Review: Say Hueque, Andesmar, CATA Internacional, ByT Argentina, Hilton

So, I decided to save all of my reviews of the various places that we stayed and services we used for one blog so people that aren't interested in hearing about these can just skip this post.  That way readers didn't have to sift through the other blogs for more interesting information.

Say Hueque
This is a company that made a presentation at our initial orientation when we arrived at the University of San Andres.  I understand why they say the are the "travel agency for independent travelers."  The people at the agency were extremely nice, so that part of the service isn't the problem - it's the support and actual value.  I almost used them for my trip to Iguazu, but what they were quoting for $510 - I found for $350.

I know that travel agencies offer the value of not having to figure some things out for yourself, so initially I felt better that I booked the Mendoza trip through a travel agency when the bus companies went on strike.  I sent my representative an e-mail, so she decided to call the hotel - I wasn't there.  She didn't reply to my e-mail until after I returned to the hotel and they told me I had a phone message from her.  I asked her about options to get back to Buenos Aires and her best advice was to just wait.  I ended up finding an airline ticket that could be reserved for up to 6 hours without payment.  I went ahead and reserved a plane ticket for the next day and then not having to pay for it, but had the strike continued at least I would have been able to return to Buenos Aires.

Overall:  I would not recommend this agency - for the amount of support they offer, you are better off just booking it for less yourself.

Andesmar
This was my favorite bus line - we took it going to Mendoza.  If I have advice for travelers in Argentina it would be to use the Omnibus service.  If you have the extra $25 USD it is MORE than worth it to take the "cama suite" option on the lines.  The seats recline like a bed, you get your own t.v., they have curtains, the seats are leather and the food is better.

Cama Suite on Andesmar

Also, the added bonus on Andesmar is that you get to play BINGO and the prize was a bottle of wine!

Overall:  HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

CATA Internacional
This is the bus line we took returning from Mendoza to Buenos Aires.  It was comparable to Andesmar because we booked the "cama suite."  The difference was the shocks on this particular bus was probably due for maintenance because it was a little bumpy at times.  The service was still good, but there was no BINGO.  Also, they only had one of the movie options in English with Spanish subtitles.  Both bus lines offered your own selection of movies.

Seats on CATA Internacional

Overall:  Recommended

ByT Argentina
This is a service that was recommended to me from one of my professors.  There is a search engine and you can rent an apartment that comes fully equipped for less than many of the hotel rooms.  The minimum stay is generally 3 or 5 days depending on the apartment.  The other catch is that you have to pay in U.S. Dollars - so you will have to come prepared.

Also, with this service I would recommend booking the transfer through their company to the apartment.  It is only $190 ARS Pesos, but they organize a car that will take you directly to the hotel you have rented.

They are kind of willing to work with individual situations and arrival times - so that helps and they will help you determine how long it will take to get to the airport and will be waiting to receive you at the apartment.

The apartment above was bigger than many hotel rooms in the city and it had T.V., WIFI and local calling included for $75 a night.  You are able to search by the area of town you want to stay in.

Overall:  Recommended 

Hilton
Hilton Buenos Aires is where we are staying on our last night in Buenos Aires.  I would recommend booking this through a website once you are in Argentina if you have the chance.  Some of the discount website like Despegar will give you a better rate in Argentine Pesos than you can get from the states in U.S. Dollars depending on the exchange rate you are getting from your bank.

The above room was about $200 USD per night.  The service has been absolutely excellent and when we showed up earlier than scheduled check-in from our bus returning from Mendoza they gave us two free drink vouchers for the restaurant and free WIFI while we waited.  The check-in time is 14:00, but they got us into our room at 10 a.m. because they told us they knew we probably wanted to shower.

Overall:  Highly Recommended


If you have any questions about the services that I didn't answer above - please e-mail me.

Ciao,

Tim

City of Mendoza

Yesterday we had planned on visiting several parks throughout Mendoza, Argentina.  However, in the morning, we dropped off our laundry and found out that there was a "paro" or strike for all long distance omnibuses throughout Argentina.  This was concerning because we were booked on one of those buses at 7:30 p.m. from Mendoza to Buenos Aires.

The night before we had been out looking for a place to eat and were able to snap a couple of pictures of the beautiful fountains at Plaza Independencia near our hotel.

Throughout the day there are also street vendors in this park.  I tried to take a picture of the vendors, but one of them took that opportunity to offer me some marijuana.  I politely declined...

Inside of Plaza Independencia there is also this huge sign that reminds you that, in fact, you are in the Ciudad de Mendoza.

The day of the strike we still wandered around and were able to visit a couple of parks between checking the newspapers and e-mailing the travel agent.

This is a gazebo in Plaza Bellegrini that I am sure looks better in the summer time.  This isn't a great picture, but it looked like a cozy place to sit.

Fountain in Plaza Espana

We referred to Plaza Espana as "Tile Park" because there was so much detailed tile work.

This is one of the only public water fountains I have seen during my stay in Argentina.

We ended up getting a little lost en route back to the hotel to check for updates on the travel situation and stumbled upon another park, but I can't remember the name.

Unknown statue is unknown park... I don't get lost very often and was frustrated.

As we walked around the city we saw the intricate canal system.  Our tour guide told us during our mountain tour that the runoff from the Andes fuels the entire aquatic system of Mendoza.

This is one of the canals.  These lined the roads, parks and sidewalks.  In the summer apparently they flow with the water from the melting snow.

Long story short... we ended up making our bus and it left on time for Buenos Aires, which was quite a surprise to everyone.  We took a CATA Internacional bus back to Buenos Aires - which I plan to review in my next blog.

Ciao,

Tim

Mendoza Wine Tours

We arrived in Mendoza on a fantastic bus from Andesmar that I will do a full review of later.  It is a pretty city and a lot more clean than Buenos Aires.

We checked into our hotel and had some lunch and then it was off to tour some wineries.

The first winery that we visited was Dante Robino.  It was the more modern, industrial and higher capacity of the two that we visited.  The picture below is how they used to store the wine in barrels, but now that has been turned into this museum portion.

The picture above is the private tasting room of the family that owns the winery.  They keep 300 bottles of each type of wine on hand, I guess in case of a wine emergency.

The second bodega that we toured was much smaller than the first.  It is pictured above and you can see that building on the right looks a bit older than Dante Robino.  This winery is the Cavas de Don Arturo.  Notice there is no link... this is small enough to forego a website altogether.

This winery was much more personal than the first winery and the tour guide, Denise, was much more proficient at English.

At this winery they still complete a lot of the process manually.  This is where the grapes stripped of the leaves and stems before they are crushed and sent to the other building through underground pipes for further processing.

At this winery we ended up purchasing two bottles of Syrah Roble Premium and two bottles of Malbec Roble Premium.  We also bought grape oil, a byproduct they sell.  All of this for about $65 USD, which I thought was quite a deal.

After the winery tours we went to tour an olive oil and food dehydration processing plant named Pasrai.  It was pretty interesting to learn all of the rules behind making extra virgin olive oil.

We took a picture of all of the products they make from olives:  soap, lotion, body oil and other things.

We ended up having a tasting at this place also and big surprise ended up buying some cheap things there also.  We got a three pack of garlic infused olive oil, balsamic vinaigrette,  and balsamic infused olive oil, a dried tomato and olive oil paste and a green olive paste for around $25 USD.

It was an interesting day filled with a lot of tasting.  We met some nice people from the states that were on vacation and it turns out that one of them was actually in Argentina studying to be a Spanish teacher also.

Ciao,

Tim

Iguazu - Day 2

On the second day at Iguazu we had much better weather.  It was really sunny and the sun decided to be quite photogenic.  On this day we decided to only go to the Garganta del Diablo, which is the biggest opening of the waterfalls.

If I have any advice it would be to do the Garganta last if you have the time to explore the rest of the park first.  I think it would make the other waterfalls seem less impressive if you did them after.

There were a ridiculous amount of people in he park the second day and it was a little more difficult to get pictures without hoards of people in them, but it was worth it.

In this photo you can see the water rising from the waterfall, it looks like smoke from a fire to me.



This is the spot where you could really start to tell the water was pickin up speed.



Garganta del Diablo

Garganta del Diablo

In this photo you can see the trajectory of the water, the power pushes it so far from the ledge before it falls.

Across the canyon these smaller waterfalls were more visible the second day.

Just as in my last post I wanted to take some video to share with everyone.

Also, on the second day we were able to make some cute, new, little friends.

There were about 20 of these little guys jumping around the trees.  One of them actually started to approach a lady who was not intelligent enough to put her orange away while she watched.

Hope you enjoy.

Ciao,

Tim

Iguazu - Day 1

Sorry that I have not been able to post.  I am making an attempt to update my blog from the computer at the University of San Andres.  Because of the computer issues these posts will not be exactly chronological, but still should include some of the amazing things I was able to do down in Argentina. 

We decided to take a 17 hour bus ride to Iguazu on our long weekend.  It was actually a pretty comfortable ride on Via Bariloche.  Our dinner, breakfast, coffee, blanket and pillow were all included.  The round trip was only $250 USD, which I thought was reasonable for such a long journey.

We arrived at Iguazu and it had been raining so some of the areas were closed.  Our first day at the park it continued to be quite a dreary day, but I still was able to take same great pictures and video. 

These waterfalls were voted one of the seven natural wonders of the world a couple of years ago and are truly stunning in person.  They are considered one of the top tourist attractions for all of Argentina.

We started at some of the smaller waterfalls like the one pictured above. 

These little guys were wondering around freely and were pretty good at getting food from the tourists.

I think this picture is great at showing exactly how wide the waterfalls were.  It sometimes seemed as if they went on forever.  In fact, if my research proves me correct, these are the widest chain of waterfalls in the world.

I actually stood where the guy with the trench coat is... but it was too wet to take a picture.

Entrance into the park was $130 ARS Pesos, but with views like this one... I think it was worth it.  Also, if you got your ticket stamped the first day - your entrance the second day was half price.

It is my opinion that this is something you really have to see in person, but video is a little closer to doing this justice than photos so I thought to include some.

I will update more as time allows.  The new part for my computer should be here on Friday and then I will be able to catch up on some of the things that I have been doing.

Ciao,

Tim

La Bomba de Tiempo

Tonight we had a group excursion to La Bomba de Tiempo.  We all were told to meet on the B line of the subway here at a stop in the Abasto Mall.  It turns out that inside of this mall they have a play place for the children.  It is called Neverland.  I am sure they were going for a Peter Pan theme, but all I could think of was Michael Jackson.

As I was going up the escalator with a couple of the girls I noticed that the V wasn't light up.  I made the comment... man, just like when kids left Neverland Ranch... missing their "V."  (The V I am referring to is "V"irginity - for those of you not following.)  It wasn't my best work, but I thought it was clever.

The outside of the mall was pretty fancy though.

Abasto Mall - Buenos Aires, Argentina

The shows that we went to see were at the Ciudad Cultural Konex which was a pretty interesting venue for a show.

If I am being honest I really liked the opening act more than La Bomba de Tiempo, but that is because the opening act had a singer in the group.  I took short videos of both, but could only get one to work - luckily it's of the act I liked more. 

The dancers were also included  in the entertainment of the first group.  A big chunk of our group left during the first song of the headliner.  I left after I had been there for a few songs... because I felt like I was probably going to have a pretty good contact high going if I stayed much longer.

La Bomba de Tiempo

I am feeling a little under the weather tonight - so that is all until next time.

Ciao,

Tim

Uruguay Part I

This morning I scheduled a ferry out of Buenos Aires for Colonia, Uruguay for about 16 of the students that are on our trip.  I have to say that this trip is HIGHLY recommended if you are going to be spending some time in Buenos Aires.  It is a great change of pace and the ride over isn't that bad.

This is the buquebus terminal that we were departing in.  

One thing that I found interesting is that the Argentine and Uruguay customs agents are all of the Argentina port so my passport was stamped by both agents one after the other.  Our ferry left about 30 minutes late, but from what I can tell... that is actually pretty routine here.

Duty Free shop and foyer in the ferry.

Live Entertainer: Singer

This woman was a pretty fantastic singer... I may just be saying that because all of her songs were in English and I knew what they were, but I was happy that she was on board.  The trip from Argentina to Colonia was 3 hours, but there were plenty of refreshments and things to do.  I purchased some fantastic things from the duty free shop.  The lady there told me that you can buy $500 US when you enter Uruguay, but only $125 on your way back to Argentina because of the difference in the customs laws.

When we arrived there was a pretty awesome island with a lighthouse, but it was pretty foggy so it was difficult to see.

We arrived in port just fine and then I rented an exceptionally awesome thing:

Thrifty Golf Cart 

This is a golf cart that I rented.  I really wanted a buggy or something a little faster, but this is all they had left.  It is amazing... you can drive them just like any other car, they have lights and other things and prevent you from having to walk ANYWHERE.  Also, there is a horn.  It keeps you dry in inclement weather and my guess is that it has already been worth the $60 I will pay.

Hostel Espanol - View from our hallway

Our hostel is pretty nice considering that is only costs $16 USD per night and we are only staying there one night.  We get a locker, towel and bar of soap... which is more than some offer.

We had a very nice lunch, which I will write about later in another edition of my favorite foods, because it was amazing!  We did some sight seeing in the barrio historico in town and then went to one of the beaches. The picture below is one of the views from atop one of the rock ledges.

Barrio Historico Beach

 When it got a little darker we went to take pictures of the lighthouse.  I have plans to go back tomorrow and try and take a tour inside and more pictures, but it looked quite majestic at night.

Another day in Uruguay tomorrow...

Ciao,

Tim

Palermo Parks & Evita Museum

Today was a beautiful day in Argentina.  There wasn't a cloud in the sky and even though most of the locals thought it was cold - by Kansas standards this was a fall/spring day and not a winter day.  So I seized the opportunity to go to some of the parks and monuments in the Palermo area.

The first monument (pictured below) is the Monumento de los Cuatro Regiones Argentinas.  It's a pretty nice statue in a very busy intersection.

It's a beautiful statue, but please look very closely for the social commentary here...

This resident of the streets was obviously doing his weekly laundry and taking a bath in the fountain water.  Not pictured here is his lady friend who came to check on his progress a short time later.

Near this monument is the beautiful park that surrounds Lake Palermo that is tucked away in this section of the city.  It is only 2 stops on the subway north from my house and about 5 blocks to the east.  It was pretty easy to navigate and find.

The entrance to the park welcomes you with these beautiful fountains.  The sky was absolutely beautiful all afternoon.

Above a portion of the lake is pictured with the business there that sells paddle boats.  I did opt to take one of the paddle boats around the lake to snap more than a few photos...

After I finished at the Palermo Lake I visited the Evita Museum.  Anyone who is anyone is Argentine history has some sort of museum dedicated to him/her and this one dedicate to Eva Peron did not disappoint.

There were many displays dedicated to her sense of fashion and the one above was one of the many displays concerning her hat collection.

She famously received much of her clothing from outside of Argentina - like the dresses pictured above.

This reads: Passion, Courage, Work, Dignity, Greatness, Solidarity.  This was included in a room that had many artifacts related to Evita's work advocating for orphan children and the disabled elderly.  Regardless of your political positions... I think you can still stand in awe of her unique life.

Tonight's plan is to celebrate the birthday of one of the other student's on the trip...

Ciao,

Tim