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Published: March 3rd 2008
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Rainbow-coloured Andes
Although I am sure only geologists would see quite that many colours. Despite the fun we'd had in the Andes so far, it was time to go west and check out some more of the continent. We headed north on an overnight bus from Pucon to Santiago, then took another bus straight to Mendoza. It was a long trip, but we were rewarded before we even arrived in Mendoza. The views of the Andes from the bus were breathtaking. The colours of the rocks were spectacular, although I'm sure Pete and I saw rainbows while the rest of the people on the bus only saw shades of brown! At one stage I thought the bus might even roll over because everyone was looking at the view on one side!
Luckily the bus didn't roll over and we arrived in Mendoza mid-afternoon, bleary-eyed after our epic bus trip. The bus terminal was a bit of a suprise, as it was in a greater state of disrepair than the ones we were used to in Patagonia. The walk from the bus station to the hostel we had booked went via the local bus terminal and the public hospital, so it was the first time we had really seen the poor side of Argentina -
One of so many plazas
This one was one of the smaller ones just near our hostel most of the locals visiting the public hospital obviously weren't as well off as the beautiful people you might see sipping coffee in the shopping districts. So it was the first time we were really thankful for our money belts and each other's company.Hostel Laos, which we had booked (on Mel's recommendation) was great, and they confirmed our suspicious about just how dodgy the bus station could be. Mike and Celeste were great hosts and the yummy breakfasts and complimentary wine was a welcome bonus.
On our first few days in Mendoza we wandered around the plazas (Mendoza has plenty) and enjoyed some excellent meals. On our first night we went to the low-key La Tasca for some delicious garlic prawns, despite our distance from the coast. As opposed to most Argentinian restaurants, this one served up some interesting dishes, and most of the meals were quite small, which meant you could try more than one delicious tapas-style dish. We also had a fabulous meal at the spanish restaurant El Meson, complete with a warm welcome from its most regular patron, the 86-year-old from across the road. He was so sweet! As soon as we chose our table at
You'd never guess it was 35 degrees!
The trees make a huge difference to the temperature in the city. It was pleasant walking around in the shade but uncomfortable otherwise El Meson, the gorgeous waitress brought out sherry and some pickled olives. I don't think I've had a better aperitif. The seafood paella was excellent, again despite our distance from the sea.
A visit to Mendoza wouldn't be complete without a trip to the world-famous wineries, so we boarded the bus and headed out there on a pretty warm day. We hired some dreadful bikes (no gears, crooked front bars and dubious brakes) and started out. Our first stop was a wine museum with some of its own boutique wines available for tasting. They were great especially their chardonnay, but expensive and totally impractical for us to carry around for the rest of the day. We then headed for the Trapiche vineyards but were disappointed to find no directions or obvious area for tasting. Trapiche was one of our favourite wines, recommended at first by Claudio, our host in El Bolson. Disappointed, we headed on to a gourmet farm where they produced things like tomato jam and pickled onions. We opted for the (much cheaper) plate of the day, which was sensational. Full again and happy, we continued on to one of the smaller and older wineries, producing only
Wine lovers' heaven
One of the older boutique wineries. Everything here is done as it was 200 years ago. a few thousand bottles a year. Their wines were also excellent, especially the cabernet sauvignon. We then headed to our last winery for the day, a french-run vinyard with brand-new processing equipment (most of it imported or designed in France). Again we were impressed with the wines and since it was the last stop, we bought a bottle for ourselves to enjoy later that night. The bus ride home from the last stop was an epic journey; almost an hour I think.
Towards the end of our stay in Mendoza we went out again to the plazas at sunset for the craft markets. Most of the markets we had seen already were of the same stuff - sameish-looking silver jewellery, knitted alpaca jumpers and so on - but the markets in Mendoza had that and so much more. Most of the stalls were run by the artists themselves, also a welcome change from what we had seen so far. We bought a few little presents for ourselves and were sad to be leaving behind a wonderful place.
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Grubby
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Hey team
G'day guys, hope all is well. Just finished sending Pete an email when I found your link here cleaning my inbox. Very jealous of the wine and food tasting expedition. Sounds like you are still having a ball which is great. Keep safe!