20-27.12.10 - Mendoza, Rachel's 29th birthday & Xmas day

Having moved around every two or three days since we started travelling, we decided to stay in one hostel for 7 nights over the xmas period.  We were pleasantly suprised when we arrived at the hostel to find a huge room with ensuite, more akin to a 3 star b&b in England.

Mendoza is nestled 100km east of the Andes Mountains and has an economy supported predominantly by Petroleum and Wine.  It feels very European and is quite sophisticated with tree lined boulevards and several parks and squares.  The vineyards and city are fed from the snowmelt off the Andes through ancient stone canals and channels called acequias, which were originally built by the Incas.

For my birthday, Ryan treated me like a princess (even more than usual).  We decided to undertake a tour of the Bodegas (vineyards) of Maipu, through a company called Bikes and Wines.  They sorted us out with a couple of mountain bikes and armed with a rough map we headed out to explore and of course, taste some wine!!  We sampled wines, olive oil, preserves, liquores and chocolates at La Rural, Vina Maria, Farm Olivia, Trapiche and Historias y Sabores and finished off with a very late lunch of home-made pasta at La Melesca.  There were a total of 15 Bodegas open to the public and we bearly scratched the surface - meaning a second visit would definatley be in order!!

La Rural - Wine museum

Ryan & Rach wine tasting at La Rural

Ryan and the owner of Farm Olivia with 'Thumper'

 Rach & Ryan wine tasting at Trapiche

In the evening, we headed out to a restaurant called Azafran which had been highly reccommended by the hostel owner and we were not disappointed.  The restaurant interior was quite understated with the inside of one wall covered with jars of spices and cured meats hanging from another.  As we had eaten lunch quite late, we passed on the starters and moved straight onto the main course.  Shortly after arriving at the restaurant, we were approached by the Somellier and asked if we would like to accompany him to the wine cellar to select a wine for dinner.  The wine cellar was a circular room within the restaurant which was filled floor to ceiling with more different types of locals wines that you could imagine.  After asking what we were eating and what types of wine we both liked, he selected a Cabernet Savinogn which was perfect.  As we had eaten lunch quite late, we passed on the starters and moved straight onto the main course. 

After sampling several delicious minature home-made breads, our main courses arrived.  Ryan had a fillet steak served simply with caramelised onions and chips and I had a minature fillet topped with spiniach, blue cheese and crispy filo pastry served with a sweet potato mash.  We can honestly say that they were two of the best steaks we have ever tasted, cooked medium-rare perfectly to our tasting.  We could hardly speak to each other as was we kept chuckling away to ourselves in satisfaction as to what an amazing place Argentina is.  The entire meal, including wine, water, dessert and tip was the equivalent of £50.  Perfect.

Unfortunatley, neither of our phones are working in Argentina so apologies to those who sent me birthday wishes by text - I should receive them in a couple of weeks when we reach Chile. 

The following day was a quiet one taking in the Parque General San Martin.  We then embarked on some more wine tasting (when in Medoza!) and headed to The Vines of Mendoza located around the corner from our hostel.  There are a number of different 'flight' options as they call it and we tasted the 'Las Muestras' selection.  The tasting was in a walled courtyard which was sheltered from the sun by vines.  Very beautiful and quite sophisticated for us.  The budget doesn't stretch to this sort of thing very often but we could definatley get quite used to this fantasy world...

'Las Muestras' wine flight at The Vines of Mendoza

Rach hidden by the collassal amount of wine at The Vines of Mendoza

Ryan after a couple of 'yes that was nice...and that was nice too' responses to the sommelier

We were surprised to see that most of the activities in Mendoza were available on xmas eve & xmas day so we embarked on the Alta Montana (high mountain) tour on xmas eve.  We both hate going on tours and we despise jumping off the bus with the other 20 people only to take a photo and jump back on again.  However, without hiring a vehicle, the only up-close view we would get of the Andes from Mendoza would be from the window of a bus en-route to Chile.  After stopping off at a couple of local landmarks, we headed through the Parque Provincial Aconcagua (home to the highest mountain in the western and southern hemispheres) to the old border crossing with Chile.  At 4000m, this was the highest point that either Ryan or myself had reached above sea level.  Luckily, (aside from a bit of heartburn which I thought for a while was altitude sickness!) neither of us suffered for the short time we were there.  I'm sure when we get to Peru and climb to over 6000m you will hear from me again!

The road we climbed in a mini-bus to the border between Chile and Argentina

Rach at 4000m above sea level - think the heartburn was passing at this point :)

Puente del Inca bridge at 2700m - naurally formed by minerals contained in a receeding glacia many moons ago

Xmas Day was a strange affair, but fun all the same.  We had bought a bottle of Trapiche Extra Brut we had tasted a few days previously, and headed to Plaza Independencia (main city square) to drink it.  We've tried to keep quiet about the weather as we haven't seen rain since Sao Paulo, Brazil in mid-Nov but it was upto 38deg on xmas day - we did for a short while wish that we were as cool as you have all been and we regulary dream of snow angels!  After another bottle of vino and a spell with two Irish '118 got your number' look-a-likes at a party hostel we settled for two steak and chips and a bottle of red.

Our stay in Mendoza came to an end with yet more wine tasting on the bikes as we headed on an overnight bus to Buenos Aires.  The night started out with a full blown game of bingo (in Spanish obviously) with the conductor, a shortish period of 80's soft rock followed with Cyndi Lauper killing it with 'girls just wanna have fun'.  All this was then washed down with a 3 course (of sorts) meal which included braised steak and mashed potato.  AND we were in cattle class!  We're both really excited about spending the next few days (including new year) in Buenos Aires and then heading south to Patagonia.