Mendoza: November 2015

Bus to Mendoza. After crossing the Chilean border.

We were supposed to leave Santiago at 8:40am. Our bus didn’t leave until 9am. No big deal. Javier and I were sitting right in the midst of a Jr High field trip, which I thought was going to be just awful, but once they turned on a movie, it was nice and peaceful. The ride was comfortable. Since it’s easier for me to read Spanish than to hear it, I was reading the subtitles, and as we zigzagged over the Andes, I felt myself getting a little queasy. So, I slept most of the time, while Javier watched the movies. We arrived at the border after about 3 hours. We waited our turn to go through immigration. We were stuck on the bus and the kids started getting antsy. Next thing you know…there’s a pillow fight happening. My last land-border crossing was a rather traumatic experience, and I was nervous that I would have another bad experience. It couldn’t have been farther from reality. It was such a smooth process. Instead of stamping you out of one country and having to walk to the next immigration station, everything was done at one place. The Chilean guy took my passport, stamped me out, handed it to the girl sitting next to him who stamped me into Argentina. I made Javier go first. He was stamped into Chile with his US passport, but because of reciprocity laws, we decided it would be better for him to enter Argentina with his Peruvian passport and save us $160 USD in reciprocity fees. We were told it shouldn’t be a problem, but no one really knew for sure. The last thing I wanted was to be in Argentina and Javier denied entrance. Everything went off without a hitch. We watched another movie for the second half of the ride, and we arrived in Mendoza right as it ended. 

Mendoza, Argentina

It was noticeably warmer in Mendoza than Santiago. We decided to walk from the bus station to our hotel, and really enjoyed the tree-lined streets. We were hungry and since the Argentines don’t eat dinner until 10pm, we had to settle for snacks at 6pm. We ended up at a cafe where we ate a salad and moved next door to a cute vegan cafe, where we spent the next few hours just sitting together, talking, and spending quality time. We are ALWAYS together, and are usually planning our trip. It was nice to have a normal conversation for a change. At around 9:30pm we decided it was time for dinner and went to a parrilla. This place was recommended to us by the receptionist at the hotel. We think it was a bit of a tourist trap, and the last time I was in Argentina, I remember the steak being much, much better. Either way, we were full, a little tipsy having finished a bottle of Malbec, and all in all, a good first day in Argentina. 

Malbec. Mendoza, Argentina.

We planned on having breakfast at 8 the next morning and taking off to the wine country, renting a bike, and riding to the different wineries. Well, the alarm definitely went off, and momentarily we were awake especially when they came to deliver our breakfast, but we both left it on the table untouched while we knocked out. When we awoke two hours later, our tea and toast were cold, our milk room temperature, and there was no way we would be going to the winery. Maybe tomorrow. The only thing on the agenda for the day…El Clasico. They didn’t have the channel at our hotel, so we set out to find anywhere that was showing the game. It wasn’t too promising in the beginning. We stopped in at a few places and failed. We finally found a cafe showing the game. It was about 10 minutes before kickoff, and we had a front-row table. As the time went on, more and more people joined. It seemed that most were supporting Barcelona, which made it fun. In case you were wondering, Barcelona won 4-0. Javier was happy…that is, until we walked by another cafe that was showing the Man City game where his other team was losing to Liverpool 1-4. You can’t win them all. We walked to check out the government buildings, and found a bunch of young people dressed up in comic costumes having a little convention of sorts. We decided to spend the rest of the day blogging and planning. As we looked towards the future to our next adventures, we realized we had some serious planning to do. 2016 may be the busiest year yet!!

Jackie in Mendoza, Argentina.

The next morning, we planned to go to the winery…we really did, but by the time we woke up and started moving, it was too late…again. Priorities. We realized the bus was no longer an option for us, and didn’t feel like spending $20 on a taxi ride. Instead, we ate at a rather hip little restaurant and spent the rest of the afternoon at a cafe.

We finally made it to the winery!! It almost didn’t happen, but not going would be like traveling to Napa and not going to a single winery, so we went. The plan was to take a bus, get off at the bike rental place, and ride to the winery.

We missed the bike rental bus stop, so we walked.

Well, we didn’t get off the bus in time, and would have had to walk further to the bike rental than to the winery, so we just decided to walk. We passed by different vineyards and were lucky enough to walk in the shade with a nice breeze. When we arrived, we decided to take the tour. We read stories about people who just do the tasting, and the experience is not as pleasant. However, the tour wouldn’t be starting for another 45 min or so. So, we opted to visit a nearby winery to have lunch. We returned to Trapiche for our tour. Our group included a class of engineers from Salta, northern Argentina. Needless to say, our group spoke Spanish, but what I couldn’t pick up from our guide, Javier filled in. There were times Javier spaced out, so I had to ask the guide, who graciously repeated everything in English for me while the rest of the group waited.

Trapiche, Mendoza.

I felt kinda bad, but the people were really nice about it. Our guide told us stories of weddings at the winery. Apparently, it has happened more than once that the wedding runs out of wine, and the attendees just walk into the building, put their mouths on the spigots and start drinking wine from the vats. The wine is still in the process of fermenting! Because of this, they had to build a door to keep people out. Towards the end of the tour, we stopped by some olive trees. Along with wine, Trapiche also makes some olive oil. He explained that the same trees produce both black and green olives depending on the season, and depending on when they are pressed determines whether the oil is plain olive oil, virgin, or extra virgin oil. I had no idea. Of course, no trip to the winery would be completely without the tasting.

Javier and wine.

Our guide brought out three different wines for us to try, and afterward poured both Javier and I a full glass because of the language issue. He felt a little bad for me. I was more than happy with the tour, but gladly accepted the wine anyway. 🙂 It was too hot outside, so we sat indoors and enjoyed the artwork, music, and glass floor which displayed the barrels below. 

We were too late to take the bus, so we decided to take a cab. The driver took us to our hotel where we picked up our packs and dropped us at the bus station for our 17 hour, overnight trip to Buenos Aires.   

To see more pictures of Mendoza, click HERE.