Mendoza
ARGENTINA
Let the Good Wines Roll
By AARON
Thursday, November 11, 2010
I’ve already explained about the buses in Argentina, so after a 15 hour overnight bus to Mendoza where they would play a movie, then stop it 10 minutes before the end, and then start the same movie from the beginning again at 11pm when everyone was trying to sleep, I woke up in Mendoza all too familiar with the movie “El Novio de mi Madre” (My Mom’s Boyfriend) in my head.
Having already researched a hostel in Mendoza and armed with a third traveler (Cal), the three of us made our way out of the bus station, 4 blocks to Chimbas Hostel. Run by a mom and her son, it reminded Lyndi and me of Casa Frolaz (see El Salvador blog: Santa Maria), where it was basically a really nice house turned hostel; the kind of house that you felt bad if you rough-housed or ran through with scissors.
After checking in, we decided the best way to start off our time in Mendoza was to get a huge slab of Argy beef, some bottles of local Malbec and have a parrilla! Recruiting 2 other travelers, we treated ourselves that night to a home cooked barbeque of scalloped potatoes, zucchini, red wine and the biggest single piece of steak we could find at the local butchers shop.
Next morning, we took the local bus to Bodega Luigi Bosca, which is one of the wineries that my old job at South-Tex Wine Distributors represents. Being the gracious hosts that they are, the winery treated the three of us to a free tour of the winery and a free wine tasting of some of their top wines. This brings me to a valuable point and life lesson for all: Don’t burn bridges. Period. To top off a great (free) day of wine tasting, we cooked some homemade burgers that night and helped ourselves to more red wine from the local wineries.
*Side Note: Upon the arrival of Cal in Buenos Aires, we decided to play a game for the rest of the trip called “Buffalo”. Basically if you’re caught drinking anything with your right hand, and someone catches you, they can call “Buffalo” which in turn means you have to chug the rest of whatever you’re drinking. I suck at this game. Priding myself on being good at any game, be it soccer or chess or card games, it’s frustrating to pour yourself a new glass of nice Malbec, only to hear the fateful word “Buffalo!” as I realize I’ve drank the first sip with my right hand. I have now lost count of how many times I’ve been “buffalo’ed”, but the numbers are easily in the double-digits. Although the game may sound a bit “college-esque” or remedial, it has provided a number of good laughs and good memories and I’m sure I personally will continue this trend as the weeks go on.
The next morning we decided to do a bicycle tour of some of the wineries in Mendoza, which would get us nice and toasty for our upcoming 22 hour bus ride to Bariloche that departed that evening. Renting bikes from “Mr. Hugo” at 30 pesos for the day, we took off and visited three wineries and a microbrewery.
The wineries all turned out to be great in their own way: Trapiche with its mass production and wide selection of reasonably priced wines; Vinaldes – the new up and coming boutique winery; and Familia de Tomasso – the small production winery that prided itself in its high quality wines. Unfortunately the microbrewery produced some pretty bad beer. Being somewhat of a home-brewer from my time in Cusco, it was obviously a tourist trap and just another spot to try and siphon some money from unknowing tourists. Word of advice to brewer: Blond ale should be clear, not cloudy. Buy a filter.
Bicycling back from the last winery, we were treated to some cheap but refillable wine at Mr. Hugo’s, before saying adieu to the town of Mendoza and prepping ourselves for the long bus ride that lay ahead. A bit unhappy to be leaving the city that I’ve wanted to visit for some time now, I still felt fulfilled and ready to move on, because at the end of this epic bus ride was the start of Patagonia, which signaled the start of some of the most beautiful hikes in the world.
