Mendoza Wine Country

A week in Mendoza offered a week of relaxation, adventure and surprises.  Kip and I decided to splurge on our 12-hour bus ride with Chevallier and get seats labeled “Cama Ejecutivo”, which included leather seats that reclined 180 degrees,  a small individual television and headset, blanket, eye covers, wine service, wi-fi, chocolate and a pastry –  a dinner that was surprisingly too much to finish – and finally, coffee and juices for the morning. The U.S. could learn a little from Argentina about quality bus service.  Greyhound is a joke. We arrived to a sunny and humid Mendoza around 11am the following morning after an all-too comfortable bus ride through the night.  We stayed at Hostel Empedrado for the first night only (which was recommended to me by someone in my first hostel I stayed at in BsAs) since the first hostel we had booked didn’t have the first night available and found it very quaint and perfect for socializing.  While it is quite a few blocks away from the main plaza, it was still less than a 15 minute walk.  We met a few Brits here who we later randomly encountered again on the bus to go wine tasting and ended up forming a fun little group for the bike wine tour. All the more emphasizing why hostels serve such a great purpose! The next day we moved our things to the sister hostel, Hostel Mora, which is a bit more tranquil but just as beautiful and new.

Adventure:

Wine Tasting Bike Tour-  Ask any young person who’s been to Mendoza where and how to go wine tasting and they’ll all tell you one name:  MR. HUGO’S.  This little, yet wildly popular, bike company run by none other than Mr. Hugo himself has made a name for his himself in the traveling community.  Firstly, you need to take a 30-minute local bus ride out to Maipu but fear not, there’s only one bus number  and every bus driver knows where you’re going if you say Mr. Hugo’s.  It was the day after Halloween so our bus was filled with spirited foreigners dressed in wigs, capes and spandex tights which made me sweat just looking at them because it had to have been at least 85 degrees or hotter outside.  Once you arrive at Mr. Hugo’s, you’re somehow no longer in the quiet town of Maipu but in backyard tropical oasis, complete with free pitchers of wine, a bottle of water and party music to set the mood for an entire day of peddling. Starting before 12pm is key because not only are there lots of wineries to see but they’re fairly spaced apart even for biking.  It was suggested to us to go to Familia Di Tomasso first, which is the furthest and the nicest of the wineries and work our way back inwards.  We made it to two wineries and a tiny bohemian beer garden tucked far from the main road before surrendering to the heat  and drunken stupor, thus calling it quits.  Afterwards, more wine awaited us and at the end of the night, Mr. Hugo makes it a point to walk you to the bus stop and wait until the bus arrives. Great business etiquette!

The rest of the week was followed by river rafting and horseback riding in the Andes and venturing out to a club full of locals where a cover band played classic latin rock songs which we pretended to know.  The next post will contain pertinent information about what happens when a 7-year anniversary trip turns into an all-out proposal….