Yellow striped hills on the road to Mendoza
My last memory of Santiago was a young boy throwing up on the kerb as we pulled out of the bus station. Happy days…
The bus route itself is very attractive. The road in Chile rises all the way over the Andes, and then passes through the Cristo Redentor tunnel which emerges at the foot of the road up to the Christ the Redeemer statue we visited last time we went to Mendoza, and then follows the same road back past the Inca Bridge and bright blue lakes.
The drive to Argentina only takes about four hours but the bus companies allow eight and a half to accommodate the thorough customs checks on the way out of Chile. No fruit or vegetables are allowed to enter the wine regions around Mendoza to preserve the purity of the vineyards. Fortunately our bus only had five people on board so the process was over pretty quickly and we pulled into Mendoza two hours early.
Mendoza bus station isn’t too exciting, so I ended up sitting outside with my luggage trying to avoid eye contact with the numerous stray dogs as I ate a salami sandwich.
