Blogs from Mendoza, Argentina, South America

Crossing the entire width of Argentina, from Buenos Aires to Mendoza, we begin by driving head on into a spectacular sunset. As the daylight faded, then the colour, the sky blackened but the darkness that remained was short lived as we continued for the duration of the journey alongside a raging electrical storm. Arriving in Mendoza, at the foot of the Andes mountain range, it was still dark at 8:00am leaving us disorientated when woken by the call for the final stop. It wasn’t in our plan to be in Mendoza so soon, truth be told. From the comfort of our home, many moons ago, we talked of heading southward, into Patagonia. We imagined trekking the Torres del Paine and further exploring... But plans and schedules have changed along the way and we have found ourselves ... read more

Whilst in Mendoza, it seemed there was actually more to do here than just drink wine and hang out (although this was fine by us), when we noticed a sign for white water rafting. Having done it a few times before and thoroughly enjoying it, Donna and I were keen to try it again, and so to was Matt having never been before, we saw this as an opportunity to get out of the city, and have some outdoor fun together. So, we booked it all up and before we knew it we were being fitted for our safety gear and being giving paddles. A fairly short but deliberate safety talk followed, and we were suddenly thrust into the raft. The weather wasn’t the greatest that day, and it was in fact a little cold, however ... read more

We had been looking forward to Mendoza for quite some time, so were very keen to jump straight in and get involved with wine based activities. We decided to splurge and book hotel in Maipu which was incredibly cheap for the overall quality of the hotel (Olympic sized heated pool, gym, sauna, steam room, outdoor pool with jaccuzi, casino ...). We headed to Mr Hugos bike rental in Maipu and go on a tour (and tastings) of the many many bodegas dotted around. Upon getting our free wine at Mr Hugos, we got talking to a group of American girls from California and we decided to cycle around together. One very handy fact was that one of the girls was from Napa vally and was an Oenologist, so knew a thing or two about wine and ... read more

Finca Ogawa We arrived in Mendoza early Monday morning (Feb 6th) after yet another overnight bus ride. The buses in Argentina are comfortable and generally quite good, however they are usually quite delayed! We were met by one of our hosts at the bus station and brought to a car rental agency. After signing away and loading our things into the small white chevrolet classic we were soon travelling south on the famous Route 40 toward Tunuyan and our accommodations at Finca Ogawa, in the Uco Valley region. When we arrived we immediately felt we were in heaven at this very peaceful and secluded vineyard/farm located about 8km outside of the main town. We very quickly met our neighbours, fellow Canadians and to boot, from Etobicoke! We chatted with them for a bit and were then ... read more