Travel Blog for Fredrik and Gunnhild

Argentina

Pampas – La Concepcion

Pampas – La Concepcion

The last day we drove up to the pampas.

First we visited the “meat factory” where they breeded cows to sell as meat. They bought them when they where about a year old, and then feed them to be big enough to sell.

- Argentina - 2010

After the “meat factory” we left for the main house of the farm where we should be staying for the rest of our time in Argentina.

We where met by a fantastic house with a fantastic garden. We got our rooms and then we had lunch on the patio. Before we finished lunch the owner of La Concepcion told us the story of the family.

After lunch we went to the swimming pool to cool off. With white wine and temperatures around 30 degrees Celsius this was just great!

The dinner was a classic barbecue, great food, good wine and very good company this was a perfect last night!

- Argentina - 2010

In the morning May Hege, Marianne and me got up with the sun to walk around the premises to take pictures. It was a fine walk before breakfast. After breakfast we had free time before lunch, some of us relaxed at the patio others by the pool. No stress at all!

La Concepcion was a perfect end to a perfect vacation!

 

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Once again I doped out of the city tour. It was very hot and in the middle of the day when all the Argentines are having a siesta. Some of us decided to walk to one of the pedestrians streets close by and have a lunch. It was a big disappointment (tourist trap). The food was expensive and not very good.

In the evening we had dinner with the group and some of us continued on a night club close by the hotel.

The next day there was tango time 🙂 Since we was only 2 guys going to this, the girls had to dance together. First we learned how to walk tango. Then side steps and back and forward. The last we learned was how to dance tango in square.

Our trainers was professionals so they had a short show after we finished our training. We looked nothing like them 🙂

- Argentina - 2010

After the tango we had free time again. It was Saturday and the shops were closing soon, so we had lunch and then walked a bit a round looking for leather jackets and other stuff that are cheep in Argentina. I found a very fine jacket but they did not have my size 🙁

In the evening we went to a tango show, first dinner, then show. The food was OK, and the glasses were never empty. The show was fine, I think this is something that everyone visiting Buenos Aires need to go to.

Last full day in Buenos Aires was a free day with nothing planed. We did go to a market in the street south of Plaza de Mayo. The street was filled with handicrafts, and as always it took time to walk down the street 🙂

Buenos Aires - Argentina - 2010

We meet some Norwegians, they were sailing for the second year. They had been in Buenos Aires for a while so we asked if they had a good restaurant that we could fine good wine and good beef. Of course they did!

So we had a great dinner with great wine! after we finished our meal, we were asked if we wanted to visit the wine cellar. So we went down and they had about 900 different types of Argentine wine!! We ended up buying some wine to bring home 🙂

Mendoza

Mendoza

I needed some time to myself so I did skip the Mendoza city tour and had a late breakfast in the predestinate street of Mendoza.

After breakfast I went shopping since I found out thet I had left my shorts (probably on Easter Island). After buying a new shorts and shirt, it was time for lunch and I joined the group for that. We had lunch in a big park. I should probably known more about this park, but I did not attend the city tour, so I don’t.

After lunch it was free time again and I did not do much more than walking a bit around the city. In the evening we were picked up by the bus to take us to diner. We were driven out to the wine area, where there was a small restaurant which served rabbit or pork, of course I choose the rabbit 🙂 We had to order wine, so we got a very good bottle, and a slightly cheaper after we finished the first!

Next day we were bicycling in the wine area. Visiting three wine yards Catena Zapata, Tapiz and Norton.

At Norton we had a late lunch before we jumped on the bus back to Mendoza.

Santiago to Mendoza

Santiago to Mendoza

We got up early for our drive over the Andes to Mendoza.

We had some great views of the Andes with fresh snow on the peeks and no clouds in the sky at all. We where driving more or less directly to the Argentine border, with a few stops for stretching our legs and a short stop for lunch. The border passing took a bit more than an hour, that supposedly are fast 🙂

The longer we got into Argentina the less steep and more rounded the mountains were.

A few kilometers into Argentina we stopped by the Inca bridge. The Inca empire stretched down here from Peru. The mountains changed when we where driving longer into Argentina. they got less steep and more rounded.

Just before we where going onto the highway to Mendoza, we where told that there was a blockade on the highway so we had to take a longer way into Mendoza, of course when you get off the highway it is more to see 🙂 So I was happy about that.

We had a prepaid dinner at the hotel.

Packed and ready!

I have packed everything I need (I think), and are ready for my trip. The only problem are that the plane are scheduled in 5 hours. I want to leave now! 🙂

The weather forecast for Santiago are not great but it looks like I will have fine weather when I get to Easter Island.

I have added a new type of map on the page.

This will update through the trip so it will be possible to see on the map where I am.

You can see it here

[travelmap-map height=400 first=2010-11-18 last=2010-12-02]

[travelmap-list first=2010-11-18 last=2010-12-02]

You can always find this map under Trips -> Chile, Easter Island, Argentina autumn 2010 -> Autumn 2010 map

Plans for Easter Island, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay

Plans for Easter Island, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay

This time it is only Fredrik that are traveling. This is an organized trip where everything are booked through a travel agent.

I am a bit worried about traveling like this with no room for staying a day longer or changing plans if I don’t like it. But I guess that it will be fine.

We will fly in to Santiago, Chile in the morning and spend the day there. Next day we will fly out to Easter Island (a five and a half hour flight) where we will stay for three days. Easter Island is one of the world’s most isolated inhabited island in the world. We will fly back to Santiago and from there take a buss over the Andes, to Mendoza, Argentina. Where we will stay for two days. From Mendoza we will fly to Buenos Aires. We will stay in Buenos Aires for three days, where one of the days will be used for a day trip to Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay. The two days left we will be out on the pampas relaxing on a country estate.

Moai