5th November
After so much excitement about finally starting our adventure, and drinking wine
while organizing the route, I had trouble getting up in the morning, and when I finally
got down to the lobby heading for breakfast I almost bumped into Sebastian and didn't
recognize him! He just smiled and suddenly I came down to earth, I was too late for
breakfast:-(
So we went up to our room and made two, trips in the elevator to et all our
"stuff" down and into the back of the pick up truck, we then drove out
of Buenos Aires towards El Pilar where Sebastian lives
and the motor home awaits.
When we arrive I get in and start organizing our clothes and grocery's, I give back the
coffee maker and a couple of things that we will not use. I was really surprised how
much fits in!
Fernando had been finishing all the paper work, Isabelle chasing Valentin(Sebastian's
son).When we were all ready, we headed out, Sebastian kindly drove ahead of us to a
big Jumbo supermarket to stock up, this I had not expected, I would not have been
hauling all those things to the hotel room.
We spent ages looking at all the products and bought much more than we needed, but
we had lots of fun!
So, after a snack in our new home, our trip started, we decided to start driving and see
what happens, after making it to the right road, ? , we headed for Mendoza the
memories of last night were pulling us in that direction.
The landscape reminded me a lot of Europe, big trees and very green, I saw a store
announcing the sale of wild mushroom's, but it was too late to stop, and we already
had too many grocery's.
After a while Heading towards Junin we were tired, and in our camping guide we found
a place to stop by Lago Gómez, Alex flied his new kite for a while, I tried to get our
home a little organized, it was very cold, we were tired, everything was new, but we
warmed up by grilling some morcillas and meat, and opening a bottles of wine.
6th November
We woke up late and went for a small walk and then continued on the road towards
Mendoza thinking that we would make it, but going was slower than we planned, in
our camping guide ( voy de camping ) I saw a place that had thermal waters, that
sounded nice, we found the camping "San Luis Termas" in the town of Baldés. It was a
small enclosed parking place with BBQ's and water and electricity
hookups, a little ugly, but at least a place to rest.
On entering the building to pay our 5 pesos for camping ( 1.5 us $) It looked like a
hospital, I enquired on how it worked, I was told that a double room was 10 pesos ( 3
us$) for one hour, so I went back to talk the rest of the family into going to have a
bath. The room had on very big tub a dressing area and a bed to relax after, The water
was sort of "creamy" and when we got out I understood the bed bit, I was soooo relaxed.
We then returned to the van feeling renewed, made yet another BBQ, some pasta and
salad, drank some more wine and Alex did some homework.
We were surrounded by toads, they seemed to appear from holes under the wash basins.
After dinner I was in for a nice surprise: the tap water was hot! I got to wash dishes
with hot water, what a luxury!
7th November
We continued towards Mendoza, on the way we started seeing olive trees and grape
vines, and best of all the snow tipped mountains of the Andes, then, our first wine
stores, little shacks on the side of the road. Very excited we stopped at one. There was a
skinny man selling wine and a truck driver buying wine which was pured from a tap
in a barrel into a bottle, collecting any that didn't make it into a big bucket ( so
nothing would be wasted) and then choosing a used cork from another bucket that
would fit the bottle. We decided to give it a try and bought a very strong rough wine,
the shop also sold various fruits in sugar and fresh tomato sauce, I asked if we could
buy bread anywhere, he told me to go to the house behind and ask if they had any bread
left, I was happy to see the "hut" had a wood oven, and called at the broken door, a lady
in very dirty and broken clothes came out and said that she had eaten all she had
made, I think maybe that was for the better, I thanked her and wished her a good day,
and headed back too our van feeling very sorry for her. On the way up
the track I found a tree laden with mulberry's and took advantage and
ate a few of those juicy berry's.
We had a sandwich and glass of wine right there on the side of the road, and continued
towards Mendoza.
We started smelling burning, what could it be? It seemed to be coming from the battery
under the dinette. As we neared Mendoza we found a telephone which needed way too
many coins, to call Sebastian to find out what we had to do. He said to find a Mercedes
service, and he would give us back whatever we paid on returning the vehicle, it was
weekend, the garage was at the other side of the city, were we stuck in Mendoza?
We asked around for an electrical mechanic, we found a garage in between bodegas, a
nice man came out and had a look, but sorry, he didn't know how the system worked,
he sent us on to Luján to find another mechanic we finally found the shop, but it was
mid day break and all was closed, while we waited I went to nearby shop and bought
some empanadas, umm, they where delicious, but very greasy. Alex was delighted with
the treat.
Finally the guy arrived, he took one look at the battery and said that it needed
changing, so, it was changed, I am sure he charged us more but we just wanted to get
back on the road.
After last nights spa experience, we decided to try and find another similar place and
there was one on our camping guide, but it seemed to take ages to get on the road there,
we started climbing the mountain, the sun was disappearing behind, the road getting
worse and worse, we saw it in a distance, but was it worth carrying on that dangerous
road? We decided not and headed back to a camping place near colonia Suiza called
Kalue, the owners were very friendly, we bought fresh baked bread from them and they
bought out a table and chairs for us to use. The price was 3us for the night.
The camping area was full of pine trees, but very dusty, there was hot and cold water in
the wash basins. We made some grilled vegetables, salad, some more morcillas and
fresh bread for dinner, The owner had a couple of Irish wolfhounds and a horse, they all
seemed to be attracted by something we were eating and did not feel shy to come and
beg. Isabelle was very happy to see such big animals.
8th November
In the morning we had a lot to clean up, I had to change Isabelle's clothes
a couple of times and she was still collecting dust.... so after washing al our BBQ
equipment, I filled up our ice box with hot water and gave her a bath.
Continue
After so much excitement about finally starting our adventure, and drinking wine
while organizing the route, I had trouble getting up in the morning, and when I finally
got down to the lobby heading for breakfast I almost bumped into Sebastian and didn't
recognize him! He just smiled and suddenly I came down to earth, I was too late for
breakfast:-(
So we went up to our room and made two, trips in the elevator to et all our
"stuff" down and into the back of the pick up truck, we then drove out
of Buenos Aires towards El Pilar where Sebastian lives
and the motor home awaits.
When we arrive I get in and start organizing our clothes and grocery's, I give back the
coffee maker and a couple of things that we will not use. I was really surprised how
much fits in!
Fernando had been finishing all the paper work, Isabelle chasing Valentin(Sebastian's
son).When we were all ready, we headed out, Sebastian kindly drove ahead of us to a
big Jumbo supermarket to stock up, this I had not expected, I would not have been
hauling all those things to the hotel room.
We spent ages looking at all the products and bought much more than we needed, but
we had lots of fun!
So, after a snack in our new home, our trip started, we decided to start driving and see
what happens, after making it to the right road, ? , we headed for Mendoza the
memories of last night were pulling us in that direction.
The landscape reminded me a lot of Europe, big trees and very green, I saw a store
announcing the sale of wild mushroom's, but it was too late to stop, and we already
had too many grocery's.
After a while Heading towards Junin we were tired, and in our camping guide we found
a place to stop by Lago Gómez, Alex flied his new kite for a while, I tried to get our
home a little organized, it was very cold, we were tired, everything was new, but we
warmed up by grilling some morcillas and meat, and opening a bottles of wine.
6th November
We woke up late and went for a small walk and then continued on the road towards
Mendoza thinking that we would make it, but going was slower than we planned, in
our camping guide ( voy de camping ) I saw a place that had thermal waters, that
sounded nice, we found the camping "San Luis Termas" in the town of Baldés. It was a
small enclosed parking place with BBQ's and water and electricity
hookups, a little ugly, but at least a place to rest.
On entering the building to pay our 5 pesos for camping ( 1.5 us $) It looked like a
hospital, I enquired on how it worked, I was told that a double room was 10 pesos ( 3
us$) for one hour, so I went back to talk the rest of the family into going to have a
bath. The room had on very big tub a dressing area and a bed to relax after, The water
was sort of "creamy" and when we got out I understood the bed bit, I was soooo relaxed.
We then returned to the van feeling renewed, made yet another BBQ, some pasta and
salad, drank some more wine and Alex did some homework.
We were surrounded by toads, they seemed to appear from holes under the wash basins.
After dinner I was in for a nice surprise: the tap water was hot! I got to wash dishes
with hot water, what a luxury!
7th November
We continued towards Mendoza, on the way we started seeing olive trees and grape
vines, and best of all the snow tipped mountains of the Andes, then, our first wine
stores, little shacks on the side of the road. Very excited we stopped at one. There was a
skinny man selling wine and a truck driver buying wine which was pured from a tap
in a barrel into a bottle, collecting any that didn't make it into a big bucket ( so
nothing would be wasted) and then choosing a used cork from another bucket that
would fit the bottle. We decided to give it a try and bought a very strong rough wine,
the shop also sold various fruits in sugar and fresh tomato sauce, I asked if we could
buy bread anywhere, he told me to go to the house behind and ask if they had any bread
left, I was happy to see the "hut" had a wood oven, and called at the broken door, a lady
in very dirty and broken clothes came out and said that she had eaten all she had
made, I think maybe that was for the better, I thanked her and wished her a good day,
and headed back too our van feeling very sorry for her. On the way up
the track I found a tree laden with mulberry's and took advantage and
ate a few of those juicy berry's.
We had a sandwich and glass of wine right there on the side of the road, and continued
towards Mendoza.
We started smelling burning, what could it be? It seemed to be coming from the battery
under the dinette. As we neared Mendoza we found a telephone which needed way too
many coins, to call Sebastian to find out what we had to do. He said to find a Mercedes
service, and he would give us back whatever we paid on returning the vehicle, it was
weekend, the garage was at the other side of the city, were we stuck in Mendoza?
We asked around for an electrical mechanic, we found a garage in between bodegas, a
nice man came out and had a look, but sorry, he didn't know how the system worked,
he sent us on to Luján to find another mechanic we finally found the shop, but it was
mid day break and all was closed, while we waited I went to nearby shop and bought
some empanadas, umm, they where delicious, but very greasy. Alex was delighted with
the treat.
Finally the guy arrived, he took one look at the battery and said that it needed
changing, so, it was changed, I am sure he charged us more but we just wanted to get
back on the road.
After last nights spa experience, we decided to try and find another similar place and
there was one on our camping guide, but it seemed to take ages to get on the road there,
we started climbing the mountain, the sun was disappearing behind, the road getting
worse and worse, we saw it in a distance, but was it worth carrying on that dangerous
road? We decided not and headed back to a camping place near colonia Suiza called
Kalue, the owners were very friendly, we bought fresh baked bread from them and they
bought out a table and chairs for us to use. The price was 3us for the night.
The camping area was full of pine trees, but very dusty, there was hot and cold water in
the wash basins. We made some grilled vegetables, salad, some more morcillas and
fresh bread for dinner, The owner had a couple of Irish wolfhounds and a horse, they all
seemed to be attracted by something we were eating and did not feel shy to come and
beg. Isabelle was very happy to see such big animals.
8th November
In the morning we had a lot to clean up, I had to change Isabelle's clothes
a couple of times and she was still collecting dust.... so after washing al our BBQ
equipment, I filled up our ice box with hot water and gave her a bath.
Continue
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