Mendoza

From Santiago we took a bus to Mendoza, crossing back over the Andes mountains. We had a long wait at the border to get back into Argentina but other than that it was fine. We stayed three nights (April 6-9) with our friend Florencia and her husband, Eduardo. Mendoza is a beautiful, clean city and it also happens to be the wine capital of South America. There are over 1,400 bodegas (wineries) in Mendoza alone. So there are lots of vineyards and tons of tours you can take.

We took a half-day tour that visited 2 different wineries- one was industrial and the other was a family-run, organic winery. Both tours showed us how the wines are stored and how they come to have their distinct flavors. There were wine tastings at each winery, too. I´m more of a grape juice girl myself, but it was still fun to see the entire process and how the wine business in Mendoza has come to be its own culture. Private parties such as wedding receptions are typically held in wineries, also. Inbetween the two wineries our tour took us to an olive oil factory and we learned about the process of growing olives and making olive oil. We saw olive trees that were over 100 years old. Another stop on our tour was to a small, family-owned store inside of a house where they make their own chocolate, jams, and liquor. The most interesting thing about this stop was they make a liquor called absinth that is illegal in the United States. Wonder why? Its 75% straight alcohol and has hallucinogenic properties. To put it in perspective, apparently most beer is around 6% alcohol and wine around 15%. We learned that it is what Picasso, Salvador Dali, and other famous artists would have before painting to find their ¨inspiration.¨ Needless to say, we didn´t try it but it was fun to watch the people who did!

 the industrial bodega

inside the industrial bodega- these are the pools that the wine is stored in for 6 months to a year before it is put in the barrels



 Seth with the barrels

the tasting

the 100 yr-old olive trees at the olive oil plant

the organic bodega. the inside was very similar to the industrial bodega, just older and on a smaller scale. they label all of their bottles by hand

the vineyard at the organic bodega- all of the grapes are picked by hand. certain trees are planted in the middle of the vineyard and roses surround it to keep away insects without using pesticides

Our other major outing in Mendoza was to some nearby termas (natural hot springs). The water park is in a beautiful setting about 30 minutes outside of Medoza in a valley. There were around 10 warm pools, with varying temperatures. One was so hot we couldn´t even get in! There were lots of cool water pools too, including a lazy river and a small water slide. Since its wasn´t that warm of a day outside, the cold ones were COLD. So we had an entire day to do nothing but soak in the different pools and jump back and forth between hot and cold. And all in a beautiful setting. It felt great to be so lazy for a day. It was just what our backpacking backs needed.

 inside the covered area are more hot springs. we spent most of our time outside.

We really enjoyed our time in Mendoza. Florencia and Eduardo had to work most of the time that we were there, but the little time that we got to spend with them was great. One evening Eduardo cooked us an asado (cook out) with steaks on the roof of their apartment. We are definitely going to miss the food here!

roof-top asado



Even after several weeks of being on a Latin eating schedule, it was still difficult to get used to eating dinner so late. There were times that we were leaving the house to find a restaurant at 12:30 am. Just leaving the house! So that put us eating around one and home again around 2am. The good thing is that Argentines don´t usually get up too early, so that worked out well for us.

Seth in downtown Mendoza

Well, that´s it for our time in Mendoza. Coming up next... Córdoba!