Planning a Three Month Itinerary for Argentina

I’m in day 21 of my trip in Argentina! Can you believe it? I know I can’t because I’ve been planning to come to Argentina for so many years, but it was never really the appropriate time for me. Now that I am here, I’m effortlessly enjoying every bit of it. The last two weeks have been hectic and absolutely delightful, trying to see the best bits of Buenos Aires from a local’s perspective and meeting so many family members that I only knew by name and through photographs. Everything about this trip has been perfect thus far and I wanted to play catch up with keeping everyone in the loop of what’s been going on and what the future holds. While I can’t predict every bit of my trip, I can say that I am looking forward to spending the next couple of months in Patagonia.

If you’ve been following my blog you know that before reaching South America, I was actually in Southeast Asia for three months basking in the beaches, trekking jungles and exploring rice fields and before that, almost a year ago, we were in Eastern Europe and Turkey for about 2 months. Life on the road, always on the move is something I never thought I would be able to do and now that I’m in Argentina in my fourth month of travel, I wanted to share my plans for the next three months.

I arrived in Buenos Aires right before my 27th birthday and spent two weeks there. For the first few nights we checked in at the Park Hyatt which is significant for a couple of reasons. One being that it’s one of the more well known historic buildings in Buenos Aires, where people often meet for lunch and birthdays and secondly, well-known public figures tend to stay there. During my stay I actually saw Jared Leto and his brother Shannon Leto, who are both in 30 Seconds to Mars! The best part was the group of 50 or so girls standing outside the hotel waiting for them to come out at all hours of the day.

From then on I spent the rest of my two weeks in Buenos Aires in the uber trendy section, Palermo Soho, in an AirBnb studio we booked online. One other thing I should mention is that I have a lot of family and friends in Buenos Aires so what was great was being able to spend so much time with locals who knew the best spots in the area, but even better was becoming so close to these beautiful people I am blessed to be kin with. I’m so appreciative for all the time they spent with me, they truly made Buenos Aires feel like a second home and I can’t wait to show them around in Los Angeles!

Palermo is known for the boutique shops, trendy cafes, hip bars and lounges and for me what was significant was Plaza Armenia! As an Armenian, it was great to see a significant street named Calle Armenia that also had several Armenian institutions that the entire community of Buenos Aires was free to use. For example, Sala Siranush is a concert hall that hosts many concerts and the Armenian Center building which houses La Tango Viruta, a dance school that is opened to the public and offers tango and salsa lessons.

I would have loved to stay in Buenos Aires for much longer, but we want to cover as much of Argentina as time and money can afford us. When we were planning our trip to Argentina, the original plan was to head northeast to the town of Tucuman, which would be our home base for traveling to Salta, Jujuy and other parts in the north. The plan was to stay in Tucuman for about 20 nights using our Hilton Honors points at 5,000 points per night, so basically free. But, after doing more research we decided it wasn’t the right time for us to venture up north for a couple of reasons. One being, there is absolutely nothing to do in Tucuman and while free is nice, we would be bored out of our minds if we stayed there for so long. The second reason we decided to forgo Tucuman was the distance factor. Following Tucuman we had plans to go to Mendoza and then to Patagonia, so traveling so far north from Buenos Aires (approximately 16 hours) then heading to Mendoza another 15 hour bus ride would not only be exhausting, but would take away days that could be better used in Patagonia. While I would love to visit Salta, it will have to wait for another trip.

From Buenos Aires we headed to Rosario, a three hour bus ride with the El Rosarino bus company. As of lately, Rosario has had the reputation for being overrun by drug related crime and theft, but several locals informed us that the issue has more to do with people who are directly involved and occur more so outside the city. In any case, we were not actually set on going here, but since we removed Tucuman from the itinerary we decided we would fill in the 20 days with stops along the way to Mendoza.

Years earlier, Rand was part of a study abroad program through the University of Oregon so coming back was also a great opportunity to finally meet his host family who are so kind and sweet. His host brothers took us to a boliche (night club) called Lotus and in true Argentine fashion, the party doesn’t start until 3 a.m. which is usually way pass my bedtime. Never the less, I made it to Lotus and had an amazing time dancing to remixed cumbia until almost 6 a.m. Another important thing to note is that Che Guevara was born in Rosario and while we didn’t check it out, you can apparently visit the home in which he grew up in.

The rest of the time in Rosario, we spent running along the Paranas river which in the evenings is filled with people hanging out with their friends, having picnics with their family and market filled with vendors selling different trinkets and handmade goods. We also checked out the historic areas such as the Flag Monument in Rosario and many of the buildings, both residential and business, are within old structures. You can also see and walk into the buildings were hundreds of Argentinians were tortured and killed during the Dirty War beginning in the late 1970s.

One thing I found difficult while in Rosario, was the long siesta taken on Sundays. Basically, most of the city shuts down on Sundays with a few markets opening their doors for a few hours in the evenings. After the boliche, we didn’t get home until 6 a.m. and woke up hungry around 4 p.m. As this was a Sunday, our options for food were McDonalds, Burger King, Starbucks and Brownies which is another coffee shop/bakery.

While Rosario seems like a nice little city, four days was a bit much so we moved on to our next destination which one of Rand’s friends, Virigina, recommend and that is where I am writing from now! She suggested a few small towns between Corodoba and Mendoza, one being Santa Rosa de Calamuchita. The town is within a valley with the pretty Santa Rosa river which runs through it. In the summer, the river banks are packed with people coming in from the city to escape the heat and dip into the refreshing river. So if you’re looking for a swimming hole in Argentina, this is the place to be. In Santa Rosa de Calamuchita, they also practice siestas here, which I learned is something all of Cordoba province practice,  so when we arrived into town on our first day here right before lunch, we spent the siesta hours wandering around the town and walking along the riverside which is filled with so many weeping willows and mulberry trees! It’s absolutely beautiful! Since they practice siesta here every day, we found that it’s the best time go for trail runs and exploring more of the nature nearby the town, then come back in time for a snack a glass of malbec!

What’s next for us?

We plan to spend a total of 4 nights in Santa Rosa de Calamuchila, then move on to Cumbrecita for another 4 nights where we booked an amazing lodge cabin that looks like it could be straight out of Aspen, Colorado. Cumbrecita is another small town I am looking forward to spending a few days in, then from there we will be our way to San Luis for a day or two before Mendoza. What I am really looking forward to is spending 15 nights in Mendoza. First of all, it’s where the best malbec in Argentina is and in the world, so I cannot wait to do several vineyard tours and wine tastings. It’s basically the Napa Valley of Argentina. In addition to acres of vineyards, there is rafting, hiking, swimming and you can rent a vehicle to go off roading.

From Mendoza, the plan is as follows:

There is a lot of overland traveling to be done so the more breaks we have in between to spend as much time as possible in a few places the better. Our plan once we leave Mendoza is to take a bus down south San Martin de Los Andes and spend about 10-15 days there. Flights between Argentina are almost as expensive as a flight to Europe from the US, so once we are ready to leave San Martin de Los Andes, we’re going to take a bus down to Puerto Montt, Chile which is where we’ll catch a flight down to Punta Arena, Chile. From there we’re taking a bus to El Calafate and spending a few days there before heading up to El Chalten for a few more days to get up close and personal with Mount Fitz Roy.

When you get down to the south it also gets much more expensive because they do get a lot of wealthy European and American tourists making their way down there so it will be interesting to see how that all plays out for us. Actually, even the prices posted are in US dollars.

As you see in the above map, Argentina is quite large and the terrain beyond Mendoza towards the south is quite mountainous considering much of it is comprised of the Andes. This makes traveling through Argentina a very long and potentially expensive journey.

Our plans are still up in the air as far as where we will be once we leave Patagonia. One option is to fly out of Chile and spend some time in Central America, but in the long run we plan to make it to Italy, Spain and Armenia in time for mid-Spring and come back to the United States in the summer.

 

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