Blogs from Mendoza, Mendoza, Argentina, South America

Not the last blog about Argentina...but I guess the last blog published outside of Buenos Aires....end of June is coming pretty fast. After 18 hours on the bus, we made it to Mendoza from Salta. I knew there was not a lot to see in the city. The fun here is just outside town. Regardless, Mendoza is a very peaceful city...full of gorgeous restaurants, I would certainly not mind moving here for an exstanded period of time...you've got the wine, the food, nice people...and some serious fun to have around...ski, golf, rafting, horseriding, tec, you name it, it's here! just forget about the architecture! Mendoza is named, the "Capital of Wine of Argentina"...well, when it comes to wine, I have to admit, I prefer the sleepy Cafayate...Mendoza area has too many wineries...too many tourists...well...I came too ... read more

We arrive in Mendoza at 7am, after a 10hr bus ride from Cordoba. We had travelled first class, as the bus was direct and the seats only an extra 60 pesos each ($12 U.S). This meant that the seats lied flat. However, we only figured out right at the end how to extend the leg rests completely flat, stupid tourists... At least we know for next time. We have also found that a good way to help sleep on these overnight bus rides is to buy a bottle of red wine prior to the trip and fill up one of our wattle bottles, classy eh! Our hostel, Casa Pueblo, is only 300 metres from the bus terminal, which is great as it is still pitch black when we are walking the streets. We have a nice ... read more

Lijkt het reizen langzamerhand op vakantie? Gelukkig niet ! Het noordelijke deel van Argentinië is dichter bevolkt, heeft meer voorzieningen en dus ook meer keuze stress. Dat zijn we , na 3 maanden leegte in Antarctica en Patagonia, niet meer gewend. Behalve toeristische plaatsen als Bariloche en Mendoza zoeken we daarom al snel weer naar de meer afgelegen plekken. We komen weer midden in bijzondere landschappen. Het merengebied verkennen we deels per fiets en deels per huurauto. We reizen verder naar het noorden. Busreizen van 10 of 15 uur zijn niet uitzonderlijk. Hier genieten we ervan, in Nederland zouden we er niet aan moeten denken. Het landschap verandert steeds. Zo niet, dan verbazen we ons over de lucht en zonsondergang. Het reizen is iets minder heftig en uitputtend dan voorheen. en met meer verschillende mogelijkheden. Paardrijden, ... read more

Livvy and Ru's last birthday present to me was something special I would like to do on this trip. A trip out to a winery in the Valle de Uco fitted the bill. I will let the photos do most of the talking, except for saying that the wine was exceptionally good as well! The bodega is about 10 years old - a modern concrete design which works well I think. No photos of that, they are on my camera but it looks as if it has an aeroplane hovering over it. The harvest had just begun, grapes are sorted by hand and the design of the building ensures that gravity moves most of the juice and wine. So, all those who are interested in the hectare of vines, I have the details for contacting the ... read more

We arrived in the early morning in Mendoza following a lovely bus journey with Andersmarr which was even nicer than the last company newer buses more movies and again the food was ok, we even managed to get a glass of wine! We were both very surprised at how big Mendoza was. We were expecting a small town but this place was like a small city. We booked into the Lagares hostel which was a short walk out of town. But it was very nice and Havier who runs the place couldn't be anymore helpful. We had a little wait before our room was ready so Ian sat down to watch united play everton. We got talking to a few people in the hostel who told us to rent bikes and cycle around the vineyards ourselves ... read more