irstly no photos today. Its been a long day of travelling that has taken me to all sorts of places. I got up early and walked into El calafate town for the last time. Then while I was waiting for my bus to take me to the airport, I explained to Nico who was working there today, all about marsupials and monotremes, in the best spanish I could muster. I think the conversation started from asking me about kangaroos, which is the standard question Australians get asked overseas.
My flight to Buenos Aires was as uneventful as it could be. Although I’ve noticed that Argentines are friendly most of the time, but getting them on and off planes is another matter. One guy had worked out that if he put his luggage in the overhead lockers at row 1, when the seatbelt signs went off, he could push down the aisle and get off first.
OK so the next flight is where the day gets interesting and why i’m writing this at 1:30am in the morning. As we were about to land in Mendoza, the captain announces we have been diverted to San Juan for security reasons. Well that was the english explanation. The spanish explanation involved something to do with the fire engines. The end result was the plane landed at San Juan, about 150kms north of Mendoza. To their credit LAN provided a bus to Mendoza, its just that it took time for the buses to arrive and to get to Mendoza.
I finally arrived fairly exhausted, but being Argentina plenty of places were open to get some dinner. Although I didn’t go buy anything from “Mr. Dog” which is apparently a local fast food chain. I’m not sure if the cafe i went to was staying open for much longer but they still cooked me up an omelette.
My room is ok, kind of like a big cupboard, but it has a double bed and a bathroom that enables me to shit, shave and shower all at once. Plus its rather handy that the flush button is in the shower itself, because after all who wants to flush until they are in the shower.
OK so i neglected Spanish phrase of the day. I’m trying to think of something hilarious to make yesterday sound better than it was, but its difficult. The best i have is “Mendoza aeropuerto. ¿Realmente existe?”… And I’ll leave it at that. the next few days will have plenty of photos, tales regarding wine and the high andes.
