Overdosing on Meat (Sat 3/27)

Stats:
- 2 quick workouts
- 1 trip to the bus station
- 1 visit to the Internet cafe
- 1 Malbec wine flight tasting
- 1 "asado" (BBQ) dinner with 4 steaks!

Today's goal?  Make a plan for what we do next. The backpacking in the Andes near Mendoza is out. Further long bus rides in Argentina are out.  Flying is out.  All flights lead back to Buenes Aires. And, this would be the domestic airport. We would then have to switch to the international airport to fly anywhere in Chile.  This is too much hassle and would involve two days of travel.  So, we are leaving by bus. 

We walked to the bus terminal. It is nearly as big as the airport and there are more buses companies than airlines and certainly more destinations. You need to understand something about bus travel --- it is how people getting around in South America. It is not like the U.S. where we hop flights between every two cities. Here, in every country, all the flights lead back to the main city and then head out again.  In Argentina, everything runs through Buenes Aires.  In Chile, it runs through Santiago.  Yeah, okay --- there are a few exceptions to this, but for the most part the flight patterns are hub and spoke. As a result, the buses can be quite nice. For example, "Semi-cama" bus means seats like a first class flight. They recline with a full leg rest. The bus plays movies.  They offer snacks and hot coffee. "Royal cama" means the seats lay completely flat and have privacy curtains around them. The "royal" service includes hot meals, champange or wine (by the bottle), pillow and blankets, and your own flat panel television for movie viewing. While bad buses (like our 12 hour ride without a bathroom) are possible, high-end rides are more likely on a long distance bus. 

So, we walked the bus terminal and checked out the various companies and options. Our best bet still looks like heading to the coast of Chile. We bought two tickets to Valparaiso, Chile for Monday morning. It will be a 7 hour ride on a semi-cama bus. The route will cross the Andes and we may get a peak at the highest mountain in South America, Aconcagua. 

We left the bus terminal and headed to an internet cafe. We needed to find a place to stay. We booked four nights at a new looking hotel. The rooms are mini-apartments. The town of Valparaiso has been declared a World Heritage site. It is supposed to be interesting with lots of steep hills and interesting buildings. Arn found nearly 20 miles of walking tours and there are 3 old cemetaries.  So, we will see what we see. 

Later in the afternoon, we checked out a wine tasting bar in town. We enjoyed a flight of Malbecs and a great cheese plate. It included a hard goat cheese that was awesome. We discovered two very good Malbecs. One was from a place called, "Flor" something. The family behind the wine is very wealthy. One of the brothers is in the business of selling Porsches. He decided to make wine as a hobby. He figured he would put of few cases of wine in the trunk of every Porsche as a gift. Well, the wine turned out to be better than expected and the hobby morphed into a business. The other wine was from a place called, "Flecha de Los Andes".

We returned to our hotel and hung out reading and using the Internet. For dinner, we did something we rarely do.  We ate dinner at an inclusive buffet in a hotel. The Park Hyatt (high end $350 a night hotel) has an "asado" on Saturday. For $23, there was a salad and starter table, the BBQ, and dessert table.  Everything was awesome. The salads and grilled vegtables were fantasic. The marinated and grilled eggplant was a highlight. There was a wide selection of meat. I tried the pork ribs, two bites of chorizo, and a steak.  Arn tried the pork ribs, two bites of chorizo, and two different steaks (two types of meat).  The meats were cooked perfectly. They had been slow roasted over open coals and the outsides had carmelized slowly. It was excellent. Arn's dessert was a third steak. Mine was chocolate mousse. Tomorrow, we start the "Subway" diet.