Mendoza / Uspallata

Mendoza

We drove from Cordoba to Mendoza overnight. As soon as we got off the bus, we saw the magnificent Andes. It was a very impressive sight. On Sunday morning, we explored what we could do here. The only thing open at that time was the HUGE city park. We made our way to the park in the afternoon. It's a cute and quiet little town. But when we got to the park, there were no bikes as the reception had promised us. We had to walk even more. We slowly walked through the park, going in all directions.

After about 2 hours of walking, we reached a viewpoint where we had a great view of the landscape around Mendoza.

But we were exhausted. It was hot, we had been walking for a long time, and we didn't have much to drink. So we decided to take a bus back to the hostel, if we could find one on this darn hill. No bus came. After about 20 minutes, a taxi driver passed by, I whistled at him and he stopped. He explained that he didn't have a taxi meter, he wasn't working. But he agreed to take us to the hostel. Oh boy, he drove like a maniac. For some reason, he was in a hurry. Just get us home. In the evening, we went to the center to find a good steakhouse. And we found one. I had a good T-Bone steak, and Muriel had a delicious risotto.

On the way back, we passed by a huge flea market. There was music, dancing, and lots of street performers.

On the second day, we got up early to take a short trip outside of Mendoza. It took us about two hours by bus. The scenery was worth the time and money. Among other things, we were surprised by the beautiful lake.

When we arrived in Uspallata, we went to the tourist office. Unfortunately, it was already past 2 pm, so it was a bit late for the big tours. But they recommended renting mountain bikes and riding up the mountain. I didn't mind, but Muriel didn't find it very funny to ride uphill with me on a mountain bike, since I'm the mean trainer who always scolds... I only mean well, though. We waited for the bikes, and suddenly a female dog caught our attention. This happened more than once. She was so cute and she was very friendly, so we couldn't resist picking her up.

We got on the bikes and started our journey. The landscape was unbelievable. Mountains in all colors of the rainbow.

I kept saying, "look there" or "check that out", but Muriel was busy struggling to ride up the stupid hill. She was cursing at me. But once we reached the top, all the curse words disappeared, and she could enjoy the view. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery, stopped 3-4 times on the way back and had a little picnic.

On the third day, we went on the famous wine tour. I had been talking about it for months. We had breakfast and headed to the village of Maipu by public transportation. There, we rented bikes. We arrived at the first winery around 11 am and I tasted my first three glasses of the best red wine from Mendoza. A Malbec, a Merlot, and a Syrah. I was impressed, and it hit me hard in the midday sun.

We continued to the second winery, which was a bit more fun to ride to. We arrived at a hippie farm that produces wine using traditional methods. Again, we fell victim to three more glasses. A Tempranillo, a Cabernet Sauvignon, and another Merlot.

Oops, we need to eat something. We rode to the next winery in a slalom-like fashion. We were warned by the guests at the last tasting location not to eat there. But we were a little tipsy and hungry, so we couldn't resist. Well, the wine was good (I don't remember what I had, but I knew for sure that 2 of those 3 glasses were Malbec). But the food was forgettable. After that, we returned the bikes, and the owner said, "Hey, now it's happy hour at my bar from 5:00 to 6:00 pm." So we went to the bar and had as much wine as we could drink. Haha, that was a bit too much wine. We took the city bus back to Mendoza, and half of the bus was drunk.

On the second to last day, we woke up with rain and a headache. We decided to go to a natural thermal bath. It was about an hour away from the city. The spa hotel was nestled between rocks in a valley.

A dream. The view we got to enjoy was a dream. And we also had lunch there, a huge buffet, and a 1-hour full body massage.

Yes, we treated ourselves.

Departure day. We were so pleasantly surprised by Mendoza, we experienced so many things we didn't expect. We got on the bus and headed to Santiago. It was the same road we took to Uspallata. We knew the way, but this time it was even more impressive. The landscape was one of a kind. Rocks like rainbows. Huge, snow-covered mountains. We reached 3,300 meters above sea level. At the top, we crossed the Chilean border.

Then it quickly went downhill. On the Chilean side, it became very green again. Beautiful villages where the river flows through with fresh meltwater. Stunning. We arrived in Santiago, where we met our good friend Marco. And Carlos, who brought my hiking shoes from Buenos Aires.

See you soon,

Ernesto & Muriel

Next Stop: Santiago de Chile