This past weekend I went to Mendoza, Argentina. A group called "Miercoles Po," which receives money from the Chilean government to basically show foreigners a good time in Chile, sponsored a trip where the transportation and lodging were completely free and all we had to pay for was our activities and food. Of course my friends and I couldn't let this opportunity pass us, especially since I hadn't traveled for a few weeks. We left Thursday night at 1AM (two hours later than scheduled, which is super typical in Chile) and drove for about five hours to the border. We were ushered on and off the bus three separate time in the space of another five hours before we were finally allowed to be processed and pass through the border. I had no idea at the time but it turns out our bus driver hadn't paid his child support in twenty years and had a felony charge against him so we had to wait for a new bus driver to come along before we could pass. Good for the mother and children, bad for us. Finally we made it through and another three hours later we were in Mendoza, totaling about 12 hours traveling. We made it to the hostel and were absolutely famished. At dinner a friend and I shared a "parilla" which is a very standard South American dish. As you can see below, it's basically a big pile of meat. Argentina is known for its meat and I've experienced it on a couple occasions now. This variety included blood sausage, chicken and several other unidentifiable chunks of meat. It was fantastic. That night we all got together on the roof and talk and hang out before going out. I always enjoy the times when I get to/have to speak Spanish for a long time. I met some great girls from Brazil who complimented my accent. Afterward we all went out to a nightclub and then came back to sleep before our day of wine tasting.
I found out later that my friends and I were the only ones who managed to make it out of bed the next day to do wine tasting. We took a cab to the outskirts of Mendoza to a bike tour company. We rented bikes and they gave us a quick overview of the wineries, chocolaterias and cervecerias in the area, gave us a map and sent us on our way. Our first stop was a chocolateria that also specialized in liqueurs, dulce de leche and olives. The tasting was great. I had a kalamata olive (amazing), dulce de leche with coconut (incredible), tapenade with roquefort cheese (insane) and banana dulce de leche liqueur with white chocolate chips, pictured below (not great.)
The next stop was a wine museum with a free tasting at the end. This might have been interesting for other people but growing up in the wine country I have been on probably 1,458 wine tours since the age of nine so I'd heard most of what I was hearing before. I did manage to get a picture by the vineyard. The vineyard looks different than those in Napa because the vines are grown horizontally in the Italian style. I guess I did learn something!
This is the group at the end of the wine tour enjoying our free glass of wine!
Onward to the next location!
For lunch our bike tour people recommended a beer garden. Apparently there was a deli along the route as well but they said it was very expensive so as always we opted for the cheaper choice. The map made it seem as though the beer garden was just a couple of blocks away. Forty-five minutes later on the bikes we made it sweating, panting and excited to sit down to some lunch and a nice tall glass of beer. The beer was artesanal and delicious and we had empanadas and tapas to accompany it. This was my favorite part of the day. We lingered for over two hours enjoying good food, good beer and good conversation. It was a great way to spend the better part of the day. Our last stop ended up being another chocolateria that specialized in liquors, spreads and jams too. We tried chocolate mint liqueur, olive tapenade and fig jam. Absolutely delicious. We turned our bikes in at seven and spent a few hours socializing with some Kiwis (New Zealand'ers) and Argentines over a glass of wine. It was a fabulous day, especially after the hell we'd been through the night before.
The next morning everyone collected at 11AM for check-out. We had lunch and then it was back on the bus for what would supposedly be a seven hour trek home. Everyone assured us that it was always faster coming back into Chile than leaving. On the way back into Chile we noticed a great photo op along the Andes complete with a clear blue glacial lake. I have no idea where I was when this picture was taken so I'm calling it South American Limbo.
The trip home was not, in fact, shorter than the one there. This time we were detained in the middle of the Andes in the snow for close to eight hours because the border was understaffed. We waited in dead standstill line after dead standstill line. Everyone on the bus started to get kind of stir-crazy, but in my opinion we handled it quite well. The most frustrating part of it was that we had no way of knowing how long it would take to get to the border. We were all seriously considering waiting until the sun came up (so that it was warm enough to walk outside the bus) and walking to the border, crossing and hitchhiking back to Santiago. No joke. Thankfully this was unnecessary and after fifteen straight hours on the bus (and twenty-four hours without eating) we made it back to Santiago at about 6AM Monday. I thoroughly enjoyed the one full day we had in Mendoza but if the border crossing is like that every time I have to reevaluate my desire to go back.
