Going North to Mendoza

The road network in Argentina is difficult to maneuver because the standard of the roads are highly variable, even for the same road number. There is a famous RN40, which is supposedly going along the west side from south to north, but when we looked into it we had to choose differently or we would have likely ended up with car trouble.

Leaving Bariloche, we drove the Camino de Los Siete Lagos, ending up driving RN40 on a good stretch and arriving in San Martín de los Andes. We spent a night in this pretty town, with the tree lined streets and very nice buildings we have seen in a few places by now.

From there we carried on to Neuquén, through long stretches of not much natural variation, and the city itself being a modern metropolis close to the new fields of gas and oil extraction. We couldn't find a hotel in the city and spent the night in the outskirts along the route for the following day.

Before arriving to Mendoza, or the Capital (it is the capital of the region Mendoza), we were looking forward to getting to know San Rafael. Once there however, we decided to spend one night and then move on to Mendoza. It was a nice enough place, but didn't really invite us as anything special. By now we had driven for many hours over a few days, and looked forward to being static in Mendoza for a while.

The area around La Pampa and Mendoza region, was full of wine and other horticulture. Huge fields of wheat and other crops were everywhere and after driving through the flatland of Patagonia, it was obvious that up in this neighbourhood the second of Argentina's export income is found. Agriculture and oil&gas are the main exports.

The Capital was a more interesting place, and we spent a couple of days walking around the city center. Here we encountered the different rhythm of life with long afternoons of closing hours. Shops close from 1 to 4.30pm, and open again until 8pm. The cities look like ghost cities, with just about nobody around. Cafes and restaurants are open, at least some of them. Argentinians eat dinner late, after 8pm, and after a huge slab of meat late in the evening it isn't strange that breakfast is a light affair with sweet bakery the main offering in the hotels. We had a very nice meal for lunch, with meat and wine, and in addition tasted the local olive oils. All delicious, and the restaurant staff was very helpful talking about their offering. The chef was not overly happy to cook the meat well done for Harold, and then he, in addition, asked for ketchup for the chips!