A Weekend in Mendoza

Last weekend I took a trip to Mendoza with four friends for a little weekend vacation. We left on a Thursday evening and returned on Monday morning. It was a great trip, with a few minor bumps in the road.

First we arrived at the bus terminal in Retiro to get on our bus to Mendoza. Apparently the government has made a new code regarding the tires allowed for such buses, so ours was deemed unacceptable. We left the terminal almost 2 hours later than planned. Other than that, our bus trip was actually fairly nice! Granted, it was almost 16 hours long.... But the seats were much more comfortable than plane seats - they reclined and had leg rests. I knew it would be a pretty good ride when they passed out little boxes of chocolate and candy to everyone. We had a little boxed dinner too which was fine. The only other unfortunate aspect was that they played World War Z, a zombie movie. I detest zombie movies. Also the tv was right next to my head so I had to blast my music and close my eyes to drown out the screaming and zombie noises. 

We finally arrived in Mendoza, but too late to make our connecting bus to our next activity. We actually missed two buses that day. We did finally get on a later bus and drove out to a small village. We spent the day biking around and meeting the people who live there. They were all very kind and showed us all kinds of interesting things. We also drank a lot of mate, which should be the official drink of Argentina if it isn't already.

our first stop - lunch with a woman named Susanna at her lovely home

what a sweetie

It was a beautiful day to eat outside - we had a pasta dish with chicken on the side.

The tour group we traveled with partners with this town in a rural tourism project. The idea is to take visitors to various homes and small businesses in the community. It supports them by bringing in extra income and allows us to get a more unique travel experience and meet local people. It was a cool project! Susanna actually cried a little bit when telling us how meaningful it had been to host people from all over the world in her home. I'd like to go live in her house and practice my spanish!

pretty views of the andes mountains

Mendoza & the surrounding areas are known for wine - especially Malbec

next stop, a local organic farm

We met a lovely couple who moved here and set up an orchard - they harvest peaches, among other fruit. They also collect honey here. We really loved talking to them and stayed for several hours, chatting, drinking mate, and eating crackers with jam & honey. The husband told one of the girls who came with me that she should return in December when his sons are home and find a boyfriend!

our host explaining the process of collecting honey

these little guys were either 10 days or 10 weeks old... can't remember

the aroma was interesting...

pig pile

they offered us homemade peach preserves - they meticulously chop each peach by hand

fresh honey!

bees adjusting to their new home

later we visited a pottery workshop and tried to make our own creations - it's actually pretty hard! This started out as a circle. 

Overall, our day in the village was really fun. We spent almost two hours talking with the couple who own the organic farm. We had a great time at lunch, making pottery, and briefly visiting a small vineyard. The best part of the day was breathing in fresh air and gazing at the beautiful Andes mountains. After spending two months in a loud, polluted, chaotic (but still nice!) city, it felt amazing to soak up the peaceful atmosphere of this small town. We stopped in a little convenient store at the end of the day and chatted with the owners. They mentioned that they had seen us ride by on our bikes and actually ended up knowing or being related to everyone we visited that day. I also spent several minutes bonding with their sweet dog. Side note: I really miss being around dogs! They are everywhere here but everyone is in a hurry and you can't exactly stop strangers on the street and ask to pet their dogs. Maybe I need to befriend someone who will let me have playdates with their dog.

On our second day we visited a large, elaborate winery. It's called Familia Zuccardi and is owned by an italian family. They also make olive oil but wine is their specialty. (Also I was not amazed by their olive oil, though it was nice). Sadly it was a rainy, dreary day. We still enjoyed touring the facilities and sampling both wine and olive oil. I liked the wine at this winery better than the smaller one from the previous day. But I'm not a wine person so I'll leave the comparison to the experts. To prove to me that you can indeed pair olive oil with sweets, our second tour guide (for the olive portion) brought us some complimentary dark chocolate truffles made with olive oil. YUM I will accept his argument.

our tour guide from the winery - I found him a little difficult to understand

pretty olive tree

our lunch restaurant - we had gnocchi, lots of bread, and cake :)

Later that day the sky cleared up so we were able to explore the city of Mendoza. It's much smaller and more laid back than Buenos Aires. If I were going to live in Argentina, I could definitely see myself living somewhere more like Mendoza. It's still close to the mountains and has nice views. It was the first day of spring so there were a lot of festivals going on. We saw several of them and just enjoyed walking around. 

a fountain in plaza de chile - a little bit creepy!

deserted subway cars

To add to the creepy vibe, we almost stepped on a dead rat. It was laying on its back with its red eyes and mouth open, legs in the air. I definitely screamed. Luckily for anyone who reads this blog, I did not take a picture of that.

art in the central park of Mendoza

roasting meet at the plaza de Chile

in the heart of the city, near our hostel

Our last day in Mendoza was my favorite. We headed to an area about 30 min away to ride horses through the foothills of the Andes mountains. Again, after the chaos of Buenos Aires this was just what I needed. The weather was beautiful, the scenery was gorgeous, and the animals were all very friendly. Our horses knew the path by heart so all we had to do was sit back and relax during our two hour ride. I befriended the two dogs that trotted along with us the entire time. At the end of our ride the horses actually galloped back to the starting point on their own since they are very familiar with the area.

preparing to leave

this isn't actually my horse - mine was a pregnant horse named Maria. She did NOT like to go fast.

after our ride we got to have a delicious asado feast - with chimichurri sauce of course (sort of tangy/garlicky/spicy)

our tour guide serenaded us with some traditional folk music and an interesting mash up of about 7 songs from the US haha...

our little lunch spot

A happy ending to a nice weekend getaway :)

I wish I could say our return trip was equally charming... The bus did leave on time but it wasn't quite as nice. The seats were a bit uncomfortable and mine had a questionable looking stain on it. A small child kept popping up above my head and moving my seat which was actually kind of funny. We didn't have any yummy snacks on this trip. Also, they showed Marley and Me so I was forced to hold back tears on the middle of a public bus... The bathroom had a toilet that didn't flush and also lacked soap and paper products. You can imagine how that was by the next morning. But what's travel without roughing it a little! I had a little bit of hand sanitizer so I survived. Even though I felt like dying a little bit when I finally returned to Buenos Aires, it was definitely worth the trip. I loved getting out of the city a little bit and relaxing in a more peaceful environment. It reminded me of why I love traveling in the first place.