Mendoza, Argentina

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I´m sure this city does not require an introduction, everyone knows what this area is famous for!

It took 19 1/2 hours by bus from Bariloche leaving at 1pm on Thursday and arriving 8.30am Friday, we were lucky that the bus went as the drivers were planning a strike from 2pm that day, but we left on time and all went well as far as sleeping on buses goes it wasn´t too bad. We went straight to the hostel and although it was too early to check in they let us help ourselves to breakfast which was nice.

We decided to catch a bus to the nearby town of Maipu which has vineyards all within a short distance of each other, so you can hire bikes and visit them easily. We started at the Beer Garden a microbrewery serving a few artisan beers in a peaceful location surrounded by fields. Second we stopped at Di Tomasso winery, where this Italian family have been making wine for 140 years. We saw all the original fermentation tanks made from bricks imported from England and cement imported from Germany as they couldn´t get these materials in Argentina back when they were built. We tried 4 wines before the tour a white Cabernet Sauvignan, 2 different Malbecs and a sweet desert wine also made from the Malbec grape which tasted like a medium spanish sherry. They had a lovely restaurant also so we stopped for lunch eating off oak barrel tables, the lunch came with a white chardonny so that was wine number 5. We then cycled on to the furthest winery an organic place called Cecchin. It had a beautiful drive way through all the grapes and olive trees to the main vinyard. We did the tour and Mark tried 3 different wines all red, carignan, graciana and of course a malbec (I couldnt manage any more by this point and just had a bottle of water). We brought a bottle of the carignan so I could try it another day as it was Marks favorite. We cycled back to the hire bike rental to give back the bikes and catch the bus back to Mendoza, a really relaxing way to taste some of what Mendoza has to offer.

That night we joined in with the hostels free Empanada making lessons which was such a nice way to socialise and meet more people (and the class came with free wine). There was some healthy competition going on between participants as we all had to decorate them a little bit so we knew which one was our own (those of you who saw my dinosaur inspired christmas cake will know just how well I did in this!).

We spent some time wandering around Mendoza which has some beautiful squares each honoring different people from the past, we also visited a huge park area (san martin) which is nearly 400 hectars a wonderful green space for the city and a lot of work to maintain too, especially bearing in mind that Mendoza is a desert town. That night the hostel did a pizza party which consisted of them just baking pizza after pizza at the hostel all different flavours until we could eat no more, it was wonderful.

We had a tentative wait for the bus ride to Santiago accross the Andes once more as lots of travellers had been stuck due to recent snow fall. To start with it wasn´t really obvious until we got to the boarder where there was still a lot of snow around but clear enough to pass, the photos show the line up of trucks all waiting to cross but you can´t really see them they look so small compared to the scenery. It is normally a 7 hour journey but it took us 9 due to the back log of traffic on the mountain roads and delays at the boarder, still if you are going to be stuck on a coach you may as well be in a beautiful area, We drove passed Aconcagua the highest mountain in the Andes 6962m and very impressive, wonderful views from the coach.

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Photos

Maipu
Vineyards with Andes in the background

Bodega Ceccin
Entrance to the winery

Mendoza to Santiago
Over the Andes, if you look hard you can see the line up of trucks.

Comments

[Karen Squibb]

Even more envious !!
Your adventure just seems to be getting better and better - am still envious but must admit wouldn't like to be on the bus/coach for such a long time. You describe everything so well - I feel I am there with you !! Keep your blogs coming - love them - stay safe and well x