Tag Archives: Mendoza

Mendoza: Argentina’s Wine Country

Over the long weekend me and a couple of friends decided to travel to Mendoza, a city know for serving Malbec wine to very thirsty Argentines. In order to get there we booked our bus trip on what seemed like a sketchy website but in the end things worked in our favor.
The bus trip to Mendoza was 13-14 hours with pit stops along the way. Some buses serve two meals to the passengers and seats on Flechabus are very comfortable.
We arrived in Mendoza around 3 o’clock and took a taxi a taxi to our hostel: Hostel Mayam. The place didn’t have the best interior design but the service and the kindness provided to us was wonderful.
After freshening up and taking a nap we decided to see the center of Mendoza and go out to dinner. The resto-bar, the name given to a restaurant that happens to have a bar, was nothing special but we did have the opportunity to watch the soccer or futbol game between Argentina and Chile. It was intense but it was wonderful to see the passion and blind loyalty some people share for the sport.
When we arrived to Mendoza we had nothing planned but we did know what we wanted to do. On that Friday we went to the Tourism Department, which by the way was very helpful, and received brochures from some of the tourism agencies in Mendoza.
We decided to have a half-a-day wine tour in Maipu. The agency would pick us up from our hostel and take us to two wineries and one olive factory. One of the wineries belonged to a big company in Argentina and the second was a family-owned business. The olive factory was small and produced olive oil and other cosmetic products.

Wine from Bodegas Lopez

Wine from Bodegas Lopez

The first winery: Bodegas Lopez was big and beautiful. We were given a tour of the distillery and then given a tasting of the Malbec and sparkling wine. Our guide showed us how to taste the wine and appreciate its distinct flavors. The same thing was done and the second and smaller winery but we had the chance to see the gardens and the vineyard. At the olive factory our guide also gave us a tour of their business and then proceeded to give up a tasting of their different kinds of olive oil. I didn’t expect much from the tastings but it was very good; we were served small pieces of French bread with virgin olive oil, garlic olive oil, rosemary olive oil, and dried tomatoes.

Winery Bodegas Lopez

Winery Bodegas Lopez

Gardens in Don Arturo's Vineyard.

Gardens in Don Arturo’s Vineyard.

Don Arturo's vineyard

Don Arturo’s vineyard

That night we got back to our hostel and were served an asado (Argentine barbecue), possibly the best asado I’ve had in Argentina. For the cost of 100 pesos or roughly 6 dollars we got a ton of meat, salad, bread, and wine. We also got to socialize and talk with the other students, which I think is the best part of staying in hostels. I meet Australians, Swedes, and French people I whom I had the pleasure of speaking with.
On Saturday we booked two activities at Argentina Rafting, a tourism agency. We decided to go rafting and horseback riding. The agency provided up with transportation and the proper equipment to raft (wetsuits, boots, and life jackets). The water was especially cold but it was crazy fun. The horseback riding was my favorite as we got to ride the horse around the mountains.

Poterillos in Mendoza

Poterillos in Mendoza

The trip to Mendoza was surprisingly cheap. The bus trip to and from Mendoza was around 190 dollars, the wine and olive tour was 30 dollars, and the each of the activities was 30 dollars as well.


Location: Mendoza, Argentina

What are men compared to rocks and mountains?

View of Mendoza from Terrraza Jardín del Mirador

View of Mendoza from Terraza Jardín del Mirador

 

There were holidays this week, so we had a four day weekend to have an awesome trip in Argentina.  So, my friends and I took a bus to Mendoza for the long weekend. Mendoza is about 15 hours west of Buenos Aires along the Chilean border- I know 15 hours by bus sounds horrible. I bought my bus ticket expecting I would never buy one again after 30 hours of busing. But the buses in Argentina are not like Greyhounds in the US.

I have taken Greyhound home to Philadelphia from State College. We had to stop in Harrisburg and the trip ended up being about six hours in a gross Greyhound bus. But here for long trips, you can purchase a “cama” seat on a bus, which is basically a really wide seat that reclines and has a foot rest to elevate your feet. They give you champagne, a not so great dinner, and a decent breakfast, so what’s there to complain about? An overnight bus trip to the opposite end of Argentina is actually a pretty comfortable trip.

The only tricky part about buses here is that they don’t post the platform from where the bus will depart until about ten minutes before departure or not at all. So I was a little worried when I arrived at the Retiro bus station and didn’t know where my bus would be. But as I have mentioned in my last blog, patience is always required with transportation in Argentina or anywhere in the world.

Once we arrived, we explored the city. It is more of a small town compared to Buenos Aires, and we appreciated the quiet streets and clean, fresh air. The accent in Mendoza is also more familiar than in Buenos Aires. The “sh” sound of the “ll” and “y” of Buenos Aires was not as common and closer to the castellano that I have learned in school. My friends and I rented the second floor of a house from a family in Mendoza. The family was very nice and accommodating and we loved the cozy atmosphere within the house.

One of the coolest things about Mendoza is that it actually has a semi-arid climate, practically desert. Yet Mendoza is famous for its wine production, and the province is lush with verdure. All throughout the city, there are irrigation ducts and rivers of water flowing from the mountains to provide water for the province. So not only do these mountains dominate the landscape, but they provide the sustenance for Mendoza’s people and its economy.

After exploring the streets and plazas for a while, we went to a museum exhibiting regional art that was awesome. It was amazing to see artistic depictions of landscapes that were clearly from the Mendoza province. So many paintings included the Andes looming over the landscapes of vineyards and gardens.

On Sunday, I went horseback riding outside of Mendoza, close to Luján. I have never ridden a horse before, so I was a little frightened by the experience. I was especially scared when I found out we would be scaling a few smaller mountains on horseback to get a better view of the Andes. But I trusted my horse and had a spectacular view of the landscapes in Mendoza.

View of the Andes on horseback

My final excursion in Mendoza was a bike tour through wine country in the province. We rented bikes from a family owned business, Mr. Hugo’s, and got a map of the different wineries around Maipú. Sounds like a bad idea to have wine tastings and then bike to the next winery, but it was great! We also stopped at an olive farm, where we tried artisan olive oils, tapenade, jams, chocolates, and liquors. Through the entire bike tour, the street was lined with shady trees and surrounded by acres and acres of grape fields. In Mendoza, they grow Malbec grapes to make Malbec wine, which I tried on the wine tastings. The day was fantastic, and we rushed back to the bus station to catch our bus back home to BA.

Ready for the wine tour?

Today, we arrived after our long journey, and I never thought I’d be so happy to see Retiro Bus Station. I came home to my home stay, and my host dad was excited to hear about all of our adventures in Mendoza, where he used to live. Mendoza was such a beautiful place and I had an awesome weekend there beneath the Andean mountains. Like Jane Austen wrote, “what are men compared to rocks and mountains?” After my trip to Mendoza, I wonder what are men compared to rocks and mountains AND wine?

 


Location: Mendoza, Argentina