Mucho Malbec in Mendoza
Mendoza was full of adrenalin-filled adventures and wine-fueled fun. The city itself has a very different vibe than Buenos Aires. The sidewalks are wider, for one thing, and the people here seem to know how to walk. (ok no more picking on the porteños!) I would even argue that Mendoza is a nicer city, but of course, that's just my opinion.
On our first day in Mendoza, Dana and I wanted to go wine tasting, however, most of the wine tours started at 8am, and neither of us had the energy to get up that early after our respective journeys (Dana took a 12 hour overnight bus from Buenos Aires, whereas I flew 2 hours from Buenos Aires to Santiago, then a 7 hour bus from Santiago to Chile... don't ask) Instead, we did our own little wine tasting within the city, bar hopping at wine o'clock, and ordering as much Malbec as possible.
The great thing about that day was that we had really nothing planned except to drink wine, and to find a place to watch the Super Bowl later in the evening. We found a bar right across from one of the restaurants we were hanging out at, and about 15 minutes into our first glass of wine, we noticed smoke rising out from one of the buildings behind it. A fire truck soon arrived, and an episode of the Keystone Cops ensued. One of the firemen rolled out the fire hose, but lost control of it as it rolled down the street. Once he took posession of said hose, he mosied on up the ladder to begin the firefight. There was no yelling or running around, surprisingly, and it seemed like these guys were not in a hurry at all to put out the fire. About an hour later, a second fire truck rolls in, and Dana noticed one of them was smoking a cigarette! We couldn´t help but laugh at the irony of it.
Later we hung out with a couple of Nurses from New York, Jenny and Kelly, we met from the hostel to catch the Super Bowl. We all had a blast watching it in an Irish bar, (naturally) even though there were only about 10 of us watching/screaming/yelling in the bar amidst 50+ other locals watching the other big game in town (Boca Jr. vs. River Plata.) There was even a German guy who knew more about American football than most of my friends! One of the guys at the bar happened to be a friend of my friend back in San Diego-- small world!
All four of us surprisingly woke up at 8:30 am the following morning (errr..a few hours later) to go trekking and rapelling, completely hungover with maybe 10 hours of sleep between the four of us. Dana hurled, I dry heaved a couple of times, and I am pretty sure the New York Nurses weren't faring any better.
After Dana left, (those Americans with their wonderful 10 day vacations!)I decided to stay a few more days to go white water rafting and of course, to do some more wine tasting. It was my first time going rafting and I was excited that it was a Class 4 river, which meant some pretty hairy parts. Somehow, I ended up being put in the front by our capitan, who sat in the way back. Every once in a while, he would yell forward (or was it backward?) and I would dig deep into the water, only to realize that I was paddling through air since the nose of the raft was perched high over a crest. One split second later, a splash of ice cold water would completely envelope me-- I could hear El Capitan continue to yell something, but I hadn't the faintest clue what he was saying. During the calmer moments he would tell me and the Swedish guy to my right that we were all screwed up and that we weren´t doing anything right. No wonder the Swedish guy took a dive... twice! Funny thing about the Swedish guy, the first time he fell over, I had to pluck him out of the water but had a hard time pulling him out because I was laughing so hard at this huge green booger on his nose. He had this look of near panic, which only made it worse for me because, well, how can I take a guy seriously with a big booger on his nose? I didn't tell him, though, since I figured the next nose dive (ba-dum-dump-ching!) would take care of business. The second time he fell over, I again had to yank him out, and this time I was dying of laughter because the same (?) booger was still on his nose! It must have been firmly anchored in with some cable strength nose hairs. Impressive. Luckily, I never fell off the raft, though I came close a couple of times.
All in all, good times in Mendoza. I rented a bike on my last day and went to about 3 (or was it 4?) different wineries. As a sidenote-- those of you who think Napa's $20-$30 wine tastings are expensive, you should come down here... for $3-$5, they will pour two three FULL glasses of wine. Talk about cheap! Me likey!
On our first day in Mendoza, Dana and I wanted to go wine tasting, however, most of the wine tours started at 8am, and neither of us had the energy to get up that early after our respective journeys (Dana took a 12 hour overnight bus from Buenos Aires, whereas I flew 2 hours from Buenos Aires to Santiago, then a 7 hour bus from Santiago to Chile... don't ask) Instead, we did our own little wine tasting within the city, bar hopping at wine o'clock, and ordering as much Malbec as possible.
The great thing about that day was that we had really nothing planned except to drink wine, and to find a place to watch the Super Bowl later in the evening. We found a bar right across from one of the restaurants we were hanging out at, and about 15 minutes into our first glass of wine, we noticed smoke rising out from one of the buildings behind it. A fire truck soon arrived, and an episode of the Keystone Cops ensued. One of the firemen rolled out the fire hose, but lost control of it as it rolled down the street. Once he took posession of said hose, he mosied on up the ladder to begin the firefight. There was no yelling or running around, surprisingly, and it seemed like these guys were not in a hurry at all to put out the fire. About an hour later, a second fire truck rolls in, and Dana noticed one of them was smoking a cigarette! We couldn´t help but laugh at the irony of it.
Later we hung out with a couple of Nurses from New York, Jenny and Kelly, we met from the hostel to catch the Super Bowl. We all had a blast watching it in an Irish bar, (naturally) even though there were only about 10 of us watching/screaming/yelling in the bar amidst 50+ other locals watching the other big game in town (Boca Jr. vs. River Plata.) There was even a German guy who knew more about American football than most of my friends! One of the guys at the bar happened to be a friend of my friend back in San Diego-- small world!
All four of us surprisingly woke up at 8:30 am the following morning (errr..a few hours later) to go trekking and rapelling, completely hungover with maybe 10 hours of sleep between the four of us. Dana hurled, I dry heaved a couple of times, and I am pretty sure the New York Nurses weren't faring any better.
After Dana left, (those Americans with their wonderful 10 day vacations!)I decided to stay a few more days to go white water rafting and of course, to do some more wine tasting. It was my first time going rafting and I was excited that it was a Class 4 river, which meant some pretty hairy parts. Somehow, I ended up being put in the front by our capitan, who sat in the way back. Every once in a while, he would yell forward (or was it backward?) and I would dig deep into the water, only to realize that I was paddling through air since the nose of the raft was perched high over a crest. One split second later, a splash of ice cold water would completely envelope me-- I could hear El Capitan continue to yell something, but I hadn't the faintest clue what he was saying. During the calmer moments he would tell me and the Swedish guy to my right that we were all screwed up and that we weren´t doing anything right. No wonder the Swedish guy took a dive... twice! Funny thing about the Swedish guy, the first time he fell over, I had to pluck him out of the water but had a hard time pulling him out because I was laughing so hard at this huge green booger on his nose. He had this look of near panic, which only made it worse for me because, well, how can I take a guy seriously with a big booger on his nose? I didn't tell him, though, since I figured the next nose dive (ba-dum-dump-ching!) would take care of business. The second time he fell over, I again had to yank him out, and this time I was dying of laughter because the same (?) booger was still on his nose! It must have been firmly anchored in with some cable strength nose hairs. Impressive. Luckily, I never fell off the raft, though I came close a couple of times.
All in all, good times in Mendoza. I rented a bike on my last day and went to about 3 (or was it 4?) different wineries. As a sidenote-- those of you who think Napa's $20-$30 wine tastings are expensive, you should come down here... for $3-$5, they will pour two three FULL glasses of wine. Talk about cheap! Me likey!
posted by Daniel @ 3:07 PM
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