Zigzagging rural Argentina – as we approach the Uruguayan border

The last weeks of our venture have been spent moving further to the north in Argentina, always keeping the route well to the west of the region of Buenos Aires and trying to avoid large urban areas. We are going slowly to really enjoy our travel experience and saying goodbye to Argentina. It is of course also sinking in that we are approaching the end of our adventure, and we want to make the most out of our last days on the road.

During our earlier stay at Aguas Calientes, we met an Argentine couple free camping and she, “la negra”, as her husband called her turned out to be a retired geography teacher. And soon we had a whole list of must-see places to explore along our way. Among these, the wine district close to Mendoza. Here we ended up staying 2 days at Bodega Domaine Bousquet Lodge (of French origin), a stay which included a gourmet inspired dinner with a selection of the bodega´s wines.

And the fact is that we almost missed this visit. Had it not been for the approach by a couple our age offering us help when they saw us lost at a very tiny rural gas-station, we would have left the impressive Tupungato wine district without this experience. As so many incidents during this trip, it was like it was simply meant to happen 😉.

Based on recommendations by the same couple, we then visited Aconcagua (6960 meters above sea level) national park. It was not a very long drive from the winery, but it created an intense encounter with the Argentine traffic police. I was stopped for not driving with full lights on – admittedly an oversight on my side. The young police officer, confiscated my driver´s license (which was expired, while I had a photo of my renewed Spanish license) and demanded me to pay a USD 200,- ticket. After a lot of complaining, explaining, and praying, the officer eventually gave in and let us continue our drive as I promised to behave… and never ever repeat such a stupid mistake…

A close call – and in the end I am not convinced the view of Aconcagua, though it was a very nice hike, was worth the stress of the highly trafficked highway leading to the park (lots of huge trucks since the road also leads to a border pass to Chile).

During our overnight stay at Puente de Inca, close to the entrance to the national park, we got the idea, after talking to some young boys, of following a mountain road (Route 52) from Uspallata to Villavicencio crossing a natural reserve. And this was exciting – a narrow dirt road with wildlife and breathtaking views and eventually descending through a great number of hairpin bens to the historic Villavicencio Hotel, a former thermal water resort, now closed, but in the process of being converted to a museum.  

A wild fox we encountered on the way.

Descent to Villavicencio (with early signs of afternoon fog creaping in).

The following video gives an impression of the descent (and if you listen well, you will hear the co-pilot´s driving recommendations in the background).

The property is now owned and funded by Danone Argentina which still produces Villavicencio bottled water in a factory close by.  

The old Villavicencio Hotel.

Our next memorable stay was visiting Mona´s relative in Cordoba – eating “choripan” (bread with a salty sausage) and enjoying being guided by locals on sightseeing and having a chance to take a dip into the local Argentine society.

With Carolina, Sebastian and Hero waiting for choripan…….

All in all, Cordoba was impressive, and, in many ways, it feels both unfair and wrong to make superficial comparisons to European cities and lifestyles as if we have it all sorted out. Despite high inflation, political challenges and even reports of structural poverty, Argentina still largely works. And interestingly, while we met people skeptical to President Milei, others urged us to return in a few years to see all the positive changes. Time will tell, but public opinion appears to be willing to give Milei a chance – as many said, it can´t be worse.   

After Cordoba and again reprogramming our route based on locals´ suggestions, we drove by Miramar visiting and learning the history about Hotel Viena, reportedly a formerly secret nazi resort and recuperation site.

After this, we rested 2 nights in a Villaguay hotel to escape the high humidity, intense temperature (close to 40 degrees Celsius) and outbreaks of Dengue (which we steered clear off by wearing long pants and using anti-mosquito cream). While indoor and using the hotel´s WIFI, we also finally decided on our date of return to Barcelona and bought our airline tickets.

Our next stop was a surprise – based on suggestion by the hotel staff in Villaguay, we decided to visit Termas de Villa Elisa, a thermal water resort on route to the Uruguayan border. This is a quite large resort for “well to do people” mostly from Argentina, but also several people from Uruguay and particularly Montevideo. The resort offers bungalows, a somewhat scary-looking hotel, but also a very pleasant camping area. Eventually, we ended up camping here for 6 days, at the beginning of Easter, enjoying the thermal waters, taking advantage of exercise facilities and simply relaxing (and waiting to cross the border to Uruguay closer in time to our flight).

 

Termas de Villa Elisa is an absolute must if you are in the area, but still not quite worth it as a destination in its own right (in my opinion).