I was up and ready to go at 07:15 hrs. The others reluctantly got up and came with me to the Bus Terminal. The Metro was cheap, quick and efficient as usual, whisking us to the west of the city. I checked in at the CHI-AR INTERNACIONAL (Agencia De Viajes en Mendoza) desk and we went out into the bus bays.
Behind the rows of gleaming modern buses we found an old but sturdy Mercedes with the CHI-AR logo painted on the battered sides. I hugged Karin and Kathy and shook hands with Preston and we all waved until out of sight when the bus departed at 09:00 hrs.
We motored out of the smoggy outskirts of the city and headed towards the mountains. The scenery was very scenic. Green grass, leaves on the trees turning to autumn yellows and browns, turbulent mountain streams and a cold clear blue sky.
We passed the NASA Space Observatory Station bristling with aerials and radar dishes. We stopped at a Bus Terminal after a few hours and I tried in vain to find somewhere to have a free piss as I didn’t have the 15 Chilean Pesos required to use the bog (toilet) in the station.
I didn’t get relief until we got to Chilean Customs at about 13:00 hrs. I changed up some money into Argentinian Australes, at a rate of 340 Australes to $50 US dollars, and got my exit stamp on my passport. The Argentine austral (Spanish: austral argentino; symbol: ₳; code: ARA) was the currency of Argentina from 15th June 1985 to 31st December 1991. It was subdivided into 100 centavos. The austral symbol, an uppercase "A" with an extra horizontal line, was featured on all coins issued in the currency to distinguish them from those of earlier Argentine currencies.
We then drove through a couple of long tunnels alongside a derelict railway line to Argentinian Customs. These were quick and efficient and we were soon underway again, following a wide, square-sided valley with a meandering river.
The conductor handed out spam rolls and extremely sweet black coffee. We hacked along a winding road, downhill now, to Mendoza, officially the City of Mendoza (Spanish: Ciudad de Mendoza) which is the capital of the province of Mendoza in Argentina. It is located in the northern-central part of the province, in a region of foothills and high plains, on the eastern side of the Andes.
Ruta Nacional 7, the major road running between Buenos Aires and Santiago, runs through Mendoza. Two of the main industries of the Mendoza area are olive oil production and Argentine wine. The region around Greater Mendoza is now the largest wine-producing area in South America.
I got off the bus and walked across the town, which was very modern clean and European, trying to decide which of the many recommended hotels to stay in. I ended up at the Hotel España at Perú 1525 where I got a grubby room with two beds for ₳20 Australes.
The receptionist proudly pointed out the sink and two cracked mirrors in the room. I went out and found a town bristling with modern shops selling all manner of luxury goods, including gunsmiths, which could have been in London.
I stopped for a steak in a bar and grill and had my first bottle of Argentinian beer, called Andes and was billed as the leading beer of the Argentinian province of Mendoza. The steak was massive, an inch thick and covering the entire plate and served with another huge plate of chips. I was to learn that it was steak with everything in Argentina.
A walk around the Casa de Cambio area showed me that the official exchange rate was about ₳7.5 Australes to the $US dollar but due to the high inflation rate is was not wise to change up too much at a time. I realised that I had been stitched up with the rate given at the border.
I went back to my room, having to fiddle with the dodgy lock to gain access, for an early night at 21:00 hrs. I read “Chariots of the Gods” for a short while before nodding off.
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