Cycling The Globe

During the last days we had been keeping in contact with Michael, the other Danish cyclist, who was now in Mendoza. I had been cycling with Michael until some days before Santiago, and really wanted to catch up with him before continuing north. The problem was that if we cycled the 120 km to Mendoza, we would have to come the same way back again – something cyclists don’t like. When we asked about bus tickets they turned out to be only 4.5$, and when it was possible to leave the bikes at the camp site we made up our minds – we would take the bus.

Petter and I were laughing a bit of ourselves since we had been planning this difficult adventure into the mountains with isolated roads and high passes, but now we were too lazy to cycle 120 km to Mendoza.

It was really exotic for me to be travelling by bus. For almost three months I had seen the busses from Argentina and Chile pass me on the road, and I often wondered how it would feel to be inside. Now I knew.

After two hours in the bus (that would have been a day on the bike) we arrived in Mendoza, the wine capital of Argentina. There did indeed seem to be a wine festival going on which made accommodation expensive and difficult to find. Luckily Michael had reserved two beds for us at his hostel.

It was great to see Mike again, and as usual when in his company, there was good food planned for the night. We teamed up with Frank, another cyclist from Germany, and went out shopping for steaks and a liter of red wine for each person. Sometimes life as a cyclist is rather hard, other days not really 🙂

On top of the red wine we added Fernet Branca, the national drink of the Argentinians. It all resulted in a very happy evening – much different from the usual nights in a tent somewhere in the middle of nowhere. This one including a few more drinks and a tour of the local bars of Mendoza.

The next day was spent at the hostel doing absolutely nothing!