Week 12, Part 1. Completing To-do List In Argentina

My last days in Argentina for this trip (never say never though)! I am ready to go, cannot wait to see more of Chile.
I still a lot of to-do list to complete for Argentina, which I started last week, so this is a plan for the first half of this week.



Monday, 14/04. Day off

For different reasons I had nothing planned for today, so decided to take a day off and do some organizational work for Bolivia and prepare myself for Chile (good start for to-do list, hah?).
I spend all morning talking with people and organizing my stuff. In the afternoon I went for a walk in Mendoza. Mendoza is just a town, nothing special in it (except wineries that are outside of the town).
Central square


Does it remind you of anything or am I going mad with my UK-home sickness?

What good about this city is that it is very green



Tuesday, 15/04. Alto Montana

Hoy fui al tour a las montanas por todo el dia. No tenia tiempo para explorar yo mismo desafortunadamente.
Note to myself: si possible no tomar un tour (especialemente bus-tour), pase mucho tiempo en el coche con touristas viejos de Argentina (normalemente) y con mi "somnia", dormi todo el camino.
Las montanas eran espectacular y vi la montana mas alta de Sud America, cruze la frontiera con Chile donde esta el mas alto cruz del mundo y fui a un pueblo (ciudad?) lindo, Uspallata con un base militar.
Otono en las montanas es bonissimo.

Wednesday, 16/04. Shopping day

There was too much wind, so my paragliding was cancelled. This meant that I have too much pesos left, so I went shopping! First time in 3 month! Happiness!
I have 65 l backpack, which is only half-full and weights about 11-12 kg. I made a revision and got rid of some things, so I have more space to fill now. This was an objective for a day.
I have decided to start with Central Market though. I need to check these things out more often: plenty of fresh fruits and take away food, meat and sweets.

Tonight me voy, me voy por la frontiera. Goodbye Argentina, hello Chile!

Typical argintine shoes:


Thursday, 17/04. Barrios of Santiago de Chile
This morning after just 3 hours on the border (not too bad, people spend up to 10 hours there, plus I was sleeping) I have arrived to Santiago.
I think I am in love with this city! I mean it is ugly and full of abandonded buildings.

From the other side, it is so European! I feel safe here: people in the crowded market are quite careless with their bags, phones are popping out of the pockets. Metro is modern and comfortable with big coaches.

Maybe the reason I liked it so much is that my acquaintance with this city started in 'posh' Providencia barrio, where I went to apply for my visa. GPS gone crazy though and what was supposed to be 10 minutes took me an hour. But I had time to explore the barrio with its skyscrapers, Starbucks cafes and shopping centers. It feels so European! This may be another reason I liked it so much: I miss Europe, miss drinking coffee in the morning with a good book in a cafe, miss going to the theatre and concerts. Seeing people wiorking with their laptops in the cafe in the midday made me a bit sad: sometimes in my crazy journey I miss normality of life.

Hope this is not real fruits:

Another barrio I visited, Maipu, is more residential: 1-2 storey detached houses with metro line passing above their roofs.
Center (well, around transport stations) is busy and full of markets and people.
Central station:

People here like in Argentina like to queue:

Although the buildings in the center look (and actually are) abandonded and are used as squats, it looks richer than Argentina. I was warned, people look different - less European, but in Santiago I cannot see that.
Girls overuse red lipstick and use lash-torturing device to curl their lashes all the time in the Metro. I can understand them: Chilenos have long, but pointing-down lashes that kind of close the eyes.
They also pay more attention to the length of their hair, than Argentines. I did not know it was possible! Seems like I am the only girl with short hair in the whole city (ladies over 50 yo do not count!).
The guide books say that chilean guys express less 'machismo' than in the rest of Latin America. I have not noticed that: same, if not more, whistling passing by.
Got my ticket to Olmue for tomorrow. I plan to spend there 10-15 days working on the farm. Not sure myself what exactly it is going to be. Adventure!
From the feedback on the website, I understand that internet is very limited in that place, so I might be quieter for the next few weeks. Без паники, родители: у меня просто нет инета.