We left Santiago with plans to spend a week in Argentina, eating outstanding steaks and drinking incredible wine. Because Mendoza is essentially due east of Santiago, it is a quick fifty minute flight. What no one tells you is that the super quick and cheap flight over the Andes may well be one of the scariest moments of your life. The Zonda winds that flow over the Argentina side of the Andes can make for a brutal plane ride, as it did in our case.
View of the beautiful Andes from the plane
As a seasoned traveler, I am not bothered by turbulence, aborted landings, and other “outside of ordinary” occurrences that can happen on a plane. The amount of turbulence we experienced though on the flight to Mendoza was so severe that I completely panicked. I’m still not sure how the plane stayed in the air. It was awful. It will remain the reason that I never return to Mendoza unless we go via Buenos Aires.
Once we arrived Mendoza (and had our blood pressures return to normal range), we were all in love with the feel of the city. It is a walkable city with several square city blocks of shops and restaurants and parks. The people were kind and friendly and helpful. The cost of everything was considerably cheaper than Santiago.
Exposed tree roots at the park
Our first night there, we had one of the best steaks of my life. The owner of the restaurant actually cooks the Argentinian steaks on a large charcoal grill behind the restaurant. Our steak was about three inches thick, so it took a while to cook, but once it arrived, we realized it was worth even more of a wait than we had. Scott and I loved the wine we had as well.
The second day and third day, we were basically put on a holding pattern to try to figure out if Scott or all of us would be returning to the USA due to a serious health crises being had by one of our parents. To return back to the States was about 36 hours of travel from Mendoza. After contemplating all our choices, we made the decision to spend the afternoon outside to let the kids play, and then relocate farther north to get us to a place that would allow an emergency trip back home. It should be noted that Mendoza is incredibly kid friendly. The kids played at one of the large parks near city center for hours.
When we got back to our Airbnb, we tried to figure out a way to get back to Santiago (for connecting flights) that would not involve flying over the Andes again. A bus ride takes a minimum of six hours and as many as ten. Renting a car and crossing the border isn’t allowed as a one-way trip. We were basically stuck going back via plane.
I may have had a couple of beers before boarding the flight.
Fortunately, it was a fairly typical flight with “normal” turbulence. The Zonda winds must have been feeling guilty… It was slightly disconcerting to look out the window on the plane and be slightly above the highest peak, the Aconcagua, in the Andes.
We spent a night in an airport hotel that night and caught a flight the next morning for Panama City, Panama.