I rested one day and took the bus to Mendoza the next day. After over 12 hours I reached the city in the Andes. All the time I walked through the pampas, the flat and poor vegetation typical for Argentina and Uruguay. At the end of the trip the Andes finally appeared, marking the border to Chile.

an extraordinary hostel

The Windmill hostel in Mendoza was extraordinary. Not in terms of the facilities, but in the sense that the owners did everything to bring the hostel guests together. They asked everyone what they wanted to do the next day and then shared this with others, so that if they had the same plans, they could simply join together. Normally, hostel owners only want to sell tours.

Tasting Argentinian wine

So I did a trip to a winery with 2 Israeli women, 1 Italian and 1 German from the hostel. By bike we went to 3 wineries in total. It was about 40 degrees, but it was wonderful. And especially the wine tasting at the Tempus Alba winery was excellent. We got 3 glasses of different wines and also empanads, the typical filled dumplings in Argentina. Delicious! Fortunately the German could pay for me, because for the first time in my trip my credit card did not work here.

The Aconcagua, the highest mountain of America

The next morning we had to get up early, because with the exception of the German we wanted to visit the area of Aconcagua, the highest mountain of America, over 6000 meters high, in the same group as in the wine tour. From the distance we could see the snow-covered summit and hiked through the national park nearby. Afterwards we visited on foot the Puente del Inca, a rock arch formed naturally by erosion.

The city of Mendoza is not worth mentioning, as I found out the following day. I left Argentina the next day for Chile.

Disappointed by Argentina

All in all I did not like Argentina very much. In fact it is the country that disappointed me the most together with Guatemala and where I also had some bad luck. Due to the enormous inflation, the prices are pretty damn high, especially for transport and food. I found Mendoza the most beautiful. Cordoba and Rosario can be forgotten. Buenos Aires is not very special as a European, even though it has some great corners and an excellent nightlife. I also found the Argentineans to be the least friendly in Latin America. Scenically, the country doesn't offer much except pampa. I didn't want to go to the surely fantastic Tierra del Fuego, because the prices are even higher there.