Mendoza, Argentina

Mendoza, Argentina

We safely made the 10 hour journey to Mendoza by bus. Cordoba and Mendoza are nothing alike. For starters, Mendoza is the wine making capital of Argentina, completely dominating the local economy. The city is very laid back and the way I would describe it is ¨smooth¨. Its strong economy is also aided by an oil & gas presence in the area.

In the morning we caught a 45 min local bus to the suburbs to an area known to have many wineries within close proximity to each other. We rented a couple of bicycles and with our tiny little map off we went. We successfully found the first winery and joined another couple to tour the place, followed by some delicious wine tastings. We left the building to find the other couple, who had a professional guide talking them through the tasting, jump into their jet black, air conditioned, chauffeured car speed off down the driveway. Renee and I strapped into our backpacks, each took a shot of Red Gatorade, and sped off behind them on our $4.00 rental bikes with a broken peddle, faulty brakes, and nearly flat tires….

Next stop was an Olive Oil farm. Here we learned how olive oil is made, which is actually a very labor intensive operation, hence why olive oil costs so much. Very informative. We toured several more wineries followed by a place which specialized in exotic chocolates and liqueurs.

After returning to the hostel, we noticed one of the young ladies we saw during our bike riding was all bandaged up….our first guess was – Too much wine & Crashed on bicycle. We asked her what happened, and BINGO, spot on!

Next stop is Santiago, Chile. We will move south then back into Argentina.

COLIN