Iguazu (Argentina) and Mendoza

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It´s been a while since I managed to get on the net here....a busy couple of weeks, lots of time spent on buses and planes and tours. Iguazu seems far away now, being in chilly Patagonia...

In any case, after seeing the falls from the Brazilian side, we took a tour of the Argentinian one, which is equally as interesting. It´s much more developed and while the Brazilian side allows for magnificent panoramic views, on the Argentinian one you can really get up close and personal with the falls. You will get wet but that´s part of the fun. You can spend a whole day there and I was sad we only had half a day as we had to head back to catch a bus to Cordoba. It was enough but it would have been nice to sit down with a picnic and enjoy the views. The views are quite spectacular....I don´t think I need to see any falls ever again as I don´t believe they could equal the beauty on show here. The place is full of butterflies (which are hard to pin), birds and other wildlife.

After seeing the falls we took a bus to Cordoba. A bit of a nightmare ensued as nobody in Argentina seems to know anything about onward connections beyond their home city. There is no central booking office and even companies who have routes all around the country can´t always tell you how to get from a to z because z might be out of their province. Boooo! So eventually we got to Cordoba at 2 pm, thinking we could get a connection to Mendoza right away. On no.....the buses only run overnight. I was stressing because I knew I was going to be picked up by Eduardo Pulenta on Saturday morning and really didn´t want to meet him coming off a bus after a long journey as I wanted to look a bit civilised. Well, in the end it worked out fine, we had a shower at Cordoba bus station (the only one to have showers, by coincidence!), walked around Cordoba and picked up some real bargains and then off we went for another overnight bus journey (ouch!) to Mendoza.

We arrived in Mendoza at 6am and had time to freshen up and have breakfast before we were picked up by Edu (for those who don´t know, he´s one of our wine producers so work relations!), who luckily turned up wearing shorts and a t-shirt so no formalities needed! Edu showed us the city and then started to drivew us to the winery. But as things happen, he got a call from his dad, saying they´re having a bbq at his new house and that me and Eva should join them. We couldn´t say no to a real Argentinian bbq now, could we? So off we went and were quite amazed at what we saw.....the house is amazing, clearly a rich part of Mendoza, just outside the city, bbq was great, so much meat! It was funny coz it was the whole Pulenta family and us, felt slightly like intruders but weren´t made to feel that way, at all. Apparently I´m a VIP so was treated that way, haha.

After bbq, Edu drove us to their house in the middle of the vineyards.....an oasis of calm with a lovely warm pool. We all went for a swim and Edu and his friend nearly missed a wedding coz they were too lazy to get out of the pool. 4 bottles of La Flor Malbec Rose later we hopped on bikes and drove around the vineyards. The next day we spent by the pool and were then rescued from hunger by Edu and his mom and were shown the winery before he drove us back into town. Such hospitality......it was the first relaxing part of the trip. Mendoza is awesome, a bit sad that I didn´t get to see as much of it!

Wine of the day: Pulenta Estate La Flor Malbec Rose - for those sunny hot days when you want something refreshing but with a bit of weight.

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