My Weekend in Argentina

At the end of May, I went to Argentina for a long weekend. This was one of the things I most wanted to do during my semester here, the other things being visiting Valparaíso and Patagonia (where I went last month!). The trip was actually quite stressful and I have to say I was relieved when it was over. However, there were some good moments and overall I'm glad I went.

We travelled there overnight in a coach, and although it was dark, the views were really impressive going through the Andes. Having to get out and queue to go through customs at three o'clock in the morning was not so much fun though!

We spent the first day at Termas Cacheuta, a water park with hot springs. I liked it a lot, especially the pool pictured below which was kind of like an infinity pool with amazing views of the mountains.

After spending a couple of hours in the pools, I explored the surrounding area a bit. The scenery was very beautiful.

I spent the rest of the time studying, reading and sleeping. And then we went to the hostel... I was expecting it to be a pleasant place to get a good night's sleep. I was very very wrong! 

First of all I was told to change room, because other people wanted to be there together in a group. In the second room, my bed was a top bunk bed (with no ladder). I climbed up, and it shook violently whenever I moved! So I asked to move again. This time I ended up with another top bunk bed without a ladder, and which was very high up, so I had to climb on the other beds in the room to get up there. But at least this one didn't shake so much.

However the worst was yet to come... I woke up at five o'clock in the morning to the sound of someone in the bathroom (which did not lock, by the way) being violently ill. Disgusting!

So it was a relief to be out of the hostel and back on the bus later that morning. We visited a winery, and then we went to a chocolate shop and did a tasting, which was probably the best part of the whole trip!

After some free time, we had a city tour of Mendoza. It’s not a very compact city, so there was a lot of getting on and off the bus. The first thing we saw was Cerro de la Gloria, a very grand patriotic monument on a hill. There was really nice scenery from up there, which I liked a lot.

The next thing we saw was Parque General San Martín, which was very big with a lot of palm trees.

Other things we saw included the city hall...

...and another big park, Plaza Independencia.

We arrived back in Santiago the next morning, after a bit of a scare at the border crossing when the machine initially wouldn't accept my passport!

Overall I'm glad I went on the trip, even though there were some stressful moments. It probably didn't help that I went at the start of what would be the most difficult period of my time in Chile.

Thankfully things improved, and my last month turned out to be amazing, the best of the semester. And I still have a couple more blog posts to write about it all!