Mendoza is the capital of the Argentinean wine production. I really enjoy being in the country that produces very affordable or rather very cheap wine. The decent bottle of wine in the restaurant (not the cheapest) cost about $5. Of course there are cheaper ones and the fancy expensive ones as well. A really good bottle of wine in the supermarket could costs as little as $3.
I was really excited to be here... for the wine. Unfortunately, when I got to Mendoza, I realized the city is quite big. And all the beauty is outside… nature, Andes, wineries… And… that there was a very rare 3 days of drizzling rain, cold and gray skies, the sun never appeared during these days I was there and… in the tourist office they told me that all the trails in the mountains were closed, the season was over because all the trails are covered with snow and not passable, and also because of the cold temperatures (one of the highest peaks in south America is around Mendoza, and it can get up to -40 Celsius there).
Fortunately, the hostel Independencia was quite nice and right away we formed a little group. Everybody was just hanging out inside the hostel due to the weather. My first day, I left hostel once... to eat lunch; I even skipped dinner, just because I felt so lazy and did not want to leave the hostel again. It’s a little pathetic, I guess, but considering that traveling is my full time life now, I guess it’s ok to have such days sometimes.
The next day, one cheerful Ausie, (who has been traveling for 2 ½ years) suggested that we go to the natural hot bath spa nearby. I did not love that idea, because it was still quite called outside, but did drag alone with about another 10 peeps from the hostel. Even when we got there, I thought there was no way that I could take my clothes off, outside… on a cold day… Only after seeing the happy faces in the pools, I was brave enough. It turned out to be such a great experience. I was soaking and relaxing for over 3 hours. And had to get out just in time to put back all of my layers and socks and to make it to the bus to come back to the city of Mendoza. That evening, 2 French guys volunteered to cook for all of us and we all ate diner all together like a big happy family. (We collected about 3 dollars, and had a delicious pasta carbonara and mucho botellas del vino:).
The next day, the weather still sucked, no sun and quite cold, but many of us were pressured for time and could not wait for sunny days in Mendoza… we had no choice but to go to do the winery tour. That was the reason to be in Mendoza in the first place! That’s where it got very interesting for me. The very common, fun and cheapest way to visit wineries is to do the famous bicycle tour, where backpackers bicycle from one bodega to another… by the end of the day very happy and drunk… and still cycling...hopefully :). . Unfortunately my inability to ride the bike was limiting me once more…. Since I don’t like traditional tours, I decided to just take a rural bus to Maipu, the little village with high concentration of famous wineries… and do whatever I can by walking and hitchhiking.
About 5 min after I got off the bus, as I was approaching one of the wineries, I ran across my crew from the hostel, so we did degustation in several wineries together, which was lots of fun. The next winery was far; I was lucky to get the lift there and had a private tour. On the way to this stop, we also had to save one of the drunken kiwi girls who fell off her bike. And drive her to the restaurant so she could get some food, so she could continue with her wine degustation.
Overall, it was a long and exciting and tiring day. And hopefully I will remember a thing or two about the wines!!!
Mendoza is the capital of the Argentinean wine production. I really enjoy being in the country that produces very affordable or rather very cheap wine. The decent bottle of wine in the restaurant (not the cheapest) cost about $5. Of course there are cheaper ones and the fancy expensive ones as well. A really good bottle of wine in the supermarket could costs as little as $3.
I was really excited to be here... for the wine. Unfortunately, when I got to Mendoza, I realized the city is quite big. And all the beauty is outside… nature, Andes, wineries… And… that there was a very rare 3 days of drizzling rain, cold and gray skies, the sun never appeared during these days I was there and… in the tourist office they told me that all the trails in the mountains were closed, the season was over because all the trails are covered with snow and not passable, and also because of the cold temperatures (one of the highest peaks in south America is around Mendoza, and it can get up to -40 Celsius there).
Fortunately, the hostel Independencia was quite nice and right away we formed a little group. Everybody was just hanging out inside the hostel due to the weather. My first day, I left hostel once... to eat lunch; I even skipped dinner, just because I felt so lazy and did not want to leave the hostel again. It’s a little pathetic, I guess, but considering that traveling is my full time life now, I guess it’s ok to have such days sometimes.
The next day, one cheerful Ausie, (who has been traveling for 2 ½ years) suggested that we go to the natural hot bath spa nearby. I did not love that idea, because it was still quite called outside, but did drag alone with about another 10 peeps from the hostel. Even when we got there, I thought there was no way that I could take my clothes off, outside… on a cold day… Only after seeing the happy faces in the pools, I was brave enough. It turned out to be such a great experience. I was soaking and relaxing for over 3 hours. And had to get out just in time to put back all of my layers and socks and to make it to the bus to come back to the city of Mendoza. That evening, 2 French guys volunteered to cook for all of us and we all ate diner all together like a big happy family. (We collected about 3 dollars, and had a delicious pasta carbonara and mucho botellas del vino:).
The next day, the weather still sucked, no sun and quite cold, but many of us were pressured for time and could not wait for sunny days in Mendoza… we had no choice but to go to do the winery tour. That was the reason to be in Mendoza in the first place! That’s where it got very interesting for me. The very common, fun and cheapest way to visit wineries is to do the famous bicycle tour, where backpackers bicycle from one bodega to another… by the end of the day very happy and drunk… and still cycling...hopefully :). . Unfortunately my inability to ride the bike was limiting me once more…. Since I don’t like traditional tours, I decided to just take a rural bus to Maipu, the little village with high concentration of famous wineries… and do whatever I can by walking and hitchhiking.
About 5 min after I got off the bus, as I was approaching one of the wineries, I ran across my crew from the hostel, so we did degustation in several wineries together, which was lots of fun. The next winery was far; I was lucky to get the lift there and had a private tour. On the way to this stop, we also had to save one of the drunken kiwi girls who fell off her bike. And drive her to the restaurant so she could get some food, so she could continue with her wine degustation.
Overall, it was a long and exciting and tiring day. And hopefully I will remember a thing or two about the wines!!!
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