Advertisement
Published: April 26th 2011
We had been very impressed so far with our buses. We always upgraded to a Cama, which means a sleeper version. It was very comfortable with a dinner and breakfast, blankets and pillows. Even with the additional comforts, it was still nearly impossible to sleep on, so we always arrived at places tired and cranky.
Slightly shocking though for the trip from BA to Mendoza was that it was £65 for a ticket, when the lonely planet had quoted £25. We had found this to happen quite a lot so far on the trip, and the £600 bus budget we had given ourselves for the whole 4 months was now down to £45. Lonely planet is our bible but sometimes, with things like this it can be a let down. So only 1 month into our trip and already we knew money was going to become a serious issue. But hopefully we will be moving into the cheaper countries soon.
Back to the bus, we woke for sunrise as we were pulling into Mendoza with our first glimpse of the Andes. Being on quite a strict timescale now we only had 2 days here so we dumped our bags
and went in search of wine. Lying at the base of the eastern Andes, Mendoza produces more than 80 percent of the country’s wine and is now the world’s fifth biggest wine producer. We had heard about the winery tours but hadn’t quite believed it until we got there. Because there are so many in the area, the best way to visit all of them is to hire a bicycle. Now with Perdy’s arm still in plaster, cycling on dodgy uneven gravel roads whilst wine tasting, did not seem the best of ideas. But since when have we ever been sensible. Off to the bike hire company we went.
It was exactly what we had been told. Hire a bike for 6 hours and travel the entire area, up to 12km to visit all the wineries and do as much tasting as possible. Now that sounds simple right. Well we cycled away from the bike shop with map in hand in search of winery number 1.
We went down this road and it came to a bit of a dead end, apart from a very narrow path that took us down the side of this house, but clearly
led to vineyards. It was much quieter than we expected but started taking the path. From behind a gate a Rottweiler foaming at the mouth was going crazy at us, but not to worry; it was locked behind the gate. Obviously quite protective of the vineyard, although can’t see why, it is a tourist attraction. As we were half way down the vineyard we spotted there were no other bike tyre marks in the dirt, we were about to come to the end of the vineyard, there was no sign of anyone and it was just a dead end. As we went to spin our bikes around we had noticed that the Rottweiler was no longer behind the gate, but was at the end of the path, our exit, and had brought an Alsatian friend.
In that moment we both thought that of all the horror stories you hear in SA of the dangers you can get into, not once had we heard anything like this, but this was how it was all going to end. Some bloody tourist attraction this was turning out to be! Lonely Planet was taking a bit of a slagging off at this point.
How on earth can they recommend a tourist attraction as shoddy as this?! Whilst Tony tried to work out any escape route, we hid behind the vineyards. Trembling, we realised there was no way out but past the dogs.
Luckily, we stayed back for a few minutes and the dogs had dissappered somewhere. At a very calm, slow pace and not knowing where they had gone, we made our way to the exit, only when we got to near the front we got back on our bikes and peddled as fast as we could out of there. Feeling lucky to be alive, we wondered what could have possibly gone wrong. Worryingly, without even drinking any wine yet, we then realised that we had been holding the map upside down. What a critical mistake to make.
Back on the right track and we were desperate to get a big glass of wine down us after our ordeal. Thankfully the rest of the day wasn’t as traumatic and we made our way through all the stops. It was mandatory to try as many types of local wine, and we also had all the local liquors, olive oils and absinthes.
Which nearly blew our heads off. Mendoza wineries produce countless varieties including Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Although their signature wine is the red Malbec. The nicest red that we’ve ever tried, but unfortunately it doesn't get sold to the english market, how annoying.
We had a walk around the vineyards and wine museum and made our way back. It took 6 hours in total and we were fairly wobbly on the bikes by that time. Hopefully the other drivers were not as wobbly. We returned to hand back the bikes. By 8pm we had a hangover so we went off to bed.
We spent the next day exploring Mendoza and went for a little hike up to the view point to see the Andes. It wasn’t quite what we expected and thought Mendoza might be a little more secluded. It was actually quite a big city and it was a bit of a trek to get to the views. It was a nice area and definitely worth visiting for the vineyards and the park, but we wouldn’t spend much longer there.
We left Mendoza and took a 7 hour journey to Santiago, Chile. It was
a breathtaking journey as we were breaking through the Andes. Every corner we took gave us another different, amazing panoramic view of the mountainous landscape after another. We couldn’t put the camera down. The enjoyment was taken out of it slightly though as we entered Chile. The giant bus had to take us at least 2000m from the top of this mountain right to the bottom, carefully negotiating each wind and bend with no barriers to protect us and traffic coming the other way. Definitely heart stopping.
We eventually arrived in Santiago. We’d really recommend taking this bus route (1pm from Mendoza) during the day time. There’s not many opportunities you’ll get to drive straight through this beautiful landscape on a bus fare. We had decided not to stay here as we would prefer longer in Bolivia. Chile is notorious for being extremely expensive, so the less time spent the better. We waited at the bus station in Santiago for 3 hours and took a night bus north to La Serena. We would arrive there and appreciate exactly why Chile got its name!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.049s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.026s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Laura
non-member comment
Loving the blog
Hi Perdy I have just caught up on your blog, looks like you are having a great time (again) Still can't believe we are looking at more photos with your arm in plaster! Can't wait for your next one as I think you will be in Bolivia, hope you enjoy it and don't get as poorly as we did :0 Laura Radcliffe (Hundley) x