Mendoza? I hardly knew her!

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If you don't get that title, dont worry, its a stupid joke anyway.

So Becca and I got on our clean, polished Andesmar double decker bus for the 15 hour ride to Mendoza. The busride was fabulous. They had a stewardess (though he was a man, so i don't exactly know what you call them) who served us tea and dinners and even organized a game of bingo for us. It was quite a treat. Then we reclined on our leather semi cama seats and tossed and turned while trying to sleep. Such is the struggle of a bus sleeper.

Bad news met us upon arrival in Mendoza. The tourist office told us that all the hotels in town were booked up for holy week and that, basically, we were screwed. We sulked out of the tourist office and went on what we thought would be a futile search for lodging. However, the first place we found had a room available. For only 50 pesos a night (about 8 bucks) we were able to have a private room and private bath, though the toilet had the annoying tendency of emitting some noxious fumes - presumably raw sewage backwash. but it had beds and a shitter - all we needed to survive.

The first day we were there we walked around town enjoying the wonderful mendozan weather and atmosphere. The town is renowned for its wide, tree-lined boulevards and clean streets. On these notes Mendoza delivers. The streets make you happy just walking on them, and as we were there in the Argentine fall, the trees were changing color and making the entire city colorful and beautiful. Shade is everywhere, though the weather was perfect every day we were there, so there was little need to avoid the sun.

After a huge steak meal with wine (something that would become a trend for us in mendoza), we walked out to the huge parque san martin just on the west end of town to enjoy a free symphony orchestra concert. It was free and the park was packed with people. The concert was really peaceful, and made becca and I very happy even though neither of us know anything about classical music.

The next day Becca and I joined a hike in the mountains outside mendoza. I can't even remember the name of the mountain we were hiking, but it was pretty nice. fog covered our view for most of the afternoon, and we only caught a glimpse of the mountain peaks in the distance. But, as it was Easter Sunday there was little hope that we would have had anything to do had we stayed in Mendoza. So the hike was a small workout and definitely worth the trip.

The next day was filled with scrabble in the park and wine. Mendoza is a town where you can feel like you had a great, worthwhile day after having done nothing more than split a bottle of wine between 2 and played scrabble until your brain hurts. We certainly did these 2 things in excess.

The next day, I think it was Tuesday but who cares, Becca and i decided to rent some bikes and see the countryside outside Mendoza. That we did and endured a 90km odyssey that was at once beautiful and exhausting. It was one of the best things I have done on the trip. We rode first through the neverending avenida san martin until we hit this big mall on the outskirts of town, from there it was all highway (la panamericana) toward a small village in the mountains called cacheuta (or something like that). By the time we arrived in cacheuta after about 4 hours of biking - mostly uphill - we were near dead, and my crotch was bruised like i had been riding a bull for the last several hours. i inhaled a huge bife chorizo (a huge cut of steak whose name i don't know in english) while i whined to becca about my blue testicles. i doubt she heard much of what i said as she was feeling her own pain in her own parts. our legs were like jello, and we had to return the entire 45km back to mendoza. we thought we'd never make it. but we did.

the ride back, besides the annoying pain in my groin, was extremely smooth and relaxing. it was mostly downhill and thus we were able to enjoy the scenery without having to constantly pump our legs to keep the horribly maintained, wrought iron bikes moving. these bikes were horrible by the way - becca's wouldn't stay in gear and mine was so poorly oiled that i had to pedal even on a slight downhill slope. but, they were 15 pesos to rent for the day, so we couldn't expect much. We got back to mendoza near dead tired and inhaled another bife chorizo. after all that exercise, just one bottle of wine put becca and i out for the night. we felt great.

The next day we went on a wine tour. the mendoza area of argentina is gaining fame for the quality of its wines, and for 25 pesos, 8 dollars, you can take a small tour of some vinyards and taste their products. incidentally, to taste wine is desgustar vino - i just thought that was funny. so, we got on a bus and went around to some vinyards (called bodegas in spanish), learned about how they make the wine, and tasted some small glasses. honestly, it was pretty boring, but we had nothing else to do, so it was worth it. i hear its much better to pay 80 some pesos and get a private tour of the vinyards, because you learn a lot more that way and they let you taste more wine.

our last day in mendoza was tranquilo. we were to leave on separate busses (she to bariloche and i to buenos aires) in the evening, so we spent the day like any normal person in mendoza would - playing scrabble and drinking wine. It was a fitting finish to what was a wonderful experience in mendoza. Becca and I get along very well - she is an extremely intelligent girl, so it is easy to get into deep conversations with her. Mendoza both for the company and for the city itself will be remembered as a big highlight of my trip.

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