We’d spent three weeks in Mendoza being lazy and leisurely getting to know the city, but on our last week we revved ourselves up and packed in everything we could. We took a bus to a close town near Mendoza called Maipu (insert jokes here) and rented some bikes to explore the surrounding area. We picked a beautiful time to come because the fall colours were draping every road we took. We visited our first olive farm and got a “taste” of how it’s made and the different qualities of oil. Did you know black and green olives come from the same tree, just harvested at different times? We also got a taste of 80% flaming absinthe around 10:30am to get the day started right. We followed it by an upscale wine tasting at the beautifully restored Trapiche bodega and took a breather from the long bike rides at an artisanal beer garden. Thankfully we’d packed a lunch and though it may not sound like it, we paced our alcohol consumption. However some of the other tourists were a bit “swervy” riding their bikes, but luckily there was police escorting the bike brigade back to their corresponding bike rental agencies. Back at our agency we were surprisingly greeted with a very full glass of complimentary wine. It was a wonderful day.
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| Trapiche grounds where we had lunch |
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| La Rural Wine Museum in Maipu |
On Sunday Juan and I were off again, this time on horseback. We were picked up at our apartment in the late afternoon and by 4:30pm we were riding through the desert with about 15 other fellow travelers. The ride itself was quite nice…though a little cold. I have to admit I was a little nervous since the last time I was on a horse was in Costa Rica and it had tried to buck me off as we were going down a fairly steep hill. But my horse was calm and might have even enjoyed my company…well she didn’t try to get rid of me! Anyway, the light was beautiful as the sun set and it was great to see the actual vegetation of the Mendoza region, which is much different than the tree-lined streets of the city. We trotted through the desert and up and down some hills for a couple hours and ended with a great parrilla, red wine and a bonfire. It was a bit of a party and a fun way to spend a Sunday evening.
A couple of days later we did an all-day excursion to the high Andes mountains. Along the way we passed a rather large oil refinery, which we learned was actually the biggest industry in the whole province of Mendoza - NOT wine, as most people believe. We also saw the reservoir in Potrerillos, which collects all of the glacial waters running into the Mendoza River and is used as agricultural irrigation and for drinking. It was seriously huge and alarming just how much water a city and farming can consume. Even more alarming is that the reservoir is lower than it’s ever been. We stopped by a small bridge that dates back to the Spanish conquest and the much larger naturally formed Puente (bridge) de los Incas, which is part of the Inca trail that ends up in Peru. The yellow staining on the rocks comes from hot mineral waters, and the structure nestled in between was a luxury spa resort in the 1930s. Along the way we also caught a glimpse of Aconcagua, the world’s second highest mountain peak after the Himalayas. Trekking season was over so we couldn’t climb it. We stopped at a couple towns along the way, but ended it off at Cerro Cristo Redentor, whose Christ figure literally divides Chile and Argentina. It was freezing up there so we spent the whole ride back warming up.
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| Church by Inca bridge that survived avalanche - hallelujah! |
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| Puente de los Incas |
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| Aconcagua |
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| Cristo Redentor |
The next day we were supposed to go to Lujan de Cuyo to visit a couple wineries that I had my heart set on seeing. Unfortunately I left the reservation process in the hands of a guy who worked at the bike rental shop in Lujan and he had us tasting our first wines at 9:30am! Not only is that ridiculous, but it would have meant a 6am wake up to arrive in time and after a full day in the mountains that just didn’t sound as exciting as I had hoped it would. So we called it off, promising to come back and stay in Lujan de Cuyo for a couple days after Chile. In the end this was probably a smart decision as we still had packing and a bunch of loose ends to finish up before leaving the apartment and moving on to Chile. In fact, it was pretty hilarious because we not only procrastinated with our excursions – fitting them all in during our last week - but we also procrastinated with getting to the post office and doing a few other errands. In the end the only thing that we didn’t do was Lujan de Cuyo, though we almost missed our bus getting a package sent off to Canada!
As Kelly had expected we really liked Mendoza. Not only was it clean and free of dog poop on the sidewalks, but it was calmer, prettier and more refined than other cities we’d seen thus far. We got a good break and were now ready to experience Chile full on. We’d heard it was totally different – a little more sketchy and not as welcoming, and they didn’t know how to make a proper parrilla. But only time would tell. We were off…
On Sunday Juan and I were off again, this time on horseback. We were picked up at our apartment in the late afternoon and by 4:30pm we were riding through the desert with about 15 other fellow travelers. The ride itself was quite nice…though a little cold. I have to admit I was a little nervous since the last time I was on a horse was in Costa Rica and it had tried to buck me off as we were going down a fairly steep hill. But my horse was calm and might have even enjoyed my company…well she didn’t try to get rid of me! Anyway, the light was beautiful as the sun set and it was great to see the actual vegetation of the Mendoza region, which is much different than the tree-lined streets of the city. We trotted through the desert and up and down some hills for a couple hours and ended with a great parrilla, red wine and a bonfire. It was a bit of a party and a fun way to spend a Sunday evening. 
A couple of days later we did an all-day excursion to the high Andes mountains. Along the way we passed a rather large oil refinery, which we learned was actually the biggest industry in the whole province of Mendoza - NOT wine, as most people believe. We also saw the reservoir in Potrerillos, which collects all of the glacial waters running into the Mendoza River and is used as agricultural irrigation and for drinking. It was seriously huge and alarming just how much water a city and farming can consume. Even more alarming is that the reservoir is lower than it’s ever been. We stopped by a small bridge that dates back to the Spanish conquest and the much larger naturally formed Puente (bridge) de los Incas, which is part of the Inca trail that ends up in Peru. The yellow staining on the rocks comes from hot mineral waters, and the structure nestled in between was a luxury spa resort in the 1930s. Along the way we also caught a glimpse of Aconcagua, the world’s second highest mountain peak after the Himalayas. Trekking season was over so we couldn’t climb it. We stopped at a couple towns along the way, but ended it off at Cerro Cristo Redentor, whose Christ figure literally divides Chile and Argentina. It was freezing up there so we spent the whole ride back warming up.
The next day we were supposed to go to Lujan de Cuyo to visit a couple wineries that I had my heart set on seeing. Unfortunately I left the reservation process in the hands of a guy who worked at the bike rental shop in Lujan and he had us tasting our first wines at 9:30am! Not only is that ridiculous, but it would have meant a 6am wake up to arrive in time and after a full day in the mountains that just didn’t sound as exciting as I had hoped it would. So we called it off, promising to come back and stay in Lujan de Cuyo for a couple days after Chile. In the end this was probably a smart decision as we still had packing and a bunch of loose ends to finish up before leaving the apartment and moving on to Chile. In fact, it was pretty hilarious because we not only procrastinated with our excursions – fitting them all in during our last week - but we also procrastinated with getting to the post office and doing a few other errands. In the end the only thing that we didn’t do was Lujan de Cuyo, though we almost missed our bus getting a package sent off to Canada! 
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