Thunder & Lightning - Enter the Vikings

A new day, a new place, a new flight, and new faces. Time to leave Patagonia for some hot weather, a positive for me, and different scenery.


Woke up in the morning and finished closing up all my bags. My flight was in the early afternoon, meaning I had some time to sleep in, close my bags up, have breakfast, and take a short stroll. It was exactly how my day went.

I had a long breakfast, or at least prolonged it, as I chatted with everyone, bidding them farewell. When you stay at a hostel for a longer period, and there’s others doing the same thing, you always end up developing some sort of bond and goodbyes are interesting. Just the thing with solo travelling I think, but maybe not.

I then gathered my stuff and made my way to the bus stop, passing by the artisan markets to pick a gift for the baby and grabbing one lost hot chocolate which I enjoyed on my bus ride to the airport. Next stop, Mendoza!

Fast forward and I am landing in Mendoza. Weather is beautiful, about 27 degrees or so and sunny - my favourite type of weather. Many would argue that this is on the side of too hot, but for me, it feels like I am right at home.

I checked in to my hostel, changed into shorts, and did not waste any more time. The taxi ride into town showed me that I would love this city. It seemed quieter, the architecture was beautiful, and there was greenery everywhere. I had one mission for the day though - to get a haircut and a shave. It was going to be an interesting venture.

I went around the city, looking for a barbershop, stopping for Merianda, the early evening meal, which to me was coffee with some pastries. Delicious. I then found a barbershop and was soon on the chair getting a haircut.

I have to talk about how amazing my experience with Argentinians has been so far, and I feel like my experience getting a haircut truly shows it. I somehow managed to communicate to my barber how I wanted my hair and beard, using limited vocabulary and some pictures, complimented with the global language - hand signs.

And then the barber started, but also started having a conversation with me despite our language barrier. I have gotten haircuts in many places around the world, and have been faced with this type of language barrier many places around the world. Usually, I would keep to myself but so would the barber, but this situation was different. The barber was set on having a conversation despite the language barrier, and so I embraced that.

This is really what I mean when I take about my experience with Argentinians. Even though you may be unable to communicate due to language, they will always go above and beyond to try and have a conversation, and to me, it says a lot about them as people. It is something I always embrace as I like to communicate with people in all situations, and try to get to know somethings about them.

I finished my haircut and was then on my way back to the hostel. There was still some sun out, and there was a pool, so it was a simple addition with a predictable result.

After chilling by the pool for some time, I went back up to my room where I met up with my roommates again. For the first time in my years of travelling, I was meeting Norwegians, in this case, three friends - Vegar, Jan, and Andreas. It was their first trip of this sort, but for some of them, also their first time in a hostel. It was going to be a fun time!

We decided that we were hungry, and as such, decided to go out with dinner - minus Jan who was recovering from food poisoning from the previous day. The three of us headed outside but quickly noticed that it had started raining and a full thunderstorm was taking place. We quickly grabbed our rain coats and then headed back out - a thunderstorm is not going to block me from eating. I did manage to grab a nice picture of lightening, so let me know your thoughts on it!

The rain went quickly from a drizzle to a downpour, so we went into the first restaurant we found - Magnolia, which we would find out is a high end place. Keep in mind that it is still Argentina so the prices were still affordable.

I got to know the vikings (what I will refer to the guys as here and there) a bit more over dinner, and found out that they were rather picky eaters, which I warned them would be something they’d get over if they were with me. We all had some beef empanadas, which were served with a salsa criollo. They were really well done empanadas, full of meat, and the guys embraced the new flavours. For my main, I had salmon stuffed pasta, decided to switch from my classic steak, and followed it with a very delicious flan for dessert. Would recommend this place to anyone in Mendoza.

The conversation at dinner was very intriguing for both sides - for me, I was getting to know Norwegians and learn all about their culture and lifestyle for the first time. Man, this is why I enjoy travelling! I learned that the guys were from a smaller city called Kristinasand, on the south shore of Norway. I told them all about myself and my life as well, and we all had some laughs and interesting discussions about everything.

I also learned that these guys were trying to do a freestyle trip, which sounded cool although I felt the need to share some tips since I like to think of myself as an experienced traveller. I warned them that they had too ambitious of plans with respect to their time restrictions, especially if they were to consider the distances in Argentina. I did not want to worry them, as my advice was very well intentioned, and they embraced it as well thanking me for the “wake-up call.”

We finished dinner and went back to the hostel, where we had some more conversations and I helped them plan some more. After that, it was time for bed, as we all had plans for the next day.


In conclusion, I was really happy to move places again, and see something new, especially embrace the warmer weather. Meeting the guys was also very special to me, as I got to learn all about a new culture which I only had preconceptions about. What were your thoughts? Do you prefer warmer weather or colder weather? Do you enjoy meeting people from different places when travelling? Let me know in the comments below but till then, stay positive.

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