As the third biggest city in Argentina, Mendoza should not be missed on anyone's travel agenda to the country. In 1861 there was an earthquake that destroyed the entire area and it has since been rebuilt into a really pretty city -
Plaza Espana and Independence are especially stunning with landscaped gardens, fountains, wrought iron lights and beautifully mosiaced benches. Not only is it the entry point for snow adventures, as Las Lenas is only 6 hours away, but it is also home to about a million Bodegas (wineries) making it the closest thing to heaven possible!
We visited
Bodega Weinert where we saw how they ferment the wine right up to the bottling stage. Alledgedly Argentinean wine is amongst the best in the world as they have such dry summers - even better than Chile which is the wetter side of the Andes...although the Argentineans would say that of course. In a rare 'Jilly Goulden' moment, Steve swears he could start differentiating between raspberry and blackberry overtures. Frankly Beth was an appalling student and wine will always be red, white, pink, fruity or oaked to her. We got to taste the stuff and that of course was the main reason for going, although we haven't drunk that much so early in the day since being at University!
Hostel Internacional here is very good and the people are very friendly...although when they realised we were supporting Brazil over Argentina in the Copa America Final (Hand of God incident, enough said) they did cease to be quite as friendly! International relations are probably not helped either by English people, who at some stage have scribbled out 'Malvina Isles' from the maps on the wall of the hostel and replaced with a bold 'Falkland Islands' and a doodle of the British flag!
The hostel also has a kitchen which, believe it or not, is an absolute relief because the only food served in Argentinean restaurants is beef, chips and wine. Whilst this is fine if you are Homer Simpson, you begin to crave green stuff after a while. The first night we cooked in the hostel we ate a gigantic bowl of every vegetable we could find in the supermarket - our Mum's would have been proud. Unfortunately the vegetable effects proved rather spectacular as we walked through the city that evening!
From Mendoza we took the 7 hour bus journey through the Andes to Santiago again. By the time we reached the border between Chile and Argentina, it was snowing so hard we could hardly see passport control let alone know what country we were in. After declaring to customs the fact that we were carrying 4 ham sandwiches (we kid you not), we trooped back onto the bus - lucky to get over the Andes at all. We had a 4 hour wait in Santiago airport and did what we do best in this situation; eat, play cards and drink a bottle of Chilean's finest red! The ink was still drying on the third Chilean stamp in our passport when we arrived at Buenos Aires international airport. After an uncomfortable night's sleep on the airport benches (we have no standards anymore), we crossed the city to reach the domestic airport where we flew to Trelew in the Patagonian area of Argentina. From here it was a short journey to our new home for 4 nights;
El Gualicho Hostel in Puetro Madryn, on the coast of the Atlantic.
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