The second weekend that Jacqui was in town, we hopped over the Andes to the city of Mendoza, Argentina. By hopped over, I mean we took the overnight bus through the winding switchbacks. The ride was about 6 hours including a stop at the border. We arrived to our hostel at the not-so-bustling hour of 5 am, and slept on the couches in the common room for a few more hours.
Mendoza is known for its wines and various bodegas, so we obviously wanted to get in on that action. Rather than take a traditional group tour, we took a city bus out to the vineyard area of Maipu and rented bikes from Mr. Hugo's Bikes. Mr. Hugo himself was there to give us a very warm welcome and soon we were on our way, map in hand. Side note: renting things in South America is such a different experience. No ID, no names, no collateral... In fact, on the notepad keeping track of the number of bikes... It said "3 chicos".
Anyway, we rode around visiting a couple vineyards along with an olive oil factory and a beer garden. The weather was fabulous and the scenery was equally as awesome. We drank and biked, ad nauseam until 6ish hours had somehow passed. We finished our day with Argentina's other claim to fame... A big hunk of bife de chorizo and... More wine.
On day two, we geared up for a hike up Cerro Gloria, which according to the online guidebooks, would offer splendid views of the city AND take about 3.5 hours. Exactly .5 of that was true. Going up the hill took exactly 20 minutes and the views were good, but not a superlative form of good. The statue depicting border battles and such, was however, quite rad.
We spent the rest of the day just walking through the park and city. Being Sunday, it was super pleasant to do just that, without having to constantly mentally curse at youths. We stopped for another steak--- this time it was literally the size of a puppy, and then walked some more.
The entire time that we were in Mendoza, I felt like I had been transported back in time. The city was full of older cars and one-stop mom and pop shops to buy washing machines like from That Thing You Do. All of that was charming minus the emissions of these bad boys...
I saw this on a wall and loved the quote which says: "Education doesn't change the world, it changes the people who are going to change the world.". Right!?! So true. Points for inspiration on your street art Mendoza.
That night we just chilled at the hostel, played some cars, and drank one of our bottles of wine we had acquired from the day before. The next morning we set off on our 6 hour bus ride, during the day this time, to get the sweet views of the cordillera that were rumored to be spectacular.
The bus ride this time ended up including a 3.5 hour stop at the border while we waited on the two people working customs to search every car and every bus that went by. There was some pretty excellent scenery, and they say every picture is worth 1000 words, but is every picture worth hours stuck on a bus? The jury is still out. Although, the jury is not out on the fact that the next trip to Mendoza via Santiago (whenever that is) will definitely include a 45 minute plane ride.
But, alas, for your enjoyment, may I present the Andes:
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