Argentina Gappers walk through the beautiful Andes

A relaxing week in Mendoza was more than a well-deserved trip for us Australian Gappers here in Argentina. On Thursday afternoon we got ourselves ready for a very tiring 16 hour bus trip. We arrived in Mendoza early Friday morning and made our way to the hostel. We walked into the hostel and were thrown with a whole page of adventure packed activities we could do whilst in Mendoza. The best part of the list was the price of each activity and how astonishingly cheap each was. This is where we all had to work together and decide exactly what we wanted to do as there were many activities.

So.. Saturday we were scheduled to participate in a bike tour through a few vineyards and an olive factory. Here we examined the exotic flavours formed in each of the different organic wines by simply smelling, twirling, smelling again and then finally drinking. After this we rode our bikes to an olive farm/factory where we were able to taste test the many different varieties of olive oils and pastes. Here a few of the boys made good use of the free sample olive oil body creams as they were just a little bit sunburnt….. 

Sunday we woke up nice and early as we were scheduled to take a casual stroll through the breathtaking Andes Mountain. A small mini bus took us through the many windy roads all the way up to the main attraction site in the Andes. Every single one of us made very good use of our cameras here. We drained the batteries and filled the memory cards before it was time to leave. When we took our first step out of the mini bus we all received a sudden chill of the icy breeze coming from the tops of the Andes but low and behold we put it aside as nothing was going to stop us from trekking on through. 


Monday’s activity was much similar to Sundays except required a lot more fitness as we were scheduled to trek up mountains and then abseil down. 30 Minutes through the trek some of us started to feel the pains in our calf muscle, the clench for thirst and strain on our shoulders from our backpacks. We eventually made it to the top where our mouths were paralysed by the views we had just been hit with. We could see far beyond Mendoza if that’s what we were even looking at. 


To top the rest of our day off we were taken to hot springs that left some of us breathless. The place looked like an amusement park; it was nothing like what we had expected. This day had left us feeling more than exhausted so Tuesday was a day of relaxation before a few of us had to make our way back to Buenos Aires. 


Some of us have a few months left here in Argentina and some only a few weeks. We are never sitting with nothing to do, as many more travel plans are in the making and so are many celebrations. A few are due to return from Brazil where they will have plenty of stories to share.