Following the Dream

Christian March 9th, 2008

We arrived in Mendoza on a picture perfect day.  We spent our first day exploring the city and going to the tourist office.  We recieved almost too much information.  We had to sift through all of the information to figure out what we really wanted to do.  We decided on going a few things to do and just booked them at our hostel.  The first excursion that we chose was called “High Mountain”.  The second tour was a winery tour.  Since we got there so early, we still had most of this beautiful day to explore the parks in Mendoza.

The parks were truely beautiful.  Even though it was almost a fall day here, it felt like a spring day.  In the park there is a large lake that is frequented by rowers.  Surrounding the lake are column lined walkways  with rose gardens and statues.  It was a great day for a park.  We spent most of the day walking and just relaxing in the park.  We even picked up a friend for part of the day (a stray german shepard).  He kept us company while we were walking through the park until he decided to chase a person on a bike. 

The following day began our high mountain tour at 8 am.  We have been getting up earlier than before so it was not bad waking up at 7:30.  The tour guide seemed great….for the first 5 minutes.  Until we realized not only did he not speak english as advertised, but he would not stop talking at all on the way to the sights.  The speakers blasted as he deemed it necessary to point out every freaking meaningless thing.  For almost two hours we learned that there is a gas station on the right, some trees on the left (no species name given), a hotel on the right with all of the services that they offered, a maximum security prison on the right….and so on.  So we learned nothing.  Casey could understand pieces, but we paid for a guide who spoke english, not for me to translate.  The first stop was the Puente del Inca.  This is a natural land bridge that the Incas used, that later had a thermal spa built under it by the english.  It was interesting, but honestly had the feel of a tourist trap, much like the world´s  largest ball of twine.  I don´t think it was worth the headache that the tour guide gave us.  Next up was a view of Ancongua, which is the highest mountain in South America.  The view point that we saw it from was very far away.  I think having trekked in Patagonia, we were spoiled to actually be so close to the peaks.  The final stop was a statue of Christ the Redeemer.  It was on top of a mountain at 3300 meters above sea level.  The bus ride to the top was not very fun.  The driver would floor the tourist van around turns to keep momentum going up the steep dirt road, with the possibility of flying off the road and off the cliff.  It was nerve ranking.  The view from the top was pretty awesome though.  There was snow at the top and it was chilly.    At the top was the border between Argentina and Chile.  The monument was a joint effort by both countries.  We then headed back to the hostel, stopping for lunch (sitting on a curb eating our bag lunches) and at a brige that San Martin once crossed.

            The next day was our wine tour.  The first winery that we visited was an industrial one.  They explained the whole process on how wine is made.  We than were able to taste two wines.  I must say I was dissappointed in the quantity that they gave us, but the quailty was very good.  The second winery was an organic winery.  You could tell the difference, especially as we gazed out into the grapes and saw the local dog piss on them.  The tour was pretty much the same.  The wines tasted very different.  They said that the wines do not give you a hangover.  True or just hype?  Once done there we went to a small family run chocolate factory and distillary.  They showed us all of the licors they made, including absenthe, flavored vodkas, green pepper liquor..among many others.  One girl in our group fainted.  We think it was a scam.  We think she knew that if she fainted they would give her sugar…aka chocolate.  Pathetic attempt.  Then they took us to the café where we were able to try one liquor and one piece of chocolate.  Casey had almond chocolate liquor while I had coconut chocolate liquor.  It was very good.  We did splurge and buy some chocolate which we devoured.  We then returned to the hostel.

The rest of the stay in Mendoza was not too exciting.  We were very tied up in getting our package from the states, which is what the next post is about…

Mendoza is a pretty city in which we wish we had some more time to explore.  We did update the Photos with some from the city.

• Argentina
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