last day. Most of the wineries in Mendoza are very small and privately owned spots. They had the visitation machine rolling by the time we came around in early afternoon. One place said that they sell up to 20% of their wine at the winery, and they know how to sell. There is nothing like the smell of the basement where wine ages in wooden barrels. We were also taught what makes each wine a little different from the last, and how to taste wine like professionals. I obviously wasn’t about to carry some bottles around travelling, so I passed on the marked-up prices.

Back on the bus, the river we had been following dumped into a lake and we pulled in to Bariloche. I had heard that Bariloche was a unique and very pretty town, but I was still surprised. The layout gets squeezed horizontally by mountains on the back end and lakeshore on the front. It really feels like a high Alpine village, especially with the short pine forests around, yet there’s also the lake. The architecture is very German, with lots of exposed wood.

Activities on the radar include DIY mountain climbing, mountain biking or kayak trips, and possibly more formal rafting, rock climbing or paragliding. I certainly won’t get to all of them here, but there’s plenty more time to be spent down in Patagonia.

Leroy commented on the bus ‘this is a long long way from Beijing’. Leroy’s right. Distance from home:

Leroy: 12040 miles

Me: 6200 miles

The circumference of the planet is 24900 miles, so Leroy is almost as far away from home as possible! Leroy would also like to graciously acknowledge the support of Buzz the Yellowjacket. Thanks!

Quote of the Day: (baggage handler for our bus) ‘You speak Spanish? English? Ok, one word for you miss – tips!’