A day of Oops (Day 36)

So today was my moron-Tera day. I haven't really had one yet this trip, so I figured I'd get it all out in one day. Today went a little something like this...

I planned to take a bus out of the city to the Alta Montagna (High Mountains) area, where I was told there would be tonnes of hiking (the home of Aconcagua, America's highest peak). However, when I had been chatting with my hostel host yesterday about my travel plans to head to Iguazu Park next week, he pointed out that the upcoming Feria Santa and Pasquas (Easter) might put a hitch in travelling. I haven't figured out what Feria Santa (Thursday-Saturday) is about other than some religious holiday set, and of course Easter (Good Friday and Easter Sunday) and then tagged onto the end of this holiday run in a Memorial Day (like Remembrance Day) on Monday. So, a week from Thursday through to Monday could be a sort of party lock-down in Argentina. With this bug in my ear, I went on to the bus terminal anyway and got on the bus to my first out-of-town destination of Potrerillos.

By the time we got out of the city, I had decided that I really needed to figure out how, or if, I could get to Iguazu Falls next week (in time for a full moon walk), or if I should go now to avoid the holiday clog and go to the Alta Montagnes outside Mendoza during the Argentine holidays. So, basically I was taking the bus out to Potrerillos only to turn right back around to Mendoza to arrange my next travel. Oops. But, the bus ride was hardly a loss. The sky was perfectly clear and the bus ride to Potrerillos follows the valleys of the Sierra and you get some incredible views.

Second oops: I missed the next bus back to Mendoza. It literally came 3min after the bus let me off in Potrerillos and by the time I realized that it was a bus to Mendoza, it was gone. Oops. So now I had to figure out when and how to get the next bus. This escapade eventually let me to a local rafting outfitter, Marcello, who is the ticket agent for the local bus company and happens to be a really nice guy. He took me under his wing, sat me down, fed me some candy, helped me figure out my bus and future travel plans (he assured me that since the holidays were a tourist trap, everything would still be open and running albeit a little slower..) and even mapped out where I should hike in the area. *Another example of when a curveball in your "plans" ends up presenting something unexpectedly great*

Back in Mendoza, I was able to get one of the last few seats to Iguazu for the full moon hike (I still think the holidays are going to make everything full) and then catch another bus back to the Alta Montagnes area, but this time further in to Puente del Inca- home of Parque Provincial Aconcagua!

Since this bus ride was at least twice the length as my earlier trip to Potrerillos, we made quite a few pit stops. During one stop, I was working out how long it would take to get from Mendoza to Iguazu (a little over 38hrs) and realized that I had in fact booked my ticket for one day too late to make the March 20th full moon. Oops again. As luck would have it, our next pit stop was at a little mall that happen to have a kiosk for the bus company I had booked to Iguazu. What odds! I frantically rushed in and begged (in panick-induced shaky and blabbering Castellana) the good woman at the counter to help me fix my ticket that I had bought not 2hrs earlier- and in the next 5 min before the bus left without me. Bless her heart that she did it for me. Crazy tourists. So, after this time checking the date about 30 times before I got back on the bus, my travel plans were finally set. Phew.

The rest of the bus ride to Puente del Inca was incredible. Unlike the mountains in the south that are far off in the distance, these mountains start right at the road and plunge up to the sky.

So, the bus follows through all the valleys and in and out of tunnel cut into the mountains. It's awesome. As the time wore on and was starting to get dark, I realized another oops I made. My ticket to Puente del Inca had an arrival time of 21:40, which I (mis) interpreted as 8:40pm- should give me enough light when I arrived to seek out a place to camp. As 8:40pm came and went with me still on the bus and another 80km left to Puente del Inca, I suddenly realized that I wouldn't arrive until long after dark at 9:40pm. OOPS. Finding a place to camp in the pitch dark in a town of 30 people (who start indulging around 7pm) was going to be...interesting.

When I got to Puente del Inca, the bus dropped us off in front of a Hosteria- lucky for me. But, when I went inside, they were full and pointed me to a hostel behind in the old train station. (I had actually read about this hostel in my travel book, but the book assured me that with the insurgence of the train system, the hostel would be closed.) I stumbled around in the dark, climbing over and falling into the train tracks until I finally got to the hostel door. Lucky for me, there was space and the host was this really fun, outgoing guy (Emilio). He made me supper, showed me around this super-cool hostel that has a bar in the old (c. 1902) round station office

and fixed up this superb bed under a pile of warm blankets for me. I fell asleep all warm and cozy, surprised that in all my moronic bumbles of the day that I had arrived in one piece, let alone to such a great place.

Hopefully today was the bulk of my "oopses" because my luck can't hold out much more, I'm sure!