Matze and Mendoza

Bariloche was awesome. I wanted to stay longer, but much like at the Playa del Frances, I had a long road ahead of me and if I was going to make it to the end of it, I couldnt stay for two weeks at every spot I liked.

I did already feel I had stayed away for too long, but I was committed to the course, so I didn't really think too much about it.

My next stop was Mendoza, Argentina's third largest city with a little over 2 million people. I had already been to Mendoza, twice actually, but I'd never made it to Puente del Inca, so I figured I would head that way for a third time. Third time is the charm, as they say.

While waiting for the bus a the Bariloche station, this German girl by the name of Matze started to make conversation. Matze, short for Martina, was a thirty year old rock climber from Frankfurt Main. I had already seen her at the 1004 hostel, even though she didn't stay there. She had a caring smile that made it easy to make a lovely person out of her from the very first of impressions, even though her teeth were quite yellow from smoking. Well, show me a German that doesn't smoke and I will show you a fat Argentinean girl... these just don't exist !!!

The bus ride was twenty hours long and when we made it to Mendoza, we decided to head to the same hostel. We got there and after making little conversation, she said she was going shopping. She wanted to know what I was up to later on. The only thing I wanted to do was to check out Puente del Inca, which I was set on doing the next day. Matze came back later on that day with a huge Puma bag. I made fun of her for the rest of the evening

...Puma shares are up 30 points today at the stock exchange...

...New York times headlines: borderlining bankrupcy, Puma shoes shows miraculous overturn after strong sales in Argentina...

You make fun of me? she asked.

Her accent was adorable, we laughed a great deal. We agreed we would head to Puente del Inca the next day.