The Curse of Mendoza...

Picture the scene, its a hot day out in beautiful Mendoza. The trees are green, the streets are buzzing with people, the...hang on a minute, how do i know all of this???

Back to reality, its 10am and Steve, Martin and i are rudely awoken by the hostel reception guy cranking up the tunes of what can only be described as electro-tango. To make matters worse, out of the blue, sounds of powertools and removing furniture are surrounding our room (above mainly). Our heads pounding, it takes me a good hour to take action. 'THATS IT IM OFF FOR A SHOWER' - simple enough task for a Monday morning you may think. Not on our watch, as i find there is no power for lights. We soon find out that the hostel is actually being rennovated from all angles around us, and one of the cowboy builders has cut the power. 10 minutes later a knock on the door comes, we are given an ultimatum. We either leave for the sister hostel now, or stay until tomorrow with potentially no water & electric. The latter sounds good to us, as we are in no position to move, let alone pack. Basically we'd been evicted from our own shitty hostel, how embarassing!

We pack and leave, with faces like thunder - checking into what looks like a palace compared to Campo Base 2. Huge sofa's, TV's, big kitchen and internet, are our eyes plauying tricks on us? Has the curse been lifted? I think not. Due to my dodgy tummy i miss the tour of the wineries and chocolate factory, there is no key or lockers in our room, and my memory card is nowhere to be seen. Put 2 & 2 together and work out at some point the Israeli from the night before must have swiped it in our drunken state. Lesson learnt... Sulked in my room until the boys came back, then decide we need to bust this joint, and booked a bus ticket for Tuesday morning to cross the Andes to Santiago (our original destination last Thursday, tee hee). All is looking up. A few relaxed beers in the evening and an Omlette/scramble mix sent me to sleep pretty early.

Next day arrives, our trip to the bus station gets us up pretty early, but we're feeling positive about moving on. Spoke too soon, turns out the pass over the Andes from Mendoza to Santiago is shut for the forseeable future(could be up to a week) we are going no where fast today! Excellent, so back to Ardino hostel, to add insult to injury we have to check in again (those Bastards)! Wander into town in the afternoon to check out a Museum the Lonely Planet recommended about the ruin of a church in 1800's. 10 minutes later and 2 peso's lighter, the tour is over.

The Church Museum - the best thing i saw in the whole place

The majority of models looked like they were made by school children. At least it brought our spirits up. Culture is so over-rated so far! A mellow stroll and a Pasta party back at the hostel completed yet another day in Mendoza.

Wednesday morning is crunch time, decisions need to be made if the pass is closed. What a surprise, it is! So our new plan now is to head south to Bariloche, to do some snowboarding, treks and head as far South to see the Glaciers, befiore heading back up through Santiago - they say change is good (tsk!). The sun is out, 30 degrees, so ive just managed to fit in a few hours in my bikini by the pool before we head off for our bus 19hr bus trip to Bariloche this evening. If you don't hear from me in a while, its because we're probably in the Antarctic, being detoured!

Dilemma of the week: Found my beloved turbie-towel has been lost.
Things ive learnt: Trust no one (harsh but fair), men with longish hair are my 'type', don't kiss men with facial hair, i still cant cook

written by  Vegtibbles on June 8, 2006 from Mendoza, Argentina
from the travel blog: The Crazy Adventures of the Tibbler
tagged ProbablyTheBestMuseumInTheWorldBarNone
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