Magnificent Mendoza has 48,000 trees lining its streets, an oasis of green at the foot of the Andes. The region is responsible for 85% of Argentina’s wine production, and we’re determined to experience as much of it as we can.
Category: South America
We’d heard a lot about the bus ride over the Andes mountain range from Santiago to Mendoza with its famous ’29 curves’, and it didn’t disappoint.
Central Chile is only about 200km wide. While Santiago is in the foothills of the Andes, a short two hour drive finds you on the shores of the South Pacific at Valparaiso, and nearby Vina del Mar.
Our guide screws up his face, waves his arms, contorts his body and generates remarkable sound effects to help make his points. He brings the bottle he’s casually holding up from his side and mimics pulling the cork out of the bottle, replete with the matching ‘thrrwwwp – pwap’ sound.
Travellers tips including currency, ATMs, getting on the internet, mobile phones, car rentals, taxis, and getting to and from the airports.
Sitting on Cartagena’s historic wall at sunset, we buy a cervesa from a local street seller. Her 7 year old son is teaching us the mantra of the cart seller: “AGUA-CERVESA-COCA-COLA-GATOR-AA-ADE”.
In which Michelle books a local cooking class at the Lunatico Cooking Studio in Cartagena. When she’s handed a coconut, it proves to be a hard nut to crack.
‘Wake up Jaguars!’ The voice of Tyson drifted across the camp as 4:45 am hit. Eleven jaguars stirred. It was Day Three of our trek to La Ciudad Perdida — the ‘Lost City’
There were two poignant experiences we had that highlighted Medellin’s troubled past and bright future: Comuna 13 and the Medellin Museum of Modern Art.
South of Medellín, high up in the Andes mountains lies the small town of Jardin. We’d heard it was a beautiful Colombian town. We also spent another weekend in Guatapé.
After the almost overwhelming size of Bogotá, coming to Medellín almost feels like coming to a big mountain town. But with almost 3 million people in the city proper and another million or two in the surrounding areas, this city nestled in the Aburrá Valley is the second largest in Colombia. We’re spending almost a month in Medellín, and we’re really looking forward to exploring as much as we can of the City of Eternal Spring.
“Use your tongue wisely,” our guide Daniel said to us without a hint of sarcasm. So we did, using our tongue to grab all the sweet pulp of the giant yellow passion fruit without getting any of the white pith. Delicious and a little sweeter than the small purple variety we’re used to; we were in a market laneway in central Bogotá trying tropical fruit we’d never seen before.