The over-consumption of
vino…and
carne (and then some more
vino…) would perfectly describe our
finde mendocino.
We got to Mendoza late on Thursday night, staying at
Hostel Lao , apparently the number one hostel in Latin America. They provided us with comfortable beds, an all-hostel
asado (with some of the best
chorizo I have ever had), and actually SATISFYING
desayunos…they even had FRUIT! (A true accomplishment in Argentina.) Oh, and FREE wine. Winnnnnn.
Friday morning we woke up to begin our wine bike tours in Luján, a locality outside of Mendoza. Dani, a friend that we met in the hostel, came along with us as well. She is from England but has spent the year studying in Santiago, so we were able to share many similar study abroad stories. We showed up at Baccus bike rentals and got our semi-functioning bikes,
sin helmets or any other kind of precautionary measures, and soon embarked on our very long, struggling day of wine “sipping.”
We started at
Cavas de Chacras, my favorite vineyard in Mendoza. There they offered us lunch where I nommed on the
degustación de empanadas…amazing. Our first
degustación de vino followed lunch, where our
guía, Peter, left us sitting on the pond-side deck with an entire bottle of Merlot between the four of us girls. It was a beautiful fall day in Mendoza, with a cool breeze and vibrant foliage. Nothing could have made this visit more perfect. The next stop was Altavista, a larger
bodega about a thirty-minute ride from Cavas de Chacras. Riding bikes, after drinking lots and lots of wine, is not the easiest task. Needless to say we showed up at the
bodega a little loopy. We enjoyed our very complete
degustación, which even included some Malbec Rosé, bringing me back to my freshman year days of Sutter Home White Zinfandel. (Shout out Reenz and Julz!) Ahhh, the memories.
Pulmary was our last stop, a small, family-owned, organic
bodega in the center of Luján. By this point we were fairly…
feliz…and came in probably not needing any more wine. But being the winos that we have become in Argentina, we came in ready to sip on some more delicious
vino tinto. The owner of the
bodega took us down to the cellar, where we tried some fresh port and tasted some Malbec and Merlot. Towards the end of our
degustación we were left in the cellar, just us girls, with a bottle of
vino. Twice in one day we were trusted with an unsupervised free bottle of wine…rookies. Luckily we did not have to ride our bikes back to the rental store; that would have been truly catastrophic. We managed to get a ride back to our hostel with one of the owners of the
bodega, thus not having to worry about taking the wrong
colectivo back to Mendoza. A few goofy phone conversations with
guía Peter later, we were back at the hostel and attempting to get ready for dinner. We went out to
Azafrán, a delicious
parrilla in Mendoza. We are talking some serious
carne business here, so I got
bife de chorizo, enveloped in a flaky blue cheese puff pastry layer…so rare it practically came straight off the cow. I could not have been more satisfied; this was quite possibly the best steak I have had in Argentina. This was followed by
dulce de leche crème brûlée…oooohhhh myyyy gooddddddd. Mendoza is a food (and wine!) haven.
On Saturday we struggled to pull ourselves out of bed at a reasonable hour for our day full of
gaucho activity. (Too much
vino the day before…) A few cups of
maté cocido later, I had rallied and was ready for my
alpargatas. Dani, Cassie, Paloma, and I took the
colectivo to Maipú, where our gaucho friend Cisar met us and took us to the
campo. Foliage-rich trees arching over the dirt roads, never-ending rows of Malbec
uvas, and spectacular Andes in the background…it was the perfect setting to go horseback riding. Or so I thought. (I should have known what was coming next, given the fact that my
caballo’s name was
Tornado.)
Trotting through the vineyard, I was enjoying relaxing and soaking up the view. Dani began to gallop in front of me, and
Tornado, being the alpha male that he is, decided to burst into a full-on gallop as well. Having no idea how on earth to ride/control/maintain balance on a sprinting horse, I grabbed on for dear life, pulling the reins as hard as I could. (This, however, did not stop
Tornado, as he persisted on sprinting around sharp corners, heading towards God knows where.) When I lost the reins…and later the stirrups…I literally saw my life flash before my eyes. I honestly didn’t think I would EVER get off this speedy little demon. After what felt like a solid forty-five minutes of high-speed galloping, a
gaucho on the side of the path came out and slowed the horse down just as I was starting to slip off the horse. Thank. God. For the rest of the day I refused to trust
Tornado, and limited him to a very slow walk. (The little mischievous
diablo didn’t even deserve to trot.)
Apart from this terrifying little joy ride I went on, the afternoon was great. The scenery was breathtaking, and I felt so removed from the city. I love Buenos Aires so much, but it is so nice to get away from the noise and hustle of the city. (I found out this weekend that Buenos Aires is the
loudest city in Latin America, and fourth loudest in the world…not so shocking though!) When we got back to the hostel I immediately passed out (too much adrenaline for one afternoon), and woke up a few hours later to a delicious
asado in the hostel. There honestly is nothing like waking up to the rich aromas of
chorizo and
bife de chorizo coming from downstairs. This was night two of stuffing my face with
carne, accompanied by copious
copas of
vino; I love this Argentine life.
Sunday we slept in a little, finally recovering from the excess wine we had drank in the past two days. I woke up very much debilitated. (Turns out my little venture with
Tornado took quite the toll on my body; arms, abs, back, and especially my groins were basically out of commission.) And on top of my wine-induced headache…ouch. After completely taking advantage of our free breakfast we spent a
tranquila morning exploring Mendoza. We first head to the
Mercado Central, a central market in the middle of Mendoza with lots of fresh meats, fruits, seafood,
empanadas,
parrilla, and more. Cassie eyed some
paella, which we took
para llevar and ate in Plaza Independencia. We spent the rest of the day perusing the artisan markets, where I found amazing earrings made from rice paper. Amazing. I seriously need to learn how to stay away from these dangerous
mercados; this is where all my money is going. For dinner we went to
Anna Bistro, definitely one of my favorite spots in Argentina. Walking down a stone path, there is a heated patio to the right, surrounded by
fresco greenery and soft lights…so sexy and cool. The food was so amazing; Paloma and Cassie got an incredibly
sauve pumpkin soup; the
feuilletée de queso de cabra that I got was
sin palabras.
 |
| Llama stare-down |
El 20 de junio is
el Día de la Bandera, so we got yet another day off school. We headed into Maipú for the day where we walked to the Trapiche
bodega, one of the biggest wine companies in Argentina. I definitely like touring the small
bodegas better, but it was interesting to see what one of the bigger companies looks like. They even have
llamas on the grounds! Unreal. (Except while Cassie and Paloma and gawking at the cuteness of the
llamas, all I could think of was the delicious
llama that I munched on when I was in Jujuy and Salta…not sorry.) We met Mariela and Dani during the
degustación, and the five of us decided to go to
Beer Garden for lunch. We were almost positive that this was an inevitable tourist trap, but when we walked down a dirt road only to see a small little wooden building, surrounded by handpainted signs, we were pleasantly surprised.
Beer Garden’s claim to fame is their artisan beer, which we ordered along with their homemade
carne empanadas.
¡Qué ricoooooo!
Soon after lunch it was time for us to make our way back to BA. And by back to BA I mean flag down a
colectivo on a deserted dirt road on the outskirts of Maipú, hoping that it was headed towards Mendoza…where we then would make our way back to the hostel…where we would then head to the airport, making our way back to BA.
Las cenizas did not affect our journey whatsoever, however a snowstorm in Chile closed the border for a few days, forcing our fellow Chilean hostel-mates to fly back rather than take the bus. Ohhhh Chile. (One of the many reasons
Argentina es mejor…hehe.)
I have less than a week left with Paloma and many of my other US friends in BA, which I am really dreading. We are going to
Fuerzabruta on Friday night, which should be AMAZING.
As for school, I have two finals down, two more to go. (One due tomorrow, the last one in July.) I have all next week completely free to explore BA, which I am really looking forward to!
Next trip on the agenda: USA for a few weeks!
Chau,
audgentina.
No comments:
Post a Comment