Only 7 hours too early

We caught the overnight bus from Mendoza to Cordoba to help pass the 11 hour journey.  Without the nauseating Andes to interfere with our slumber we did manage to sleep most of the night through.  

We’re using Airbnb for most of our travels and our host had pastries and Danishes waiting for us at our apartment.  The media luna (literally translates to half moon, or croissant) is served with coffee in Argentina and we have taken quite a liking to them.  Luckily we’re doing a lot of walking so we can burn the extra calories.  We bought a dozen today for $AR66 and they gave us the energy to continue.

On Sunday morning, we all awoke from an 11 hour sleep.  Beds will do that to you.  Our backs were sore from lying down for so long and we think after two overnight bus trips we are now suffering from Bus-lag.  It’s when your bum is 8 hours behind your current time zone. We eventually left the apartment and as we walked through the centre of Cordoba we realised that even at 11:30 a.m. we were too early as every store was closed.  We aimed for Paseo de las Artes to check out the local artisan markets.  A paseo is a walk or a walkway.  The streets were quieter than a sock falling to its death in a pile of cotton wool.  The markets don’t open until 6 p.m. Unperturbed we locked our sights on a green space on the map.   The first stop was the Paseo del Bicentenario, which was created to celebrate the 200^th anniversary of May Revolution in 1810.   It is a series of 200 coloured circles dated with an important event from that year.  Imagine a time tunnel made out of giant Fruit Loops.

Zebra crossings appear to be how the local government uses up white paint.  They don't seem to serve any other purpose.  It's a special sort of paint that can't be seen through the windscreen of a car, especially taxis.   Pedestrians know that those white rectangles won’t offer you any protection.  In fact I think when you step on one, you too become invisible.  Stop signs are merely a suggestion, when you can see them.  Intersections that don’t have traffic lights or signage have a convex mirror on two corners so approaching drivers can decide if they're going to slow down or floor it through to the other side.

In Parque Sarmiento, the Harper senoritas wove baskets from some willow trees for some wabi sabi time.  It was a very therapeutic hour and the kids are now keen to set up some sort of shop once we arrive in Nueve de Julio.  Insert parental eye roll here.  Usually when kids want to set up a store they mean they want us to spend a day helping them sell 50 cents worth of products.

After enough time had passed, we returned to the Paseo de las Artes and the place had been given a shot of artisan adrenalin.  The streets were clogged with cars beeping at each other, people manoeuvred around each other on tiny footpaths and every shop was open selling anything from shoes, haircuts, food to hand made goods.  Two blocks were closed off to traffic and vendors claimed the streets as their shopfronts, set up elbow to elbow with other artisans selling their handmade goods.  

Mendoza or bus(t)

Did you hear the one about the Australians watching an American movie set in Transylvania, dubbed in Spanish while crossing the Andes?  Hotel Transylvania 2 helped pass some of the 12 hour journey but as you'll see, we needed more than one movie for this leg of the journey.

This is the fifth time we have bussed across the Andes and we have all vowed that we would rather ride alpacas with our wheelie suitcases carried by well paid porters than use a bus again.

We used the night bus this time to save on a hotel room.  A night bus is like a day bus but nightier.  The aisles fill with arms and legs as people drift in and out of consciousness while we twist and turn up the Andes in ever tightening bends until it feels like the front and the back of the bus have changed places and you don’t know if you’re heading to Argentina or back to Chile.  One man was auditioning as a sound effects provider for a Steven Spielberg movie.  I can’t wait for the release of Snoring Private Ryan, at least I know the sounds are authentic.   

At about 2 a.m. we arrived at aduana (immigration/border crossing) and waited in the bus for around an hour.  Even in the middle of summer, the Andes are rather chilly and when you have to stand around for an hour it can be a test of endurance.  Our family seemed to be the only foreigners on the bus and we were taken aside by the Argentine side of the border.  After some rapid fire conversation between the border guard and our conductor, our family was pulled aside because we had not pre-paid our reciprocity fee. 

It pays to do your research.  Underlined three times in bold with an asterisk next to it.  Five years ago, we were not asked to pay a fee.  It would appear this is a new one that came out only recently.  The conductor asked if we could just pay but the guard said we had to do it via the web before crossing. yes you heard me correctly you have to pay to pass but there is nowhere to pay. Internet or nothing.  If you’ve ever stood at the Andes crossing, there are not many net cafés, especially ones operating predawn. There was no way for us to return to a town and organise it so the guard took Talluah into a room and proceeded to go through the process of logging on, creating an account and password by entering each person’s details one at a time and proving that she wasn’t a robot.  Of course Talluah’s not a robot.  A robot would use heat seeking missiles to blow up reciprocity fees and then, fly over aduana releasing a string of empanadas to keep everyone warm on the inside while they wait around for two hours in the wind, which was blowing off the snow covered Andes.  We were lucky as they are within their rights to turn you away.  Mrs Aduana did give the bus driver a serve saying that they should make their customers aware of any necessary visas.

We arrived at Mendoza about 90 minutes late and felt like our eyeballs were on the following bus.  Not only were our bums sore but so too were our wallets from paying $US500 to enter the country.  Luckily the fee lasts for a year of multiple entries.  After we stowed our bags in the bus terminal we hung out at Plaza Independencia for the day.  We’re off again this evening on another overnight bus to Cordoba but this time without a border crossing and with an apartment waiting for us including showers and lounges that are not park benches. 

It's a long way to the shop if you want a lollipop.

Thanks for the love Valpo.  

In and out, round and about

The Spanish word for hill is cerro.  Valparaíso sits on 45 cerros all with varying degrees of building structures, road widths and footpaths.

The Air BnB apartment we booked this week was only available for three nights so we moved over to Cerro Alegre's Hotel Da Vinci for our final night in Valpo.   This is a beautiful old building nestled between one hill and century old buildings sitting in unison forming a guard of honour down the cobblestoned street of Urriola.  The inside has been renovated with four metre high ceilings stretching over two storeys.  As we have been out and about looking for new art we haven't had a chance to really enjoy the charm of this beautiful building.

We followed the sound of music up some sun deprived steps and across a dusty track to find a school band practicing in Cerro La Loma.  Music always seems to be happening somewhere in Valparaíso.    From there we meandered down Atahualpa looking at the art work that adorns the houses. 

Unfortunately, many quieter streets smell like urine and as mentioned in yesterday’s blog, public toilets are hard to find.  Someone has printed up some signs along Atahualpa that translate roughly into, “If you can afford to travel to Valpo you can pay for a toilet,” and “Don’t make my neighbourhood dirty.  No urinating here.  Find some dirt.” 

We did pay for our toilet use today by stopping in a café for some pancakes that were actually a type of cake and milky water wearing a cheap coffee costume.  Indy suggested that perhaps there is a Chilean law that says baristas are to be denied access at the airport and if no one is looking you can run Nescafe instant through a coffee machine with very similar results.  Much like you can dress two people in a horse costume and have them run in a horse race.  People are going to notice.

Our art walk was supplemented with a deep fried empanada – is there any other kind? I hear you ask.  This was Depp’s first empanada and gave him enough energy to walk along Pasaje Galvez until we arrived back at Plaza Victoria where Depp and Truce had another go on the bikes.  This time Depp rode solo.  He did run onto one street vendor’s wares but there didn’t seem to be any damage.

Later on in the evening we went to Boris’ house for dinner.  Boris was one of the locals who helped us establish a life in Valparaíso.  He does cooking classes and walking tours with passion and natural charisma.  If you ever come to Valpo you must meet up with him and learn a few of Valparaíso’s secrets.  

https://www.facebook.com/chileanflavours/

Tomorrow night, we are catching the overnight bus to Mendoza.  Up and over the Andes with a border crossing all in the dark.