Mendoza

After 3 weeks in BsAs it was time to head on and I have to admit I did spend a couple of days pondering what route I was going to take. I decided to head across the country to Mendoza, centre of Argentina´s wine growing region.

So time for my first experience of the famous Argentina bus system and pretty impressive it was too. There are 4 classes of travel: super cama - basically a full stretch bed/seat where you get to lie flat; cama - not quite flat but not upright either, flat enough that you can sleep on your side; semi-cama - bit more upright but comfortable enough to sleep and finally normal which I don´t think I need to explain! For this journey I opted for cama - a mere 20 pesos extra and as I was going to be on the bus overnight for a 13 hour journey I figured it was worth it. I think the only bad thing I would say is that the food is pretty disgusting - powdered spuds and some non-descipt milanesa meat which I think was supposed to be chicken.....maybe...

Anyway got there at 8.00 in the morning and made my way to the Dama Juana Hostel, excellent place to hang out and meet some new peeps and get this it even had a swimming pool - fancy eh? Mendoza city made a nice change from the hectic BsAs, tree-lined avenues, enforced siestas (can make shopping a pain in the backside), street cafes, plazas a-plenty and an altogether more relaxed atmosphere.

I decided to get stuck right in and spent the afternoon doing a wine tour although I ended up feeling a little cheated, for something advertised as a wine tour what the hell were they doing taking us to a olive oil refinery eh????? Thankfully only the one olive oil joint, the other 2 places were bodega´s, one a pretty big place and the other a small family run vineyard - both had their own merits but preferred the smaller one myself, believe it was called the Don Juan Winery or something similar. From speaking to others though probably best to do it by yourself and either have a designated driver or hire bikes and do it that way! Not as expensive and no restrictive time lines (or annoying Aussie woman on the bus complaining loudly that everyone speaks spanish....imagine that - speaking spanish in their own country, how VERY dare they! The most amusing bit though was that she had bought an apartment in Buenos Aires to holiday every year - what??) Anyway I digress....

That evening I bumped into a guy I had met in BsAs and after a beer or 2 to cool down we went off to dinner with another few guys we had met at the hostel - Roc from Barcelona and Frederic from Paris - of course it had to be steak and yet again it was buenisimo.

Next day it was a trip into the mountains and through some spectacular scenery, multi-coloured layered rock formations (just in case you don´t know the mountains are part of the Andes). The trip basically starts in desert territory and ends up in the freezing cold, biting winds and snow about 5km away from the border with Chile !

We made our way to Puente del Inca, an attractive calcareous ochre formation over the Las Cuevas River which has thermal waters. Due to erosion and the damage caused by tourist feet they had closed the crossing over so we were only able to view it from the viewing place across the road but still a pretty nice spot. Next stop was to view the highest peak in the continent - Aconcagua, nicknamed the ´Sentry of America´ and standing at 6962m above sea level. Its a big draw for climbers from all over the world and is apparently pretty challenging....well as you´d expect at that height! We also got to see the statue of Christ the Redeemer which at 4200m above sea level is probably the highest holy statue in the world. An excellent day out and fantastic scenery.

Back at the hostel it was of course time for refreshment and sustenance once again and with my companions of the night before went and found more steak and much more wine - a fine night had by all!

Next day I bumped into another couple of friends made in BsAs and after hiring a car took another trip into the mountains - lot different this time as we only had our own schedule to stick too. We found a delightful little restaurant in a small town that although it wasn´t open she decided to open up just for us - how nice is that eh? Then we found ourselves near the lake and although it is for some reason prohibited the others decided a swim was in order (fricking freezing - water from the mountains and all that.....no way you were getting me in there!) On our way back to the car we did spot someone over the other side shouting at us and waving his arms furiously and wearing what looked suspiciously like an army uniform - time to hightail it out of there! Not content with just the one brush with the law we got pulled over when Yves (the guy driving) decided to take a short cut the wrong way around a roundabout - we got pulled over by the police and some quick talking later were on our way again - much hilarity later we made it back in one piece.

So that was Mendoza or at least my experiences of it - it is also famous for white water rafting, horse-riding, canopy swings-climbing & mountain biking so loads to do on the adrenalin junkie front.

Again I´ll mention a few names just so I don´t forget - Mark, Roc, Frederic, Kate & Kate & Yves.