Buenos Aires - Mendoza - Santiago

The 20-hour bus trip from Buenos Aires to Santiago de Chile via Mendoza is one of breath-taking scenery.

Most of the trip nothing is to be seen but the endless Argentinian pampa and its countless cows, but once you get to Mendoza, vineyards pop up everywhere and everything makes sense; cow + wine = a good meal. Or a drunken cow. Or a bad wine.

Passing the majestic Andes mountain range, at one point one can see Aconcagua, which with its 6.962 meters is the highest mountain in the Americas, the highest in the Southern Hemisphere, and the highest peak outside of Asia.

The first picture is from the Buenos Aires-Mendoza bus, the second from the Mendoza-Santiago bus.

2006.

Bidet Sano

Beware, impulsive consumers! This shop is a magnet, and I think I can guarantee you that you won´t leave untill you´ve bought at least one new WC.

Slogans like "does not use electricity" and "for every use" reel you in, and when you read such arguments as "exclusive" and "clean, fresh - economic - useful - safe", all that is left is to scream from the top of your longues:

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, I´LL TAKE´EM ALL!

Santiago, 2006

Market in Santiago

Small, yet functional. This lovely little urinal was the best thing about Santiago.

Valparaiso

Two postcards from picturesque Chilean town Valparaiso

Santiago bus station

Santiago de Chile is officially the worst place I´ve ever been to. Horrendous food, unpleasant people and not a decent bar anywhere. This picture was taken at the bus station shortly after I got the message that all buses out of the country were cancelled the next four days, and seconds before desperately trying to drown myself .

Santiago, 2006