Day 657 – South America – Argentina [Rest Day in Mendoza]

07/02/22

 Rest day in Mendoza (Argentina, South America)

A sunny summer day in Argentina, taking in the atmosphere of Mendoza – and a mystery guest

Plaza del Independencia, Mendoza

Having faced cold wind and cloudy mornings on my way down from the Andes, I was not expecting the weather to change that dramatically once back down to more reasonable altitude. Well, at 1000m elevation, Mendoza proved to be quite hot today. And from the weather forecasts, I reckon the way to Buenos Aires is going to be fairly hot too.

Typical shopping trolley – and candy floss

Under blue and bright skies we made our way to the town centre, near the beautiful Indepencia Plaza in the morning. There, I met Franck. Who’s Franck? A French journalist, who heard a podcast “Course Epique” that I had recorded last summer with the host Guillaume Lalu. Franck is not only a journalist, he is a keen runner and adventurer. He contacted me a few months ago – and here we are now. He is running a story about the world-run for a French investigative / documentary review. And the best part is: he will run a full week by my side. Now, that’s truly committed journalism!

Happy in bright and colourful Mendoza

We had a very interesting rest of the day. James and I set out to explore the city, only to end up in parts of the city that were not so pleasant. And just as we made our way back to the parks and wide avenues, we realised we had no clue where we had parked the campervan. We spent 2 hours walking the streets of Mendoza till we finally spotted it. Quite a way to spend a rest day!

Note: Australia has announced it will be reopening its borders from end of February. Naturally it fills me with joy – I am also very cautious, nothing should be taken for granted as we have learned since the pandemic started… but a good sign nonetheless!