Argentina: the Final Destination
We made our way through the mountains of Chile into Argentina, the last country on our list. Luckily I had switched to my French passport to avoid the visa fee for Americans ($250 but valid for 10 years).
We reached Mendoza at night, ready to try that Argentinian steak everyone had been raving about. Few places were open but we found a cozy restaurant to eat our steak with chimichurri and a few beers. The next day we walked the streets of Mendoza. It’s a small town and we had arrived on a Sunday and Father’s day so almost everything was closed. We spent a few hours trying to finagle our way into the blue market to exchange money, no one seemed to give us a clear answer as to where we should go. But this allowed us to walk the quiet streets and the town reminded me of a small town in France, totally different from all the towns we had seen in Central and South America so far. You can see the European influence everywhere.
Luckily the Trapiche vineyard was open, and though it was too cold for the vines to be producing any grapes, we spent a delightful afternoon touring the facility and doing some wine tasting. We bought about 12 bottles and were given a bottle of the house wine as a Happy Father’s Day gift to Ean’s dad. We spent the night in our Airbnb loft, drinking wine and telling Ean’s dad stories from our trip.
The plan was to leave the car in an RV lot designated for overlanders like us trying to sell the car. We headed to the center to grab a quick lunch before the walking tour but we ran into a small problem. The café we had just eaten at didn’t accept credit cards and we didn’t have any Argentinian $ left. One of us ran to the bank but the debit cards were not going through. So while Ean’s dad was running from bank to bank, Ean stayed at the café and I left to meet up with the walking tour group, keeping both Ean and his dad updated on my position so they could join me. We walked through the park adorned with beautiful statues as well as about 100 pigeons that would very suddenly fly away, circle around and fly back towards us as if they were attacking us. I paid close attention to the architecture of the buildings around me. Buenos Aires’ architecture is known for its eclectic style. One building may look very European, complete with gold trims, while its neighbor stands tall in black onyx. Like in Paris, buildings cannot be taller than a few floors.
It was starting to get dark, so we made our way back towards the car, listening to Madonna’s new album in the taxi. We then headed to a tango show at Señor Tango. It was located in a part of town that is considered a little less safe and I could see why as we drove through the dark alleys, but this was supposed to be the best Tango show in town and it did not disappoint.
The next day we took our final picture with the car before I headed to the airport to join my family in France.
The next day we took our final picture with the car before I headed to the airport to join my family in France.
