We arrived in Mendoza just as dusk was falling and had some trouble finding a room, as the local holidays were still on. However, when we did find a hostel, we found it to be a friendly place and we meet some people from Buenos Aires. They took us out to some bars where, to our delight, they played rock music of all types. This made a big change from the usual mix of Spanish/American hip hop/rap and Andean music, which was getting rather old!
The next day we spent walking around the town, which turned out to have a beautiful park. It reminded me of European parks, half way between Hyde Park and the Retiro in Madrid. We spent the entire afternoon there, finally reaching the Cerro de Gloria, from the top of which we had a fantastic of the city, even though the day was slightly grey. Right at the top of the hill, there is an enormous statue, with everything from horsemen to mythical creatures to dinner party scenes depicted in the form of bronze statutes and murals. We also stumbled unwittingly across the art museum, which was exhibiting some Joan Miró paintings, with free entrance for the holiday period. The rest of the day was taken up with boring errands, mainly surrounding out attempts at buying bus tickets back to Chile. The problem was that there was heavy snow over the pass back over, and the company could not guarantee that we would make the journey without having to turn back.
This worry nagged us for the next two nights but we put it to the back of our minds for the following day's excursion to the wineries which Mendoza is famous for. The typical tourist trail which we followed is generally done in the summer, as it involves hiring a bike and cycling several kilometres between the "Bodegas". The girl in the tourist office seemed genuinely surprised that we were willing to attempt it in the cold (until we explained that we were English and were used to the cold!).
We meet an English couple on the bus over to Maipu, the base town for the tour, and joined up with them for the afternoon, with our first stop being a small olive oil manufacturer. We learnt about olive and olive oil production but the best part of the tour was the tasting session! We dipped bread into different oils, vinegars as well as tapenades. We then had a chance to try the farm's homemade jams and spirits. We sampled chocolate vodka, with chocolate chips floating around, as well as Dulce de Leche with banana and finally absinthe.
Our second stop was the Familigia de Tomasi winery, founded by Italian migrants. There we learnt much about wine production and the processes involved, especially about the ageing processes and how it can change the character and flavour of wines. After the tour was the tasting, which included, among others, a Malbec (of course), an a delicious dessert wine. We visited one further winery, which was founded just under feb years ago by a French ex-pat. He had been working in Mendoza for an international company and simply decided to retire and set up a wine making business! There again we sampled some gorgeous wine, and learnt more about how to appreciate the sublte differences between them.
Bright and early the next morning, we made out way to the bus station not sure if the pass would be open and whether the journey back was possible or not. After several hours of waiting, they sent us on our way and, thankfully, the journey went as planned. The scenery was even more beautiful that the way out, with the new snow making everything look fresh and clean. After that 8 hour journey, it was onto another (12 hour!) bus from Santiago as we headed south into the lake districts. Pucon was our first destination, and I will be sure to have you updates soon with news of our adventures on the edge of Patagonia!
Lots of love,
Emma
That's my girl!
ReplyDelete