Steak and malbec

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Arriving in a somewhat catatonic state from our marathon journey we took a while to get to Pousada Ventanas de Chacras in a suburb of Mendoza. The owners were very welcoming, despite our appearances, and we were soon not only installed in a very comfortable cabin but also enjoying the pool just outside. Thoroughly deserved for all our hard work (!) over the last few days.

Sebastian and Michaela (plus help from Lucas and visits from dad, mum and other brother) looked after us amazingly well, the pousada became a home-from-home and an excellent base to follow up on all their reccommendations; the first of which was a restaurant in the local village where we ate that night - well just about, we managed to cycle home clutching the half bottle of wine we had been unable to finish before collapsing to sleep.

The next day we woke late and enjoyed the pool, before our first wine tour. Chacras la Coria is in the heart of Lujan de Cuyo - one of the two main wine producing areas of Mendoza, itself the main wine growing area in Argentina. Bodegas were scattered throughout the area, and we cycled down to Wienert, one of the nearest, to tour and sample it´s production. An interesting 20 minutes later we got to the good bit, tasting excellent sauvignon blanc, malbec (2) wines and chardonnay grape juice. If you see the wine (with a scrolltype BCW logo) I can heartily recommend it, even more so since we took a few bottles back for the asado (barbeque) with Sebastian, Michaela et al that night.

Lucas, the asador, produced mountains of beef and delicious chorizo sausages - meat is definitely the star in this meal, although wine comes a close second... The chilli, herb, garlic and olive oil chimichurri sauce was delicious!

The next day we had an early start to be driven out into the foothills of the Andes to go horseriding. As we trekked out, all in single file as ordered, I thought of Jessy having been on the other side of this back at Abbotsbury and hoped I wouldn´t be one of the clueless idiots she´d described... I did drop the reins once, but got a well done by the end!! (Poor old Cochero - my horse - soon started wheezing every time he was asked to trot to catch up. We quickly reached a bargain where he would just walk a little faster and keep the spacings tight.)

The scenery was stunning and soon comparisons with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were being made (the story goes that they hid out down in Patagonia for a while). We stopped for lunch (another asado back at the stables) before taking a different route in the afternoon, culminating in a drop down along a stream, engulfed on either side by pampas grasses - again stunning.

A long bus trip back, it was both raining and later than expected before we were dropped off in the centre of town. Feeling slightly less than adventurous we settled for icecream then a huge steak (feeling slightly sick from the quantities of icecream eaten we ordered one portion to share - it came out the size of a housebrick (artistic licence!) and was plenty for two of us).

More wine tasting next, this time two bodegas - one modern (2003) and one old (1888). Both fun, but the first, Altavista, had a restaurant attached. It was lunchtime and raining when we finished the tour, so we decided to have lunch there. It wasn´t until we had walked in, wearing shorts, t-shirts and flipflops, that we found out it had a Michelin Star. Nevertheless the food was excellent (although the amuse bouche was a little oversalted!!), the service was attentive and the bill - still loving the strong pound - will make eating out in England difficult to bear!

That night we dined on empanadas (mini cornish pasties) before going on to a restaurant opening where Sebastian was DJing. Full of as eclectic a group of people as you are ever likely to see, it was a fun evening and a good way to spend the last night in Mendoza.

Time enough the next day to have a wander around Mendoza Centro (and another icecream); Jody and I took different buses to Buenos Aires and Bariloche respectively in the evening and that was the end of the banter (for a while!).

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Photos

A man´s country
(Pity the girls were far better on the horses!)