So we are trying to get all of the videos from South America done and up so we can get on to our current trip. We hope you enjoy our visits. We understand that people may not want to watch this much video at once, but more we understand that friends and family are eager to see what we are up to now.
Mendoza, Argentina
Cusco and Machu Picchu, Peru
Lima and the Road In
Michael…
The lazy, shady streets of Mendoza
Mendoza is quite a lovely city. Everywhere you look there are ancient trees towering over the streets, shading pedestrians from the hot Argentine sun. There are entire streets closed off to cars, devoted solely to café culture and are dotted with colorful chairs and umbrellas, as well as colorful diners. Time after time, Michael and I meant to catch a bus somewhere, but ended up walking 5, 8, 10 kilometers because the walks were just so lovely. Now, we arrived in Mendoza because we had heard wonders about the amazing wine and wine culture of this region of Argentina, and we simply did not want to miss out, and every time we mentioned to people that we were headed to Mendoza, I kid you not, they responded with, “Oh! You have to do bikes and wine tour!!” but more on that later…
Pretty houses
So we arrive in Mendoza after what seemed like a week on busses, but I think was more like 2 days, then a day in Santiago, then another day on a bus, so we were not only exhausted, but just wanted to put our feet on solid ground and sleep on a bed, darn it! So as soon as we got off the bus in Mendoza, a man offered us a hostel, and sooooo unlike us, we accepted it. “Take us there!” we said. It was a lovely one minute walk from the bus station- pure bliss in our minds! The hostel, Savigliano (“wine maker”), boasted our three absolute must haves: free wifi, included breakfast and hot water- we’ve learned these are all we need to survive on- but also swimming pool!! We soon learned the swimming pool was a glorified bucket, but no matter, we had our golden trifecta and were happy.
We checked in around 7 am- I know, hellish- and literally fell face-first into our bunk beds for some much-needed catch-up sleep. We rose around noon and decided to finally go explore the city. Let me tell you, we were not disappointed, but I guess you figured that from my opening paragraph. Loveliness everywhere. We just walked, and walked, and walked, and realized how much we still felt Torres del Paine in our bodies, but were pleased about finally having beds to sleep in. Because of our tiredness and soreness, we mostly just moved from park to park, taking small lazy, shady naps all throughout the day, and so thankful for the man who brought irrigation to Mendoza.
We finally went back to the hostel to fix some sorry excuse for dinner (I may have only drank beer that night as my tummy had still not recovered from TdP…) and we met this very chipper, very blonde couple, Emil and Lisa, and we instantly liked them- mostly because they were from my beloved homeland Sweden. No, just kidding, because they were lots of fun to hang out with- but being Swedish didn’t hurt. We spent the evening chatting and getting to know each other, and it turned out the Emil and Lisa had plans to “bike and wine” like Michael and I did, for the following day. Emil and Lisa both left lives in the high-end restaurant world back in Scandinavia, so they really knew their stuff about wine and we were very excited to be with such accomplished connoisseurs. They were also looking to learn a thing or two about saving money, and I just happen to be dating a secret weapon of stingy, so I kindly offered his services for the day. Our plan was set, we would meet the next morning at breakfast for our boozy adventure.
Just as planned, we breakfasted and then our four-some was off. We caught the 10 bus, #173 (NOT #174 and NOT #172!) and about an hour later, were in sleepy Maipu, a town made of wineries and bike companies (I wonder, how did this tradition begin? Who put these two magical things together? Could this somehow be a sport? Is there no biking DUI here like in the states? So many unanswered questions…) We were immediately bike-bombed by cuties in muscle tees and bike shorts to chose his and her, respective, bike company, but we decided to keep walking to try to find the “best” deal. We were trying to get bikes for $20 Argentine Pesos, most companies were offering $25, but we ended up getting swept up into Mr. Hugo’s brilliant business plan at $30. He lovingly welcomed us in with open arms (not a word of English, mind you), promptly filled our glasses with cheap wine (my favorite- at 10 am, no less) and sat us down with a very well-worded, English-speaking associate, who presented us with the golden ticket- a map! And turns out, they’re the only company that’s insured. And then, they did us one better. They offered both couples…TANDEM bicycles. That’s right. They tandemed us. How can you say no to that? Obviously, we didn’t know how.
Emil and Lisa, our new Swedish friends
Most excellent bikers of the day
So off we went, super awkwardly and lookin’ real dumb, but hey, when else are you gunna tour wineries in Argentina on a TANDEM bicycle with a Swedish couple?! Oh, by the way, did I mention, Emil biked from Rome to Sweden??? Oh yeah, so Michael and I, being the EXCELLENT bikers we are, were just in some great and equal company…
Emil and Lisa preparing their tandem
Look Ma, no hands! (Me, not Michael)
So there are about 20 or so wineries, 2 museums, 1 beer garden and 2 olive oil factories along this route, so obviously (and hopefully) you can’t actually hit them all. So we first make our way to a wine museum where we sneak into a tour and are offered some free wine- excellent on the stingy factor. Emil and Lisa are only mildly impressed with the “goodness of the wine” factor. Next we hit up an olive oil factory. This olive oil factory is quite the over-achiever, as it also produces a ton of liquor and chocolate. It costs $10 to do the whole tasting, which includes 4 olive oils, 1 balsamic, 4 olive tapenades, 2 pepper sauces, olives, 4 dulce de leches, 4 marmelades, 3 dessert sauces, 3 types of chocolate and something like 10 liquors- woah. So we decide this is worth it, and then learn, IT IS! SO delicious! I’m not a big shooter of liquor, but we each get to pick two and so we each do our pick and then share with the rest of the group, so we all get to try everything- excellent stingy tip. We even end up buying a roquefort olive tapenade because it is that delicious- something Michael never does- I am very grateful for this change in character and attribute it to Emil and Lisa’s cuteness.
Delicious treats to taste!
Bikes in the vineyard
Next we decide to go to the very last vineyard on the map and make our way up. We decide this is responsible so that we won’t be going such a long distance to return the bikes after we’ve had more and more to drink. So off we go, in tandem, on our tandems. In a few minutes, the road gives way to some pretty massive construction, and the lovely and precise bike lane, just flat-out disappears. We wish the map had said something about this. Little by little, Michael and I are being schooled by Emil and Lisa, which obviously is because we have the older and much worse bike, and not at all because they are more sporty and better prepared for physical activity that us. But seriously, after 20 minutes, we can’t even see them. But bless their Swedish hearts, they keep stopping and waiting for us, and Lisa even insists “don’t worry, we love to stroll!” Oh yes, us too Lisa!
An hour later, (these tiny maps make everything look so much closer!) the tandem tandems have still not reached our final destination and we are starting to worry about time, so we cut our losses and duck into the closest vineyard, which happens to be La Familia de Tamasso, the oldest vineyard in Maipu. We decide to do the full “tour and tasting” here, as it is the oldest vineyard with the most prestige. The “tour” is a little disappointing, as it lasts only about 7 minutes and is essentially just a walk through their basement, but hey, we’re living in the winey moment and have fun. The tasting, according to Emil and Lisa, was not so good, but Michael and I being wine novices were able to overlook “goodness” and just throwback 4 glasses of wine.
our tour guide at Tamasso, notice all the glamour shots of the Wine Festival princesses in the background!
Lil chica eatin' some grapes
Vineyards
After this things start to get a little fuzzy. We may have gone to two more wineries. I know we found one that was quite lovely and very modern, reminded me a lot of my beloved wineries back home in Augusta, Missouri, all marble and cold, flat stone with gorgeous views overlooking the vineyard. Here we stopped and enjoyed our first white of the day, a nice, sweet Sauvignon Blanc that we all agreed was one of the best we had had all day.
Grape pulp- skins, seeds and stems, oh my! p.s. it's not actually a good thing to have the stems in there because that means the grapes weren't "hand-picked"
Here’s a fun fact- I don’t care for white wine one bit, I find it almost unpalatable and it typically gives me migraines, so I really just avoid the stuff, but I learned in Ancud with Sandra and Britt that I really quite enjoy a nice, smooth Sauvignon Blanc. I was discussing my love of elderberry with Lisa and she mentioned “Oh, you must love Sauvignon Blanc then, because it has very strong notes of elderberry and gooseberry,” and finally, it all made sense! I found this very interesting…
We needed to return our bikes to Mr. Hugo by 6 and 5:30 was slowly creeping closer, so we decided to get back on the road. Michael and I took the long way home to see what we missed- and of course it looked like we missed all of the coolest ones- but who knows really.
We slowly and creakily arrive back at Mr. Hugo’s and the party is just getting started, free jug wine is abundant!! All of the tourists who have rented bikes from Mr. Hugo report back to this Mecca of boozy stranger conversation and we hunker down to get started. We meet all sorts of nice people, namely a guy from Israel and these three people (two girls, one guy) from Hawaii, and spend the whole night talking. Around 9 p.m. we remember we haven’t really eaten anything and decide to catch a bus back to Mendoza. We all continue to talk and act like best friends, as like-minded travelers often do, and we end up inviting some of our new friends back to our hostel for some dinner. There we drink some beer and chat some more before eventually being kicked out by the hostel staff- all in all, quite a good day.
The gang with Mr. Hugo himself
New Hawaiian friends!!
More new Hawaiian friends!!
Lovin on Mr. Hugo
The next day we decide to take it easy and explore the huge park in the city, Parque San Martin. It’s about 10 km away, but we decide to wander/walk as it is such a beautiful day. Along the way, we stop at a lovely sidewalk restaurant and finally have some famous argentine Asado. Asado is essentially a giant plate of different meats like steak, sausage, chicken breast and some mysterious intestines. Michael is in heaven. I try a bite or two and decide that I am meant to be vegetarian. The park is so enormous that we barely scratch the surface of the entrance before decided to head back for some dinner, but not before doing some solid park napping, our favorite past-time.
Meat plate or, Asado
So much meat!!
Just minutes away from gorging himself on assorted meats
Fountain in Parque San Martin
Risers? in Parque San Martin
Pretty pretty Parque San Martin
The next day we caught a bus back to Santiago and were sad to leave our lovely little home in Mendoza. We truly enjoyed our short time in Argentina with lovely people, lovely wine and a lovely city.
little lady & beard man explore the earth 