Vino Y Vino

So much to say, so much to say!

I've just wrapped up a wonderful few days in Mendoza, a city of over 1,000 vineyards. WINE-yards as the Swedes say.

My hostel might have been the best part of my trip to Mendoza - La Chimbas (or something like that). I haven't written much about the hostels I have been staying in, but some are much better than others, and this was a great one. It was situated about 20 minutes walk from the city center, which could be seen as a big con for some people, but a little walk never bothered me too much, so it was just fine. An old, Spanish-style white house with orange roof tiles houses the hostel, so it feels very homey on the inside, with arched doorways and exposed brick throughout.

The best feature, though, is the backyard. A huge tiled terrace spans the yard, with several small tables with chairs for sitting, an old, out-of-commission fountain, and a pool. The pool was either in the process of being cleaned or being filled during my stay, so I didn't get to test it out, but I was content to just look at it most of the time. Just to know my hostel had one. It's technically fall in Mendoza now, but it feels something like September in Nashville - HOT - though it does cool down pleasantly in the evenings. At any rate, it was perfect weather for outside sitting time, one of my favorite activities.

A very simple breakfast was served out on the terrace every morning, and I just felt like I was living the high life, drinking my coffee, listening to the birds chirp, admiring the pinks and greens of the flowering trees. All for $10 a night! And that wasn't even for the cheapest room!

So, you ask, what did you do in Mendoza other than sit on your terrace and drink vino? Well, hmm. Wednesday, I went on an afternoon vineyard tour, after spending a very lazy morning on the terrace. The tour was nothing special, but the weather was beautiful, and it doesn't take much to entertain me on days like that. We went to two different wineries, one olive oil making place (surely there's a more technical term for this?), and, my favorite stop, the chocolate licquor place. They had every dessert you could imagine bottled up and shot up with alcohol of some kind or other, and at the end of the "tour" you got to taste a licquor of your choosing and a couple bites of divine chocolate heaven. I tasted Chocolate and Banana, and I think Bjorn got something like Coconut and Rum. Blech. These licquors sound so enticing, but then when you taste them...something's not quite right here. But I sure did enjoy the alcohol free chocolate I was served, and we bought some for the road!

Went to a really nice steak place that night, and I am certain I have now seen the biggest steak EVER. I got the "petit" filet, and it was not even close to being petit, but wow, was it good. I really didn't think I liked steak before I came down here. I like steak. Really like it. I think maybe Mom's steak took a few too many chews in the mouth (30 times before you can swallow, Ellen!), which isn't Mom's fault, of course. Just the cows. I don't know what they do down here, but they are doing something right. And of course we had a lovely (and very economical) bottle of red to accompany the meat. After dinner, we popped into a kiosco to get another bottle (for after-dinner terrace sitting, of course), and we actually bought a $4 peso bottle of red. That's about $1.50 US...and it was decent!

Thursday we rented some bikes and had a fairly lazy day exploring the HUGE park that sprawls out over the West side of Mendoza. I didn't see all of it, but I am fairly sure it's a good bit bigger than Central Park. It was lovely, and we rode all the way up to a viewpoint at the top, where there's a huge statue dedicated to...oh, you know, the Liberator. Everything here is to El Liberatador. San Martin.

Yesterday, we rented a car and explored the area to the West of Mendoza. We drove to Villavicencio, where all the bottled water here comes from, and then took an insanely steep and curvy road about 4 kilometres up, up, up, to a viewpoint of Aconagua. Aconagua is the largest peak in South America, and I think in the world, it's only second to the Himalayas. The peak itself doesn't actually look all that impressive because although it's some 6,000 meters up, there's a good chance that wherever you're looking at it from is about 3,000 meters up, which is where we were. So comparatively, it just looks like another one of those Andes out there.

After a nice picnic lunch, it was on through Uppsalata, to Puente del Incas, where there's a natural bridge and the remnants of an old thermal springs. The Lonely Planet calls the puente, the bridge, one of Argentina's most incredible natural wonders (or something to that effect), but I felt kind of "eh" about it. They wouldn't let me walk across it, which sort of lost some points with me.

Also at Puente del Incas was a Climber's Cemetary, where probably 30 people are buried, all who lost their lives attempting to scale Aconagua. Some were old graves, some were quite recent, and it was really moving to think how many people have given themselves up to these mountains, to love for nature, to reaching new heights.

Had yet another wonderful steak last night and some more vino tinto and some helado. I am slowly becoming very soft and round.

I left Mendoza this morning, heading out the same road we drove down yesterday, past Puente del Incas, past the Argentina-Chile border, through the insane pass through the Andes, and on into Santiago. (I should mention here that crossing borders on a bus is not my kind of fun. It tacks a good hour or two onto your trip, and involves a lot of sitting around, standing around, getting things inspected and sniffed and stamped. But I haven't gotten caught yet!)

So I am back in Santiago now and am staying at another terrific hostel, Hostel Bellavista, where I stayed when I was here a couple weeks back. My plane to Easter Island leaves at 8:10 AM in the morning, so it will be a very brief stay here, but I am going to try to get to bed early. I am exhausted from all that wine drinking and terrace sitting.

I picked up the Chile-Easter Island Lonely Planet earlier this evening and just started drooling. I am in for a treat. Will fill you in soon.

And one more thing, I am not making any more friends down here. These goodbyes are the pits. Que triste historia.

Much love to you all.