Honeymooning Across the Andes

After visiting Santiago and Valparaiso we crossed the border to Mendoza, Argentina. What a day that was... We started off by taking the subway from our closest stop, Santa Lucia, to Estación Central. After all, our super fancy "cama suite", front-row, top level bus tickets said Estación Central right on them. We planned to have about 30 minutes in the station in case anything went wrong. It was the wrong Estación Central! The damn bus station takes up multiple blocks and we should have gotten off at the next stop, titled Universidad. How is anyone supposed to know this?
The entire extra 30 minutes was spent running around the bus station and getting alternating responses from people we asked for help:
- "Autobuses a Mendoza estan arriba" (Buses to Mendoza are upstairs.)
- "Autobuses internacionales son cuatro cuadras. Van a la calle principal entonces a la izquierda." (International buses are 4 blocks away. Go to the main street then left.)

Finally two women in a shop help us. They called Cata Internacional and found out that is really was 4 blocks away. By this time we had missed our bus so we decided to walk it. Besides, we had no Chilean pesos left. Not even enough for a subway ride.

When we found the Cata Internacional ticket office the man was helpful. He rebooked us on the next bus, but this was not a "cama suite" and we didn't have front row seats. Then he informed us that we needed to go and pay the reciprocity fee in the Internet cafe. It was a bit of an ordeal, but we made it happen.

The bus ride was incredible. I had my GoPro attached to the window taking a photo every 5 seconds and the scenery was stunning. When we arrived in Mendoza we were anxious to get off the bus and get to our hostel. I left my GoPro on the bus! An hour later I noticed. I ran back to the bus station, but someone had already swiped it. Damn. These photos will have to suffice...

More photos here.

Crazy road of solid hairpin turns:


Aconcagua:


Getting stir-crazy on the bus: