18/11/2019 – Travel day Pucon, Chile, to Mendoza, Argentina

We got ourselves up, finished packing and stripped the bed before saying goodbye to everyone. We jumped on Nea and Straughny, and said goodbye to Alex and Joel, amongst some guests who were up and about. We walked around the corner to the Grand Pucon hotel to await our airport transfer which Kris had kindly organised for us the day before. We hopped in the minibus with our bags and both fell asleep to podcasts until we halted outside Temuco airport. We had booked a flight to Santiago after debating a night bus because of the demonstrations that continue in the capital. We had arrived at the airport with lots of time for a domestic flight, so were one of the first to get to the check in desk. As we handed over our passports we were told our flight had been cancelled! Thankfully the guy at the desk spoke English, he explained that we needed to come back to talk to him in an hour, and that our names had been put on a standby list. We stood to the side and witnessed many latino americans being typically latino when they found out about the cancellation! Tempers and attitude were flying all over the place! The staff handled it pretty well. We didn’t know what was going on so kept re queuing to ask! Eventually we got handed some receipts with our names on and told to run through security and to hover near the gate. We were number 14 and 15, so we didn’t hold much hope for getting on the plane on standby. Eventually all the passengers had boarded and all the people on standby were trying to elbow their way to the front. Luckily for us (we just really cant compete with the sass) we were given seats in numerical order, and for some reason passenger numbers 6-13 had not turned up! Josh and I boarded the plane and couldn’t believe our luck! I sat next to a lady with a young baby, who I helped amuse for a while (until I fell asleep) and Josh found a seat in the fire escape so had lots of leg room! It was only an hour until we landed in Santiago. In Santiago we picked up our luggage, exited, and then had to check in for our next flight. We were pretty excited at the prospects of the large and developed airport. We went through security, joined the WiFi and found a McDonalds. Before long we boarded the plans for Mendoza. We sat next to one another for this flight but it didn’t really make a difference as we each dozed off to a podcast anyway! An hour later and we touched down in Mendoza, Argentina. We went through security, collected our bags, got an orange confiscated from us after a bag scan, and then found the taxi rank. Taxis to the centre were 6USD, so we got the official lady to organise one for us. A new accent and dialect for us to tune in to! We got dropped outside the door of our air bnb reservation. We were greeted by Monica, our host, and two dogs. The accommodation is really 50’s very simple and stylish, Josh and I both absolutely love it, and at £9 a night in total, and in the centre of Mendoza, you can’t go wrong, and it is cheaper than a hostel! We were pretty happy to be in a quiet place after a month of busy hostel life. We got shown in, dumped our bags, and then walked two blocks to the street of bars and cafes. It was apparent immediately that this is a young backpacker destination, there were loads of tourists out and about. There were loads of craft beer bars too! It is a funny mix of developed and hip, clashed with an immediate apparent poverty that we hadn’t witnessed so much of in Chile. Some kids were selling sweets to the tourists eating at street tables, and we saw kids rummaging in the bins sorting out recycling. After a bit of wandering we found a middle eastern café with seats outside. It was 21:00 and still shorts and t-shirt temperature which was lovely. We had a bite to eat before heading back to our accommodation to shower and crash out.