After a bonus night in a posh hotel, plus another 3 course lunch (there is such a thing as a free lunch) in Buenos Aires courtesy of LAN, we spent the afternoon wandering around Buenos Aires in the San Telmo district, famous for being bohemian & having lots of street tango. We had a lovely time sitting in a sunny piazza, sipping beer and watching the very impressive & feisty tango dancers strut their stuff. Being forever the observant one, Mark caught a glimpse of a cheeky dancer who had decided to leave her knickers at home & was doing a dance which involved lots of high leg kicks. After this, it was impossible for both of us not to look at that, just to check of course, which became quite hilarious. Maybe we were wrong…she could have bought black hairy knickers.
We got on the bus in the evening & were very pleasantly surprised at the level of ‘suite class’ which we had treated ourselves to for the 12 hour overnight trip to Mendoza. Being greeted with hot empanadas and a glass of sherry, as well as having totally flat beds was more reminiscent of first class plane travel rather than an overnight bus trip. The waiter was lovely and obviously very used to having excited people on the way to Mendoza, being very generous with the red wine he dished out our 3 course dinner. A glass of whisky, a film and being tucked into bed resulted in a lovely long sleep and waking up to a medialuna 30 minutes before arrival. Now that is what I call civilized travel – and only an extra 10 pounds to upgrade – my advice, do it!
Not having booked any accommodation, we found a lady at the bus station, or rather she found us, and told us about an apartment she had for rent. Having watched other backpackers brush her off as a sleazy salesperson, we decided to listen & found that she was offering a brilliant one bedroom apartment with a big outside space right in the centre of town for only 120 pesos a night. We bargained her down to 100 and we had a deal (this is less than two dormitory beds). She was so sweet in explaining how things worked, speaking really slow Spanish for us and covering everything. Brilliant! During the first afternoon we pottered around the pretty town, then went to a tango show in the evening, which was celebrating ‘vino y tango.’ It was quite touristy, but I love watching tango, so it didn’t matter at all and was a lovely night.
The next day, we did what you have to do in Mendoza…went wine tasting! We hired bikes and went off with our bottles of water, picnic lunch and map. First we went to a wine museum, which is free and based in the San Felipe Estate. It is a fantastic museum, packed full of old fashioned tools and methods of wine making. You get a free tour which is definitely worth doing, as it is really interesting and gives a lot of information about how wine production has evolved over the years. Next, onto xxx, where we sat on their beautiful terrace in the sunshine with a great view of the snow capped Andes and sampled some of their recommended wines. Then, onto xxx which involved more wine tasting, and the smell of their BBQ meant that we had to stop and eat our gourmet picnic of Serrano Ham, blue cheese, olives, tomatoes, etc, in the grass, which was lovely! Next stop, xxx, where we got another free tour and sampled some more wines. We actually bought three bottles of Don Angelo, a 2004 limited production Malbec, which has been entered into a competition in France, which if it does well, will substantially increase the value. Makes a change to share trading as well!
Our final stop was xx, a lovely French style vineyard with excellent Malbecs. Having bumped into a few people along the route, we got chatting to a lovely Dutch and French couple & invited them to our apartment for an impromptu dinner party. While waiting for the bus at the bike ranch, the owner plied everyone with free wine, ensuring that the word was passed on…I actually cannot remember, so obviously not a great sales tactic, fun though! We had a lovely dinner party & enjoyed swapping travel stories!
On our last day, we walked around Mendoza and found the beautiful park, which is absolutely huge & has a lovely lake with rowing boats. I would highly recommend Mendoza for a visit, and of course, in winter, you can go skiing very nearby…
JG
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