Mendoza, Argentina

(ALKESH) Last week, we decided to head out of Buenos Aires and check out some of the other well known sites within Argentina. We´d seen plenty of city life, so now it was the turn of a slower pace of life that awaited for us in the province of Mendoza (not that South American pace is frantic!).





Navita and I, now well versed in how to save on a night's accommodation and ride the bus overnight, decided to stop-off in a smaller university town of Cordoba. It was somewhat on the way to Mendoza, and had a very different feel, so we thought it worthwhile. Truth be told, we're glad we only spent a night there, as there wasn't much going on apart from some colonial architecture, and a thriving student scene which we didn't really feel like getting in on (again showing our age!). One of the highlights, however, was our stay in a really charming little hostel, which felt more like a home than any others we°d stayed at so far. Hostel living is by no means a done deal because it's so cheap. Far from it, there is a big variation in quality, so it was good to have experienced a place so good.





Another overnight bus later, we were in Mendoza. Many fellow travellers had recommended Mendoza, due to it being the foremost wine producing region of Argentina (yay!), its nice small town feel, and its proximity to the Andes mountain range. We'd also arrived at the peak of a wine festival called Vendimia, which is a celebration of the year's wine harvest. Mucho vino and fun to be had then! Lets get going...





The first few days were really about soaking up the local area and festivities. We ventured around the town and stumbled across some quirky ways of celebrating the wine festival. The first thing that really struck us was all over town (on street posters and in shop windows) there were pictures of beautiful women all vying for attention for some sort of pagent. Turns out each year, a 'queen' is chosen to lead the festivities and represent their small local region within Mendoza province. During a night parade on Friday and a day parade the following morning, these contestants show off on their floats, waving and throwing fruit(!) and bottles of olive oil into the crowd. To much amusement, eaten apple cores were occasionally thrown back at the floats! Oops. There are several Plazas in the city centre, and each one had it's turn at hosting an evening event: we saw art and craft fairs, food stalls and Italian opera singers at Plaza Italia. On the Friday night, here was a big stage set up in the main square (Plaza Independencia) and a huge Spanish concert was put on.





{NAVITA} On Sunday, we had an early start for a full-day tour taking us in to the Andes. Since our travel plans didn't involve us crossing the border in to Chile (and fortunately so, given the earthquake), we were looking forward to the tour to show us some of the vistas just outside of Mendoza. Unfortunately, our guide didn't speak a word of English (disappointing because the agent promised us they would - we later complained and got 50% back which was good compensation) and so Alkesh and I used a mix of 2 strategies to make the best of the situation: 1) We tried our hardest to make out the odd word here and there during the guide's speeches using Alkesh's limited Spanish and my better (but less useful!) French. 2) MOre entertaining, was making up our own commentary to accompany the guide's hand gestures and also our own theories to explain the geological features we saw. After the initial frustration of not understanding very much, we settled in to the tour.





Within 30 mins of leaving the downtown area, we were greeted by amazing views of the Andes. Now many of you may not know (as indeed we didn't until recently) that the highest peak in the Andes is the not-so-well-known Aconcagua... really it should get more attention! Standing at just under 7000m high, it is the 2nd highest peak after the Himalayas range. We saw it, standing proud way up above the rest of the mountains and the low-lying clouds. It was magnificent to see such a huge snow-capped mountain so close. Also on the tour we saw some colonial bridges and an Inca ruin (Puente del Incas). This latter site was quite interesting but alas because we couldn't understand our guide I can't tell you anything about it... something about volcanic rock and sulphur in the water. Another stop on the tour was to a Christ statue (Christo Redentor) on top of a steep hill. Really, the bus journey up the windy narrow path was more thrilling than the statue but still good to see. Also at the top of this hill was some more great views of the snow-capped Andes.









Yesterday was the best bit of our trip to Mendoza. We hired bikes and cycled round the Lujan region of Mendoza province... this is a big wine-producing region, home to many winerines (bodegas) and vineyards - both small and big. We went out for the day with a couple we'd met in Foz do Iguacu - Matthew and Becky from Manchester. The 4 of us stopped at 3 wineries during the day. First was MIGUEL MINNI, the smallest of the 3 wineries (10 ha.) but unique in being 100% organic right down to using egg whites as a natural filtering agent and recycling the discarded peel and seeds to be used as soil fertiliser. The guide was really kind and gave us a good tour of the vineyards and the production facilities. Even though he didn't speak English, we managed to get a good grasp of what he was saying thanks to his patience and hand gestures! We tasted Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon red grapes on the vine, just weeks before they were due to be harvested! - they were sooo sweet which is surprising given that their wine is not. We got treated to 5 tastings afterwards, sampling a mixture of white Chardonnay, a Rose and the Malbec (both oaked and unoaked - and what a difference there was!).





Second winery was CABRINI: here we were in and out within 15 minutes with just 2 tastings. An interesting fact about this winery was that all the Catholic churches in Argentina buy their 'church' wine from Cabrini so it is very famous. The last winery was NORTON, the biggest and most industrial. The tour here was really interesting as we sampled the Malbec red wine at 3 stages: first as a young wine in it's steel fermentation tank; second, as an oak-barrelled wine infused with oak-y flavours; and finally as the finished product. We really enjoyed our day out with friends, enjoying clement weather, views of the Andes whilst cycling through vineyards! Bliss!





The next few days are a bit of a 'break' for us before we start our Intrepid trip to Galapagos Islands and Peru... so excited! Today is the typical 'chores' day we always have from time to time whilst travelling: doing washing, writing our blog, booking future accommodation etc. Tonight we take the overnight bus (again! - we'll be pros at sleeping anywhere anytime by the end of this trip) back to BA for 2 days respite in a low grade hotel (with ensuite and a chance to see Alice in Wonderland!). And finally, on Saturday 12th March we fly up to Quito (Via Cordoba and Lima for some silly reason)! Not sure when we'll next write a blog but we'll definitely update after the wonders of Galapagos... stay tuned.



Love to you all - we miss you lots and think of you often!