We had high hopes for Mendoza. Sadly, through no fault of its own, Mendoza did not live up to the hype. Perhaps we should not have taken the advice of three coked up 20 year old guys from ANU who we met in our first week in Santiago (we all know the standard of those ANU types).
We booked our bus from Cordoba to Mendoza and as a treat Marc booked us into "cama" class which means the seat reclines into a bed. Our first disappointment came when we heard that our intended bus had broken down and we were no longer getting our bed like seats but would have to settle for only a partially reclining seat. Crushing.
Our next disappointment would come from our accommodation. We had limited options as we had decided to visit Mendoza during its annual wine festival. We found a hostel aptly named "Exclusive Hostal" as we were probably the only people staying there. This may have had something to do with the 30minute walk that was required to get you in to the main town centre (in 35 degree heat). Anyway we stuck with it and it turned out to be quite nice as we had a 2 story loft like apartment to ourselves for the same price as a private hostal room.
We arrived on our first day at the usual time of 6am after a less than comfortable over night bus ride and walked (yes Marc made me walk) to our "Exclusive Hostal". We were luckily able to check in and freshen up before heading in to town to check out the festival. We had heard there would be a parade along the main street so we slowly made our way there via a lovely vegetarian restaurant and checked it out. We were not disappointed. Think Ferris Bueller, Latin American style! They also dye all their fountains the colour of red wine. It reminded me of making port wine flavoured jelly as a child. Delicious!
 |
| Mmmmm jelly! |
After our parading we wandered around the city and found a chocolate store where they made their own sweets and sold various other regional wares.
 |
| Marc did not want to share his treats. Worst husband ever! |
Loaded with treats and 5 litres of water we headed back to the hostal to prepare for our day of sightseeing which required a 7am start.
We had booked ourselves on what we thought was going to be a hiking/white water rafting excursion day through the Atuel Canyon. It actually turned out to be 13 hours of driving through the canyon and only stopping to take pictures of their hydro electric power stations. Not so awesome. Also due to water restrictions, there was hardly any water flowing through the canyon making rafting a non-option. It was really pretty but would have been much nicer had we had the opportunity to explore it a little ourselves.
 |
| Trying to stay away from fire ants who were ready to eat me alive. |
 |
| Some rocks and stuff. |
So yeah the scenery was nice but we hardly got to see any of it. Yet another disappointment.
The next day we had booked ourselves on a wine tour as Mendoza is known for wine, particularly Malbec. We were taken to two wineries and an olive oil factory. Not sure why the olive oil factory was part of a wine tour but there was free food so I wont overly complain about it. The first winery was a cute family run business where they made wine the "old fashioned way" and everything was quaint and organic. The wine was delicious but they only let you try two of their wines (which are always the cheapest) and then encourage you to buy the more expensive wines. So sneaky.
 |
| A barrel that once contained wine |
The second winery was one of those mass produced numbers where they just pump out the stuff. The buildings and grounds were beautiful but it was a tad sterile. They did however let us taste more than two wines so that was a plus.
 |
| A not very flattering photo of us in the "barrel room". |
 |
| The modern winery |
 |
| Some of the more established vines |
So Mendoza wasn't that great but we did leave with a few nice bottles of wine and the memory of the jelly fountain!
