Third Time Lucky....Not!

Before anyone says anything, yes, I know...I've spent most of my time in South America backtracking....revisiting places Id already been to before.....Buenos Aires (3 times!), Santiago (twice!), Salta (twice!).....and now Mendoza....er.........three times?

So Buenos Aires, being the capital and transport hub of Argentina......you can understand why most travellers use it as a base for their travels around the country and return there a number of times. Santiago....well, Annie had never been and we wanted to see Valparaiso and Northern Chile...plus I had spent round 1 of Santiago sleeping off a hangover and jet lag from my non stop 35 hour stint and had missed most of the sights in the city! Salta...well.....er, mainly for health reasons....I'll stop there as I'm sure I complained enough in my previous blog entry.....but Mendoza....3 TIMES YOU ASK IN DISBELIEF???!!!

Yes, REALLY!!! 3 TIMES!!!! I hold my head down in shame as you call me crazy but if you would just hear me out. Our first visit to Mendoza had been a whirlwind 2 days where we had done no research whatsoever on the place and participated in a rather crappy vineyard tour with an art exhibition (art and vineyards...no, don't worry, there is no connection!). Our second and much anticipated adrenaline filled, action packed visit turned out to be a complete and utter write off as Michelle and I spent almost the entire 5 days we were there holed up inside of our room being ill and feeling sorry for ourselves....although we did have one fun afternoon white water rafting in the freezing cold waters of the Mendoza River! So with Bolivia now completely and utterly out, we pretty much had only a week to play with until we were due back in Buenos Aires.

So ladies and gentlemen, our options were whittled down to.....a) spending 4 relaxing days soaking up the glorious rays on the beach in Uruguay (and another stamp in the passport!) and then returning to BA early b) visit the beautiful north eastern cities of Corrientes, Santa Fe and Rosario for alittle more Argentine culture or c) return to adventure packed Mendoza to cram in as many last minute adrenaline rush activities as possible before heading over to Rosario for some last effort culture seeking and sun (hehe, did I mention there are riverfront beaches there!)

As you can deduce, we ended up with option c).

At first, I was dead against returning to Mendoza.....come on, it wasn't exactly filled with my most happiest travelling memories! I had wanted to go to Uruguay.....to spend alittle time on the beach in a last ditch attempt to even up my still very horrendous looking tan lines and to take things easy after feeling poorly but a little more thought and I was like, Ivy, come on, you can lie on the beach anywhere anytime.....I was in Argentina.....I had been cooped up in Salta doing absolutely nothing, my adrenaline level was now in overload, my fear factor dipped to the lowest it had ever been and I had a ton of built up energy just waiting to burst out.....NOW was the last time to do all the things that I wanted to on my travels yet still hadn't.

Yep, that's right....get up and go, cram it all in while I have the chance......what did I want to do.....abseiling? .....the higher the better, forget the 18m, 30m and even the 40m ......let's go all out for the 50m...the highest height offered.....and why just stop there......why not go all out and have a go at paragliding while I'm at it! Michelle had spent most of our time in S. America trying to convince me to accompany her paragliding and I had always made my excuses and chickened out each and everytime.....oh just the little thing of my fear of heights and falling again getting in the way each and every time, no biggie!!! Being suspended over a thousand feet in the air with nothing except for one big material canvas and your life in the hands of one person (who you're sat on top of!) and his ability as a puppeteer to manoever the strings of the chute to safety....not exactly my cup of tea usually I would have to say! But what was there to stop me now???? Fear is just a psychological thing that you had to face to overcome, that 's all. Fear can be controlled and I felt that I was now in the position where I could. I was ready and raring to go! Absolutely nothing could stop me now!

And paragliding....what an experience.....the breath taking view below with which you encounter as soon as the cliff disappears below your feet as you run off the edge....the feeling of the wind billowing through your hair as you glide in the currents of the air.....the feeling that you're feather light as you dance with the birds in the sky....er, well, that's what I think it would have been like had it not been for the oh so very small matter of my travel insurance having expired!!!!!!!

YES, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT???!!!! SO MUCH FOR ACTION PACKED, HIGH ADRENALINE ACTIVITIES - I HAD NO BLOODY TRAVEL INSURANCE!!! NO INSURANCE TO COVER ME SHOULD I FALL A THOUSAND FEET FROM THE SKY. IN FACT, NO COVER SHOULD I FALL FROM ANYWHERE!!!

AND WHEN DID I REALISE THAT MY TRAVEL INSURANCE HAD EXPIRED YOU WONDER????......OH JUST AS I WAS ABOUT TO DESCEND DOWN A 50M CLIFF WITH NOTHING BUT A COUPLE OF ROPES (one which the instructor had admitted was new and this was the first time it was being used!), A WEAK LOOKING, MATERIAL, VELCROED (yes, velcro...!) HARNESS BELT AND AN INSTRUCTOR YOUNGER THAN US WHO PROMISED THAT HE WOULD NOT LET GO OF THE SAFETY ROPE!!!!!

It was quite funny really. There we were at the top of the cliff watching the instructor set up the equipment.....(or the lack of equipment as I should say...two ropes and a few metal rings and screws...hardly fills you with great comfort does it?!)...when Annie, peering over the edge of the cliff into the oblivion below....laughed nervously and joked "well, at least we have travel insurance!!" Haha...I laughed.....yeah....OH CRAP!!!! Silly me really, I had extended my travels for an extra 3 weeks but stupidly forgotten to extend my travel insurance with it! So all the stuff that I had done since the end of January....ok, I suppose the only real action packed activity had been the sandboarding in San Pedro...but come on, what if I'd taken a tumble and the board had hit me on the head, or I had slipped and fallen into one of the geysers or fallen off that steep cliff that we had been silly enough to clamber up just to take some sunset photos in Moon Valley.......I HAD NO INSURANCE FOR ANY OF THAT!!!!!

So did it stop me from abseiling? Er,....no, it didn't. I guess I should have played it safe and listened to that sensible part in me but whether it was agaisnt my better judgement or not, the newer and increasinly riskier part of me won. (Oh and I told my mum this after and honestly, had it been a friend in the same position, I probably would have advised them against the abseiling!!! Abit hypercritical I know!!! But come on, no travel insurance and a potential 50m plunge....don't really need two brain cells to work it out that it's a bad idea!) As I leaned backwards on the edge at the top of that cliff with my body at a 45 degree angle with my back to nothing but the gorgeous mountainous Mendoza landscape, I just thought...ok, what's the worse that could happen now....I've already realised that I have no travel insurance to cover me should I fall and break every bone in my body!". And you know what? I was not even alittle scared! In fact, I was more nervous when the instructor was strapping on all my gear but once I stood there, all fear subsided!

And the abseiling experience...wow! It was actually easier than I thought it would be although it was more strenuous (I was drenched in sweat...either from the heat or from the effort of clasping with all my strength onto the two ropes which prevented me from a nastytumble to a very hard place below) and it took alot longer to scale down than I thought! 50m really is quite high up!!!! But it was so much fun that we asked to do it again.....so we did! And this time, we even attempted jumps down the cliff!!!! Although we were nowhere near to the jumps our instructor could do! He practically descended the cliff in like 3 leaps!!! Spiderman, spiderman!!!!

And to witness me scaling down the 50m cliff with no travel insurance, take a quick peek at the link below!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbZuZWfMAfY

But the sensible part of me did win with the paragliding. Heights and falling and no travel insurance.....could have taken just the first two but all three together....recipe for disaster even I have to admit! And before you say anything, no, the lack of travel insurance really wasn't an excuse for me to secretly get out of paragliding! Not this time anyways!

So immediately after the abseiling, I rang the Flight Centre to see if I could extend my travel insurance. No was the answer to that. So could I get out a new insurance contract for the month instead? No was the answer to that as well. Apparently, it would have been fine for me to extend my travel insurance prior to it expiring but now that it had expired and I was still out, I could not extend nor take out a new contract! What the hell?!!! So I asked what I could do. Well, they said, there wasn't really anything that I could do. Ok, so, did they have any recommendations or advice for me in my situation. No, we're really sorry but not really! Well, thank you very much! What helpful people you were! Sigh....and I didn't give up there but 3 other insurance companies I rang up told me the same thing.....the STA guy even told me to be careful until I got home. Cheers mate! What good advice!

So third time lucky in Mendoza? No, not really! But funnily enough, all this still hasn't put me off ...in fact, I like the place itself more and more with each visit! The tree lined streets are still beautiful, the markets seem to be getting better (although beware of getting ripped off for being a tourist.....one woman gave me a price of 5 pesos for a keyring then later, the guy tried to charge me 6 pesos!!!), the internet is still ridiculously cheap (go to WH and get a three day pass for just 10 pesos!), the weather is still lovely (although not quite as hot with summer at it's end), the food is great (amazing all you can eat buffets for about 20 pesos!!), the people are friendly (this elderly gent on the streets saw us with our map and tried to help us with directions even though he couldn't speak a word of English - bless him! And we even met this Chilean couple on their honeymoon at one of these buffets who asked to take pictures with us!!!) and there really is alot more to Mendoza than just the centre hub of streets! On the drive back from abseiling, we passed by the San Martin park where the houses nearby are gorgeous and almost enough to convince me to move to Mendoza permanently and then there was this gorgeous glass building church whose name I have unfortunately forgotten! Oh and talking about nice houses. Alittle out of town are these estates of posh looking houses fit enough for Brad and Ange! There are guarded barriers for cars to enter and exit the estates and there are really pretentious stuff like enormous statues and water fountains surrounding them! Seriously! The bus driver told us that alot of Argentina's rich and famous live there! Think I'll start saving up now! Plus they even have a Liverpudian pub with a picture of the Beatles in case you start missing home!

So yes, I do plan on coming back.....haha...maybe not again on this trip though! I would like to come back for one visit where things go right and of course, I will have to try the paragliding at some point....I just have to remember to make sure I have travel insurance next time, that's all!