Mendoza

  Mendoza, Cuyo, Argentina
Saturday, December 6, 2008

After a nice relaxing day in BA, we had to take the bus to Mendoza. Unfortunately, we could not find any taxi (metro was not a possibility as you barely manage to fit yourself in, let alone with our big bags). We finally were told that there was a petrol stations strike and that is why all the taxis were taken. Therefore we had to rush, running 22 blocks with our bags on the back to finally arrive right on time..We sat in the night bus and it left. Pffew that was close. The bus was great. You could lie down completely like in a bed. They did a game of bingo (winner wins a bottle of wine). We had a big meal and a glass of champagne!! At around 5am, the bus broke down. Some people were transferred to another bus. We could not be bothered, so decided to stay and slept some more and waited for someone to fix it. We were only two hours late. 

mendoza

Arriving in Medoza, we strolled around town and went to an agency (called Wanka...yes, really) to arrange tours for the next couple of days. In the evening we stopped at Carrefour to  buy some food. It was nice to cook a meal for a change. It is not worth cooking in cheap places like Bolivia but in more expensive countries like Argentina, it is. A bit of spaghetti's bolognese with a nice bottle of wine.



The following day (07.12), we went outside Mendoza for a full day. We did some horse riding in the mountains. We felt like gauchos in the mountains, with the nice view, only the hat was lacking. I made the mistake of wearing shorts which meant that my legs got scratches from all the bushes passing by. It seemed like my horse went towards them on purpose. Sean liked his horse this time. (tu verras Clem, je commence à avoir la classe sur le dada) We had a meal at the main place and played a bit of ping pong before going rafting. the river was not as difficult as in Costa Rica, therefore not as exciting but it was good fun anyway.In We were in a bigger boat as well (6 people) so you cannot do as many crazy things as on a small one. We also met a nice group from Buenos Aires and  had a good chat with them.

mendoza

The next day (08/12), we went to the bus station in the morning to arrange our next travels (désolée Mamy on a tout change l´ordre de la fin du voyage donc la feuille n´est plus a jour!).
In the afternoon we went for a tasting tour. We started with a small wine producer. We visited the vineyards and the rooms with the various machines to produce the wine. They prick the grapes around March, April (Southern hemisphere!). And all the production goes to the US. The owner also made a special wine for the wedding of his daughter but this one was not for tasting unfortunately. The other wines were alright.

mendoza

After, we visited an olive oil factory. The tour was a bit rushed but we got the main steps of the process. It is also possible to do a wine and bike tour. You rent a bike and go from winery to winery. Can be a bit dangerous after visiting a few, especially with the heat in Mendoza! We visited another winery, much bigger. The wooden barrels came from Nancy in France !! The wine there was much better, too. Probably has to do with the good barrels!
We finished the day with a liquor factory. The guy had every possible spirit under the sun and he made his own special ones. I tasted "Passion DU femme", that he made for his wife (now that is romantic), which tasted of rose petals. A real girly drink. Sean tasted "The Russian death", we was so strong. It tasted like chartreuse with pepper. We had some more wine at the hosted and chatted to a couple of Australians.