Wining around

Trip Start Oct 25, 2007
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Trip End Apr 17, 2008


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Where I stayed
Hostal Alamo
(Mendoza hotels)

Flag of Argentina  ,
Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Mendoza was nice, but not as nice as I thought it would be. My hostel was a breath of fresh air after the over-crowded and not so well maintained place I stayed at in Valparaiso. I can't remember when I slept in sheets so clean! And the staff were so awfully friendly, it made up for any other misfortunes I had in this city.

So let's see, what of interest? Oh yes, wines. I met a German, a Canadian and a Brit; and together we rented bikes and went around exploring wineries. We took a tour of one particular winery; the guide walked us through the whole process - quite fascinating. After a few more stops I ended up with 3 bottles of wine in my backpack so it was time to head home. All in all, I think we cycled 25km in 5 hrs (actually most of that time was spent in the wineries themselves), slightly intoxicated and with the sun scorching our backs. Fun fun fun. But it definitely wasn't the idyllic countryside that I imagined it to be. We had to ride down some main streets with plenty of traffic going through, and that wasn't very pleasant. So the next day we opted for buying our wine in the Carrefour store across the street from the hostel instead of at the wineries.

The only other item of mild interest was river rafting under a full moon. I say 'mild' because the waters was quite tame, I think it was grade II all the way - so no opportunity for anyone to topple over, and hardly any adrenaline. But there you go, now I can at least say I have tried it. There was a nice little party up in the mountains after we were done with all the rafting - big bonfire, music and expensive as hell alcohol. New York prices, or worse.

No world-shattering thoughts lately. Am I running out of steam? Or maybe I am just mulling over something new in my head that will take a little while to take shape and be ready for sharing. Either way, I am too busy enjoying the tail end of my trip. Off I go to Patagonia!!!
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