We're Baaaaack!!!

When it became clear that Santiago was a bust, we started looking at other possible locations to spend our 3 months away. We considered La Serena, north of Santiago on the coast. We considered La Concepcion, south of Santiago on the coast. We considered cruising to somewhere in the South Pacific. In the end, I asked Roch, "What does your heart say?". He looked at me and with hardly a pause replied, "Argentina". I felt the same way.

When we flew to Santiago from Mendoza, we were captivated by the sight of the Andes below us. We decided that for our return trip, we'd take a bus through the Andes instead. The 8-hour trip through the mountains was spectacular. The climb to Los Portillos just before the Argentine border involved 16-17 switchbacks. Our photos don't do justice to how majestic the mountains are.

Our only concern about returning to Argentina was financial. We had brought enough US dollars with us to exchange on the "black market" for the 10 days we were supposed to be here. Before going to Santiago, we squandered our remaining Argentine pesos buying booze at the duty free, knowing that the money would be worthless outside of Argentina. Taking money out of ATMs in Argentina involves a $10-12 USD fee at a very unfavourable official rate. Luckily, we had met fellow travellers who informed us that the best way to get money in Argentina was through Western Union and this turned out to be true. We emailed money to Roch's daughter who sent it back to us for cash pickup at any Western Union outlet. Instead of getting 115 pesos to the Canadian dollar (official bank rate), we got almost 225 pesos through Western Union.

Aaahh, it's good to be back.Læs mere