Mendoza

I decided at the last minute to pop over the mountains to Mendoza. Sometimes in the winter people get stuck at the border because of too much snow but good weather was predicted for the weekend so I thought I'd take a risk.

The journey was amazing. We went right over the Andes and they were all covered in snow and everything. It took about seven hours and I arrived in Mendoza on Saturday evening.

The hostel was basic but really nice with its own bar, a big kitchen, breakfast included (with fruit! Very rare for hostel food) and a nice atmosphere. I think that only two of the dormitories were actually being used so it was relatively empty.

Marja and her friend Renee were also there and I managed to get put in the same dorm as them and we decided to take a trip on Sunday up to the mountains. We went to Puente del Inca and enjoyed the fact that it was snowing. We had a snowball fight although the snow was quite hard so it was a half speed snow fight but still fun.

We went to a ski resort which hadn't quite opened for lunch. There were people walking up the slopes in their ski boots and skiing down even though the lifts hadn't started working.

On Monday I headed back to Chile through the beautiful mountains which never fail to take my breath away and got a new tourist visa stamp in my passport so that I can be here for a bit longer.

I met a father and daughter from Toronto who were great fun to talk to and we compared Argentina and Chile and the different words and grammar that they have. Very geeky I know but enjoyable.