I love Mendoza! It is so hot here, and the city is so pretty! Even though it's in the middle of the desert, the Huarpes built this irrigation system throughout the whole city before the Spanish arrived, with trenches running between all the sidewalks and roads. This has allowed the city to be super green, with trees lining all the streets and the plethora of plazas. I got there on a Sunday morning, and it was like a ghost town. The Museum of Modern Art was like the only thing that was open, so I went there, and it was nice, but super tiny. There were only 3 Mendocinos being exhibited, but the building was underneath the middle of the Plaza Independencia which was cool. I also checked out the artisan fair in the main square, but it was really bizarre--it started at like 8pm and went to 2am.
Yesterday I went on a tour of the Bodegas, and it was so much fun! Luke, this guy I met at the hostel, and I rented a tandem bike and took it through wine country to try all the different wines. Some of them were sooo good! But it was so hot, that none of the whites or rosés were chilled enough, so we mostly stuck to the reds. Besides, Mendoza is known for it's Malbec, so we had a lot of that. We started at Trapiche, which is apparently a famous one internationally, and is the oldest in the region. They gave us a tour where we got to see where the grapes get crushed, and the barrelling process, and learned about how they designed the architecture to control the temperature for the grapes inside without air-con. We met a British couple there and teamed up with them to visit the rest of the Bodegas.
The next one we went to was Mevi, and the grounds were BEAUTIFUL! They had such a nice terrasse for the wine tasting, and they were a lot more generous with the portions than Trapiche. They had a really good Malbec. We then did a tasting at Tempus Albi where we had lunch, and they also had such a nice patio overlooking the vineyards. After lunch we went to Familia de Tommaso, which had a really nice dessert wine. I forget the name of the one we ended at, but it was really small, and the garden was super cute, but I wasn't a huge fan of their Malbec. I ended up running into an Aussie who had been at my hostel in Santiago which was super cool.
Once we got back to the hostel, it was only a couple hours until their Asado! They eat soooo much meat here. And their salads only ever have 2 ingredients: lechuga y tomatoes. The asado was good, but there was a lot of fat on the meat which was kind of disgusting. And meat is really hard to cut, especially when you're trying to get the gross fat parts off and the meat is too soft to like stay in place when you're trying to cut. The food here though is sooo much better than Chile. Their empanadas are like ten times better, AND I found Tropicana in the grocery store!!! I have been missing sugar-free juice for the past like 2 months, it's so exciting to be able to buy real juice again!
They take their siestas really seriously here. I was wondering about the city today and at 1pm EVERYTHING shut down. Like the city dies. Shops reopen at 5 and stay open til 9. And then you eat dinner at like 11 pm. There was a pub crawl starting at my hostel last night, and they guys didn't even end up leaving until 2 am! The hostel has a hammock though covered by the trees, so it's the perfect place to take a nap, when everything is closed.
I'm hopping on a bus to BA tonight, and I'm super stoked! And then on the weekend I head to Rio for Carnival!!
Plaza Independencia
Yesterday I went on a tour of the Bodegas, and it was so much fun! Luke, this guy I met at the hostel, and I rented a tandem bike and took it through wine country to try all the different wines. Some of them were sooo good! But it was so hot, that none of the whites or rosés were chilled enough, so we mostly stuck to the reds. Besides, Mendoza is known for it's Malbec, so we had a lot of that. We started at Trapiche, which is apparently a famous one internationally, and is the oldest in the region. They gave us a tour where we got to see where the grapes get crushed, and the barrelling process, and learned about how they designed the architecture to control the temperature for the grapes inside without air-con. We met a British couple there and teamed up with them to visit the rest of the Bodegas.
Luke stealing some delicious grapes roadside.
The next one we went to was Mevi, and the grounds were BEAUTIFUL! They had such a nice terrasse for the wine tasting, and they were a lot more generous with the portions than Trapiche. They had a really good Malbec. We then did a tasting at Tempus Albi where we had lunch, and they also had such a nice patio overlooking the vineyards. After lunch we went to Familia de Tommaso, which had a really nice dessert wine. I forget the name of the one we ended at, but it was really small, and the garden was super cute, but I wasn't a huge fan of their Malbec. I ended up running into an Aussie who had been at my hostel in Santiago which was super cool.
Barrels of wine at Trapiche
Once we got back to the hostel, it was only a couple hours until their Asado! They eat soooo much meat here. And their salads only ever have 2 ingredients: lechuga y tomatoes. The asado was good, but there was a lot of fat on the meat which was kind of disgusting. And meat is really hard to cut, especially when you're trying to get the gross fat parts off and the meat is too soft to like stay in place when you're trying to cut. The food here though is sooo much better than Chile. Their empanadas are like ten times better, AND I found Tropicana in the grocery store!!! I have been missing sugar-free juice for the past like 2 months, it's so exciting to be able to buy real juice again!
Biking through Mevi
They take their siestas really seriously here. I was wondering about the city today and at 1pm EVERYTHING shut down. Like the city dies. Shops reopen at 5 and stay open til 9. And then you eat dinner at like 11 pm. There was a pub crawl starting at my hostel last night, and they guys didn't even end up leaving until 2 am! The hostel has a hammock though covered by the trees, so it's the perfect place to take a nap, when everything is closed.
Wine country (Maipu)
I'm hopping on a bus to BA tonight, and I'm super stoked! And then on the weekend I head to Rio for Carnival!!
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