argentina

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Ruta 40

October 29, 2009 in argentina by tom | 1 comment

Driving through most of Central and South America has given us some insight into Latin American border politics, so after narrowly escaping a hefty fine for trying to smuggle popcorn into Chile we were surprised to find a lack of reciprocity and much more amiable officials on the Argentine side of the border.

ruta_40_jump

We crossed over from Chile to drive through the Argentine Lake District in Patagonia and to meet up with the famous “Ruta 40″ which stretches over 5000 kms – pretty much the entire length of the country… one of the largest routes in the world (apart from the unofficial Pan American Highway) along with US Route 66 and the Stuart Highway in Australia).

glacial_lake

The land here undulates around ragged mountains and breaks quietly apart falling into deep lakes and glacial valleys. We spent a few days in Bariloche and climbed Cerro Campanario to get a stunning view of the hidden lakes. Driving further south we stopped to have a traditional tea service in Trevelin, which was founded by the Welsh in 1865 and still maintains it’s strong Welsh heritage.

cerro_campanario

We made a quick detour off Ruta 40 to check out Perito Moreno a huge Glacier fed by the Southern Patagonian Ice Field before heading out to the coastal and windy Ruta 3 which finishes in Tierra del Fuego… the end of the road.

Biking with wine

October 20, 2009 in Chile, argentina by tomandkels | 1 comment

We left Uruguay promising to return to it’s chilled out old-school vibe and headed into Argentina with plans to meet up with our friends (and partners on drivetheamericas.com) to get a little conversation and drink a little red wine.  We hightailed it over the bleak pampas, passing flashes of pink flamingos, to the wonderfully sunny and charming Mendoza.

Wine Tour Mendoza

Since we were in wine country we felt that to really experience it we should take advantage of the nearby wineries.  Boarding a bus for about an hour and half took us to Maipu and right to Mr. Hugo’s bike rentals.  We pedaled through the spring day, stopping in at a few wineries to sample the wares.  But I think the highlight of our little afternoon jaunt was the last stop – a small shop, A la Antigua, which had every sort of homemade delicacy imaginable: olives, dulce de leche, chocolates, preserves and liqueurs from Scotch to Absinthe.  Osvaldo, our giggly and rather round host, invited us to try a little of everything all of which were ridiculously good, so good that we all left with backpacks a little heavier than when we came.

Concha y ToroAfter enjoying a week of Mendoza’s sunny days and great wine we decided it was time to head to Chile in search of waves.  But, before we could hit up the surf we felt it was only proper to pay our respects to Concha y Toro, Chile’s largest wine exporter and creator of one of our most favourite joyful finds.  After a night of free camping (people are really too generous) we arrived at the crack of 10am to take a tour and a tasting at the humongous bodega.

Wine SnobsOur tour guide, who had a very odd accent (think William Shatner’s Captain Kirk with a British accent), told us a little about the winery as we wandered around the estate, the Concha y Toro cellar and the infamous El Casillero de Diablo (The Devil’s Cellar).  Señor Concha y Toro found that wines were going missing so he created a bit of a legend that the wines were protected by the devil himself thereby keeping frightened thieves out of his private collection.  The tour includes two tastings of the medium brand wines and your own Concha y Toro wineglass…all in all a pretty good time.
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