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mad nomad: Since there were requests for Angeliki to write a little something about our adventures, she penned the following article. Enjoy!

We left Mendoza behind and commenced our way to the South and to Patagonia! The landscape and the colours kept changing, as the places we were passing through had more rivers and mountains. Even the taste of the water that we fill our tank with, started to improve significantly! After passing through numerous vineyards near the city of San Rafael, we arrived at the Atuel Canyon and explored the surrounding area, which is well impressive, for a couple of days. An artificial lake has been created there and plenty of riparian activities take place. We camped next to the river and gazed at the canoes and kayaks that were paddling along.

Gazing at the Atuel Canyon…

We were getting deeper into the Andes… After driving for a couple of hours on a very decent dirt road, we arrived at the abandoned Termas del Sosneado hotel. Said hotel was built in 1938 and attracted visitors because of its natural, hot springs, with water coming from the Overo Volcano. Its days of glory ended in 1953, when it was shut down permanently. It really is located in the middle of nowhere and, allegedly, Nazis who escaped Germany after the end of WWII, found refuge in the area. We explored the hotel ruins and Elias had a dip in the pools (they were not hot enough for me). A bit further up in the mountains, a very famous plane crash had taken place, what became known as the “Andes Flight Disaster”, a very interesting story involving cannibalism. Weather permitting, it is possible to visit the site of the disaster by horse. When we were in the area, however, the snow did not allow for it.

The hot springs at the ruins of the Termas del Sosneado hotel, a surreal sight at an altitude of 2,200 metres (7,218 ft)!

During the next few days, we were wandering about in nature at high altitudes. Although summer had already begun, we came across a lot of snow, which ruined a few of Elias’ plans. We did, however, see many lakes, countless rivers, innumerable guanacos, huge mountains, volcanoes, even a ski resort! We also had our first taste of “tenedor libre”, where one can eat as much BBQ as desired! Naturally, we did honour to the meat!

The snow ruined our plans several times…

Our next stop was the town of Chos Malal, where we discovered a massive oil leak in the van. As a result, we had to stay in Chos Malal for a few days until the spare parts were found and the repair was complete. In the meantime, a devaluation of the peso was announced. In one evening, all prices went up by 50%! It was quite surreal as an economic experience and our lavish days were over for good. We still can’t help but wonder how the locals manage…

Exploring the Andes…

Once the van repair was completed, we hit the mountains once again; the highlights were the natural hot springs and the Los Tachos geyser! Unfortunately, our misadventures were not over, because the van’s engine nearly burned, due to a cooling problem and we also had a flat tire. Fortunately, Elias was able to repair both of these issues, so we could continue our journey on both occasions.

At Los Bolillos one can see these strange rock formations, which make the landscape look otherworldly!

By now we were properly in Patagonia and the landscape confirmed this. While the places we had visited on the previous days were fairly barren (partly because of the gale-force winds that plague the area), araucaria trees were now starting to appear. Neither Elias nor I had seen these trees before and we were really enchanted, as they are very impressive! We visited the Agrio Waterfall and after a wander of several days, we finally made it to the resort town of Caviahue, which is built on the shores of the homonymous lake.

Patagonia’s magical landscapes, filled with araucaria, which became our favourite trees!

Caviahue is a famous ski resort and spa town. Because of the numerous volcanoes in the area, there are hot springs everywhere and spa tourism is blooming. We didn’t miss out on trying the hot springs! Firstly, we went to Copahue, a town at a much higher altitude. On the way, we passed next to a field that is full of craters with seething water and steam! I love places like that! Although it was already summer, there was still snow in several places and in combination with the volcanic terrain, the landscape was reminiscent of Iceland!

Our camp on the shores of the captivating Lake Caviahue!

Once we reached Copahue, we could see steam everywhere and we tried an outdoor pool with mud, which both of us really enjoyed. On the same evening, we had dinner at Caviahue, where Elias tried a pizza with piñones, the huge pine nuts that grow on the araucaria tree and are an important part of the alimentation of the indigenous population. Prior to leaving this area, we did a short hike in order to see four waterfalls and to visit the mountains around Caviahue, which are indeed gorgeous! We bid Caviahue farewell and continued our long journey to the South.

A short hike took us to a number of waterfalls on the Agrio River.

This is the fourth episode of our documentary about our adventures in Argentina (with English subtitles):

mad nomad: Since there were requests for Angeliki to write a little something about our adventures, she penned the following article. Enjoy!

After Elias’ excursion to the abandoned goldmine, we stayed for a few days at a hostel for paragliders in Famatina. During the daytime, Elias would paraglide with them in the surrounding area, whilst during the night time we would all feast on grilled meats, while some played live music! We spent some happy days there and met several locals who enriched our knowledge and understanding of Argentina and the culture of its people.

The impressive formations at the Talampaya National Park compose an eerie landscape!

It was now time for our first visits to national parks in Argentina. We entered the neighbouring parks of Talampaya and Ischigualasto and ventured in them quite a bit. We marvelled at the weird rock formations, the ancient petroglyphs, the peculiar colours and we travelled back in time, in the era of dinosaurs! In and around these national parks we also saw our first guanacos, which are camelids and related to llamas! They are not tame however, so they wouldn’t let us get too close to them. I adored them and thankfully our paths cross often!

These are our beloved guanacos!

Our next stop was the cute town of Barreal, which we used as our gateway to a number of activities, so we stayed there for a few days. We visited an observatory and marvelled at an under (Chinese) construction radio telescope, which, once complete, will be the largest in Latin America. Elias tried land sailing for the first time at the Pampa del Leoncito, which is plagued by strong winds that can lift a grown man up! Elias really enjoyed land sailing and I believe he’ll do it again, once he gets the chance!

When Elias found out that he could try out land sailing at Pampa del Leoncito, he went for it without a second thought!

In the surrounding mountains, there is a very special stream, which is turquoise, due to the oxidised copper in its bed! In order to see it, we had to drive around 60 km (37 miles) on a rough dirt road that belongs to a private, mining company. Once we secured the required permit, we spent the night at Laguna Blanca, at an altitude of 3,100 metres (10,171 ft). On the following day, we did a day’s long hike to an altitude of 4,100 metres (13,451 ft). We walked on our first snow and we were escorted, from a distance, by several guanacos. The view, once we reached the stream, was well impressive and it was definitely worth the ascent, as well as my accidental fall in the other stream, the muddy one!

Hiking to Arroyo Turquesa led us to one of the most impressive landscapes we have ever laid our eyes on!

A little later, we also used as our base the town of Uspallata, from which we ventured towards the Aconcagua National Park, which is home to the highest mountain of the American continent, at an altitude of 6,961 metres (22,838 ft). The sight is most impressive! Prior to arriving at the legendary mountain, we visited a cemetery on the way, the so-called Cementerio del Andinista, which has an interesting story… At the beginning of the previous century, workers, who died from hardships during the construction of Argentina’s railway network, were buried there. Later on, an unfortunate British mountaineer, who died while attempting to reach the summit of Aconcagua, was buried there. Thus, a tradition of burying mountaineers in said cemetery started. In recent years, quite a few people ask to be buried there, so that their final resting place has a view of the mountains. Before bidding farewell to Uspallata, we visited Cerro Tunduqueral, in order to see the interesting petroglyphs, one of which depicts the mushroom of the ancient Super Mario!

We were blessed to marvel at the highest peak in the whole of the American continent, Mount Aconcagua (6,961 metres / 22,838 ft)!

The city of Mendoza was our next stop. It is a fairly large city, which is famous for its countless vineyards. Although I really like wine, I had always been snobbish of New World wines, until I tried Malbec in Buenos Aires, which I got very excited about! Whilst I tried to visit a winery, it turned out to be very difficult and expensive, so I let it go. We spent about a week in Mendoza, Elias did some paragliding, we got provisions for the next leg of our trip and we repaired Don Rufos that had a few issues. Moreover, we ate a lot of ice creams and empanadas, the famous pasties with all sorts of filings. We ate ice cream at the same place every day and its price would increase every day! Unfortunately that’s typical of Argentina’s economy… In Mendoza we completed the first leg of our journey in Argentina, since we had reached the Andes, from where we started our drive down towards the legendary Patagonia and our final destination, Tierra del Fuego!

Elias flew above Mendoza on his paraglider!

This is the third episode of our documentary about our adventures in Argentina (with English subtitles):

mad nomad: Since there were requests for Angeliki to write a little something about our adventures, she penned the following article. Enjoy!

On Wednesday the 20^th of September 2023, four years after we decided to travel together around the American continent, we landed at Buenos Aires! We spent a week in the capital of Argentina, in order to acclimatise prior to traveling to neighbouring Uruguay to pick up our vehicles. This metropolis is massive and has a lot of European influences. We managed, however, to see and experience quite a few things. We were hosted by a family from Venezuela, who have been living in the country for a few years and Juan, our host, showed us around quite a bit. We visited museums, parks, churches, cemeteries and squares. The government buildings are huge and there are often demonstrations outside, since the country is plagued with numerous economic, social and political problems, which became evident to us pretty soon.

The Obelisk, standing tall at 67 metres (220 ft), on the 9^th of July Avenue (Avenida 9 de Julio), was erected in 1936 in order to commemorate the 400-year anniversary of the establishment of the first Spanish colony on Río de la Plata.

The most famous landmarks of Buenos Aires are the Obelisk, as well as the 9^th of July Avenue (Avenida 9 de Julio), with its 16 lanes in some parts, which is allegedly the widest avenue in the world! We got acquainted to the city’s cuisine, which is reigned by pizza and milanesa (the Argentinian version of a schnitzel). We wandered around open-air markets and met several locals, friends of friends, and each one of them contributed to our Argentinian experience. Finally, we also watched a few cultural spectacles, such as tango, of course, as well as live music. With our heart and soul full, we departed for Uruguay, where we would get our vehicles delivered and a month later we returned to Argentina by road, in order to explore the rest of the country!

Tango was born around the estuary of Río de la Plata, in Argentina and Uruguay, in the 19^th century, yet back in the day it was a dance for the lower classes and lowlifes.

We re-entered Argentina in our vehicles through the city of Concordia and during Election Day. The plan was to drive westwards until we reached the Andes, near the border with Chile and then southwards, until Tierra del Fuego! Argentina greeted us with torrential rains, which were the cause of our first misadventure in the pampas, the vast plains that are prevalent in these lands. The van got stuck there and we even had to use the winch in order to get it out of the mud. We spent the rest of the day cleaning out the mud from the van and the motorcycle, on the banks of the Lake Mar Chiquita, in the town of Miramar, whilst the flamingos were looking at us puzzled!

The first problem the van encountered was in the mud of the pampas… We were saved by the winch!

With our vehicles clean, we made our way to Córdoba, Argentina’s second largest city. We mainly wanted to exchange money, buy provisions, but also to view the beautiful colonial architecture of the city. We visited Alta Gracia next, where Che Guevara spent his childhood and adolescence. The Guevara family house is a museum these days and contains a lot of information about his life and his activities. Our next stop, following the advice of a local we met, was the village of La Cumbrecita, which is nestled in the Central Sierra mountain range. This village was built by Swiss settlers and is reminiscent of the Alps rather than of Argentina. It was a rather surreal experience and we spent a couple of days there hiking and exploring the area.

The village of La Cumbrecita was founded by Swiss settlers, as its architecture suggests.

Without straying from Central Sierra, after driving for a few hours, we arrived at the Umepay community, where a friend of our friend Daphne lives. This alternative community was set up 11 years ago; it is based on ecological consciousness and follows specific standards with respect to its operation and the houses, which are built using cob. Around 150 people live there today, who partake in beautiful activities and fully respect nature. I personally liked it very much and if I had to live in Argentina, I would probably pick this place for my residence.

Elias’ first flight on his paraglider in Argentina was at Cuchi Corral, where the world paragliding championship had taken place in 1994!

A few days after we bid goodbye to Umepay, Elias did his first flight on his paraglider in Argentina, at Cuchi Corral, not far from La Rioja. The landscape had already started to change considerably, as had the temperature. La Rioja is full of cacti and red sand, while it was the first time during our travels that we suffered from the heat! We stayed for a couple of days at the Lake De Los Sauces, where Elias flew on his paraglider again, while we also ate our first parilla! Parilla is the Argentinian BBQ, which, as we found out, is a very important part of the life and culture of Argentinians.

The route to the abandoned goldmine Mina la Mejicana at an altitude of 4,600 metres (15,092 ft) was hard both for Elias and for his motorcycle… It will also be unforgettable though!

Elias did a long and difficult off-road route on his motorbike next, towards the abandoned mine Mina la Mejicana. It was a rather tough ride, so I stayed behind. All day long Elias was crossing rivers and riding in them. He returned late in the evening, exhausted and covered in mud, but very excited with the beautiful landscapes that he saw. Stay tuned because the parilla will be back!

This is the documentary about our adventures in Argentina (with English subtitles):

This is the video about my epic ride to Mina La Mejicana (with English subtitles):