BackpackingBaloogas: Mendoza, Argentina

Mendoza, Argentina

Well, we made it to Argentina! A beautiful bus ride from Santiago, Chile, about 8 hours, landed us in the wine capital of Argentina! Even for a city of close to a million people, Mendoza has a quaint, small town feel to it. Being in Mendoza, you have to at least visit some vineyards, it would be a crime not to, a crime! We spent the first few days walking the town, buying cheap wine, usually no more than $2-5. From there, with a stomach full of Malbec, we planned our next few days excursions.

Gates to the parque

River in the parque

Listening to some Argentinian musica

Friends we made from Colorado (Hi Erica, Stephanie, and Tanya!)

Splurged one night on an awesome dinnner @ Anna Bistro

Wild and crazy dude

Dancing in the park

About to put on her red cape

Hi! From Mendoza

Thanks for the good times Hostel Independencia

Vineyard Tour #1

A thirty minute bus ride from Mendoza is the wine-making region of Maipu, there you can find olive farms, chocolatiers, and famous winerys such as Lopez, Trapiche, and Trivento. In Maipu, we rented bikes to take in some of these sights. First stop, was Historias y Sabores chocolatier. There we tried various types of jams, delicious chocolates, and a chocolate and banana liqeur. After some more vineyards (and tastings of course), we hopped back on our bike and pedalled back to the bike rental shop after a long, hot day of indulging ourselves!

Chocolate liqeurs

Tasting time!

Mucho vino

The cellar at Tempus Alba winery

Tempus Alba bodega aka winery

Mount Aconcagua (22,800ft) in background, highest in Americas

The pool

It was very hot in Mendoza, not Florida hot, but hot none the less. So we heard of a water park about an hour outside the city and felt we deserved a much needed dip. We spent the day at Cacheuta water park slipping and slideing all over the place. Think Wet n Wild, but in the desert and with prettier scenary.

On the suspension bridge

See the fun slide in the left corner

Cacti and slides

The water was cold in that pool

Vineyard Tour # 2

Our next excursion was an all day bike tour to three popular winery/vineyards. Our first stop was at the Tapiz winery, where we had an amazingly animated guide named Juan. We got a chance to put our glass below the giant, metallic cistern and taste some unfinished wine. We then compared it to the finished product out of the bottle. It was a great learning experience to understand how the soil, sun, and precipitation can alter a wine from one year to the next. Our next winery was at Dolium, where we had a pasta lunch and of course, MORE WINE. Last stop (and about 6mi away) was the Norton winery, one of the biggest in Argentina. It had perfectly manicured grounds, and a huge vineyard. We also went below ground to their cellar and saw some old bottles of wine from the 1940s.