Off to Mendoza

I know it's been a long time since I posted a blog, so I figured it's about time. Last week, we took a short trip to Mendoza, Argentina. My classes on Wednesday and Thursday were cancelled for Dieciocho (which I will explain in my next post... yes, 2 posts in a row!), so we decided it would be a perfect time for a trip. The flight was relatively inexpensive and was only 40 min.!

The public transportation in Santiago has a lot of perks, and can be extremely frustrating at the same time, but it is great for getting to the airport inexpensively. When we began our trip, we took the metro to the usual bus stop to catch the bus to the airport, but as the Chileans often do, there was a protest going on, and we couldn't find the bus..I was nervous there weren't any buses going! We hurried back on the metro to catch the bus somewhere else, and it all worked out. We got to the airport and went through their security (when compared to the US security, it's a joke here), and got to our gate with time to spare.

On the flight, the plane has to quickly get up over the mountains, and you fly just above the mountains the entire time. It is by far the most beautiful 20 min. in I've ever spent in an airplane. The ascent and descent are little rough because you have to get up too fast, and the same with going back down.

We arrived in Mendoza in the early afternoon and took a cab to our hostel. It cost 45 pesos which is about $11USD. We stayed at the Damajuana hostel which is located on a street with all the bars and restaurants. It was my first hostel experience, and it was definitely an experience! We got a room with four beds (two sets of bunk beds). Our first night we had to share our room with an older man, but there was a lot of open space to hang out throughout the rest of the hostel, and two computers with wifi. So, we got settled in and decided to explore the city. The town shuts down during siesta time, so the streets were very quiet, and most of the restaurants were closed. We decided to go to La Florencia for lunch and had empanadas and salads.

Our first impressions of Mendoza were that it is clean, and we really liked it. That night, we went to a restaurant across the street from the hostel and had a fantastic meal! We each had a glass of vino tinto, shared baked provolone for an appetizer, and I got a delicious steak with mushrooms and a balsamic reduction sauce, with a baked potato with cheese in it. Scott had a breaded steak with potato wedges. Our entire amazing meal cost $33 USD! Our first evening was spent in the hostel hanging out with some new friends and drinking a few beers.

Thursday was by far our best day in Mendoza! We took a bus to the Maipu Region where we rented bikes for the day and biked between the wineries. Our first stop was a food tasting: We tasted different kinds of olive spread, different olive oils, jams, dulce de leche (my absolute favorite was dulce de leche with coconut!) and some different spreads. At this same place, they also make liquors... so we tried a few different drinks (including one called the Russian death!). The tour is awesome because you can choose which wineries you want to stop in, and which ones you want to skip... it's self-guided, and really fun! It was an amazingly beautiful day and all of the wine was delicious!

We ate our lunch at Tempus Alba, which was a beautiful winery. At this time of year, all of the vines are really short, but they told us to come back in March for the wine festivals. At a few of the wineries we did their tastings, and at one of them we just ordered a bottle of Malbec, relaxed while we drank it and enjoyed the beautiful views with the clear blue sky.

The wineries close at about 6:00, so after we completed all of our tours, and bought a couple bottles of Malbec to take home with us, we rode our bikes back which took about 30 min. We continued drinking wine with people from all over (Australia, US, Mexico City), which was such a fun experience.

On Friday we woke up and walked to a cafe called Kato Cafe. It was in a more residential area, but had a cute little patio, and delicious sandwiches. Scott had a meeting with a hotel, so I just walked around the city. At around 1:30 all of the restaurants were packed with people, and the bus stops had really long lines... everyone was going home to eat and take their siesta! After Scott's meeting, we dropped in to a few gorgeous hotels so Scott could meet with some people, and then went to the casino!It was small, and nothing like Vegas casinos, but people there were enjoying themselves. I found it interesting that there was a lot of daylight coming in to the casinos, because ours aren't like that.

These were so inexpensive!

L: Dulce de leche, R: Chocolate

We also had two mid-day snacks. Yummy pastries, at a bakery we had walked past on our first day, and then panchos (hot dogs). The panchos come with two specialty toppings, and there is a huge array of them, as well as two regular condiments (mustard, mayo, ketchup, hot sauce). I got a hot dog with garlic sauce, and a tomato mixture, with papitas (little potato crunchies).. yumm!!

A fun fact we learned about Argentina was that it only rains about 7 days each year. Well, as we were walking, winds starting picking up and the sky was extremely overcast. We felt a few drops of rain (nothing that would even frizz hair though..), and when we asked to sit down for a glass of wine outside of a restaurant, the server pointed to the 5 (maybe 6) raindrops on the table, and had us sit inside! We learned from a few people, that despite the lack of rain, there is enough water coming from the mountains, that places can run their sprinklers 6-7 times a day! And the vineyards take turns with the water.

To round out our amazing mini vaca, the hostel hosted an asado. They cook tons of amazing meats, and serve salad, bread, and wine. We got to hang out with people from the Faroe Islands, Israel, Portugal, England, Australia, and of course the US!






All in all, it was an amazing trip to Mendoza! I would love to go back, and next time I will pack differently: I will bring white water rafting clothes, and hiking clothes! We got to the airport without any problems. In Mendoza, once you go through the metal detector, they frisk you anyway! Our flight was great, and once we arrived, we ended up standing in lines at immigration and customs! It took almost 2 hours from the time we landed before we got on the bus. Once we arrived home, it was such a treat to take a shower in my own shower, and a nap in my own bed :-)