Mendoza, Argentina

Mendoza - our last stop before returning to Santiago and sending MB back on her way to the states. Kind of sad, but Mendoza is such a gorgeous city it wasn't hard to have a great time. We made friends with some German brothers on our bus ride in and by the time we left picked up some obnoxious German accents. Which sounded nothing like the brothers, but we thought it was hilarious. We also drank some wine. Well, maybe "some" is too light of a term.

5. Parrilla: So as you know Argentina is really famous for meat, but after traveling in the country for about two weeks, MB and I still hadn’t really partaken in that much meat eating. So on our last day in Mendoza (after the hot springs, see number one) we stopped for a nice lunch with the Germans (see number three) at a classic Argentinian Parrilla (grill). The meal included delicious meat empanadas and our table’s own personal mini-grill that came out covered in meat – sausage, ribs, steak, etc. Little bit of an overdose in the protein department, but totally worth it.

4. Ceviche to go: On our second night in Mendoza, we’d made plans with the Germans to play poker at their hostel instead of going out since they were pooped from the night before (again, see number three). They’d told us that they would provide the alcohol if we provided the cards and some food. But after getting back from wine touring, we were a. tired b. dirty (and bleeding, see number two) and needed to shower and c. drunk. That being said, by the time we’d showered and dressed we had about 20 minutes to find said food, and because it was late all the stores were closed, so we hopped down to a Peruvian restaurant the lady at our hostel had suggested and looked on the menu to get something to go. The only thing that seemed even somewhat appropriate to bring for snacking was ceviche, which we ordered, popped in a plastic bag and took off with. We grabbed some crackers at a gas station on the way, and viola: creepy raw fish in a bag with crackers equals the perfect poker snack, right? Actually, right. It turned out to be really really good, and we went back the next night for more. Winnahs.

In the plaza a few days later. Much happier.

3. Ditched in the park/ice cream: On our 12-hour bus ride from Buenos Aires to Mendoza, we’d sat behind two German brothers (Martin and Billy) and chatted with them for most of the bus ride. When we all got off in Mendoza, we went our separate ways to our different hostels but made plans with them to meet up again for drinks that night at 10pm in the main plaza in Mendoza. I told them the plaza was really big though, so maybe we should pick a certain corner or something, but they assured us “no no, don’t worry, we’ll find you.” So MB and I wandered around the city and the park for most of the day and then after dinner headed over to the plaza around 10pm. Again, it is a really really big plaza, and it also happened to be packed with people that night, so we decided the most logical place to be was around the center. Around 10:30pm we still hadn’t seen them so did a few rounds around the plaza, then waited in the middle again. Around 11pm we decided there was no way they were still there and feeling sad we walked down the street and got ice cream. Which actually turned out to be incredibly delicious ice cream and totally worth being ditched in a park. Sad as it may seem though from this description, the next day while we were biking around wine tours, we ended up passing them and apparently they’d been at the park till 11:30pm waiting for us (thinking we’d ditched them) and we all laughed about it and spent the next two and a half days together. Which also meant that MB and I could perfect our German accent (in English), which may have been really annoying to them, but was beyond hilarious to us. We also learned what an ear worm was.

2. Wine Country: In Chile we’d toured the pisco valley, so in Argentina it seemed only right to tour the wine country. On our second day in Mendoza we took a public bus out to the Maipu (yeah, maipu, not yourpu) Valley and rented a pair of bikes – MB wouldn’t let me get us a tandem bike, something about us being too clumsy, ha – and took off. We rode for a while down to one winery that had been recommended for lunch and had a romantic meal (typical) and split a bottle of red wine. After some fantastic tiramisu (and that bottle of wine) we were feeling pretty good and hopped back on the bikes to head to another vineyard. On the way we were chatting and giggling (surprise!) and ended up crossing paths with the German brothers and a German friend of theirs (Ferdy) and they went with us to the next winery where… Mary Beth and I split another bottle of red wine. Apparently that is our new thing. So after being there a while (it was rather gorgeous) we hopped back on the bikes to head back in the direction of the rental place with plans to stop at maybe one more vineyard. Unfortunately, MB and I were chatting and giggling again, and somehow the wine had made us a little unsteady… and before we knew it we had crashed into each other and then down onto the road. MB managed to get off with not too many bruises, but I got some nasty scrapes on my leg(s), hip and arm. Very graceful. So it turns out it might have been better to get a tandem bike because then we couldn’t have run into each other. Either way, we forwent the last vineyard and went back to the rental place and then back to town. Still drunk and slightly bleeding.

1. Termas: On our last day in Mendoza, the Germans suggested we go up into the mountains to some thermal hot springs, and since we really had had no other plans than wine country (which was still a painful memory from the day before), we went along. The ride up the valley was beautiful, and although the day was cloudy and chilly, the weather actually ended up being perfect for hot springs. The termas were a series of pools – of which some were hot, some cool, and some really hot – that were built into a mountain side going down to a river. So besides the fantastic scenery, we basically got to spend our last day of real travel hanging out in a system of natural hot tubs. Not a bad way to end the trip.