Mendoza

Argentina

February 2007
4 days

Mendoza
6th to 10th February

See ya later Bariloche we cried as we zipped off in yet another bus to get as far away from all that chocolate as possible. But were we sad? well yes and no really! Yes because it was definitely one of those places where you could up sticks and go and live quite happily, up in the hills, in one of those stylish alpine lodges. And no, due to the fact we were heading for a place called Mendoza and it just so happens that Men-do-za is the home to the infamous Malbec grape! And that...... makes it the biggest wine region in the whole of Argie-land.

Mendoza has just the right geography and weather to grow superb vino. It is very very hot and desert like and doesn´t get much rain due to the Andes on its left flank somehow holding back all the clouds creeping in from the pacific. But these mountains do capture a lot of rain, which freezes as glaciers and that in turn melts and runs down in to Mendoza in vast rivers that locals have manipulated to set up excellent irrigation channels. Mendoza city is abundant with tree lined streets and these trees are watered using underground ducts that bring water direct from the mountains. Wonderful.

So we arrived at Mendoza bus terminal quite hot and bothered and jumped in the queue for a taxi. It was only 10am and the sun was already beating down on us. We reached the front of the queue but taxis were scarce, so when the first two pulled up and refused us because their trunks were too full or too small in which to accommodate our large bags, that was the last straw. It was not even lunch time and people were already insisting on making me use foul language. 'You cretins!, why be a taxi driver and pickup from the bus terminal, where people invariably come with baggage, and then drive a car so small that Heinz must have manufactured it or instead go and fill your trunk with so many tools, bucket and other miscellaneous junk so as to render it useless. Please explain or I'll have to lose my temper.

Now I'd noticed that small things like this were starting to wind me up on a regular basis but I just couldn't help it. Was i getting tired of travelling? I don't think so. But I was starting to see patterns in the things that angered me and I have defined them as such:

MySpace
I truly cannot stand it when I am forced to place myself somewhere, like a seat on an overnight bus, and then have someone thoughtless control my environment. For example, a bus with no windows and then have them stick on the heating and forget to switch on the air conditioning so you can feel yourself withering and being dehydrated like a dried fig! Or to put on an English movie with Spanish subtitles but have the volume so low that you can only hear half the words. Don't you find it worse to only be able to hear half the words... I'd prefer to not hear any as then you could ignore it but half, well that captures your interest hey! And after that they stick on a Spanish movie this time with subtitles in English and crank up the volume so loud you can hear it well over your Ipod on full blast. And to top it off its a pathetic Disney movie about some huskies that get lost in Alaska and wont stop barking and whining. And by now its past 1am in the morning and I'm tired. That really grinds my gears!

I Want It Now!
Maybe I´m getting old and impatient but I quite like to be able to do things when I (yes me) wants to do them. Now I'm not talking about anything too elaborate or exciting here but just the basic things in life such as maybe, to urinate, or clean my teeth. And its for this reason that we are way over budget and have only stayed in dorms less than 10% of the time. I hate sharing a room or even a bathroom for that matter with people I don't know. When you wake up and need the loo or fancy a quick shower I just don't want to stand in a queue outside the door with my toothbrush in hand and a towel thrown over my shoulder. It sucks!

The Reverse Ronseal!
Now by this title I mean it dam well doesn't do what it says on the tin. I mentioned this one before in my half time analysis but it really gets to me and probably because I work in IT and I also like everything around me to work and run smoothly. If I just happen to stroll in to a web cafe and am willing to pay very good money to sit and use this guys computer, then the least he can do is ensure that the computer is fit for this purpose. I'm just not going to tolerate it if the mouse only moves in diagonals and leaves you cursing and smacking it down on the desk so loud that people look at you. Or if the keyboard thinks it rather funny to type a M when you hit N and vice versa. I'n simply mot going to put up with this momsemse!

But I am digressing here and although you may like to know what grinds my gears these days, I'm sure you'd prefer to hear about Mendoza.

So what can I tell you? Its another great place as we'd come to expect from Argentina. It has a great feel to the town, again with breezy Al Fresco dining, street musicians and at its heart another magnificent plaza complete with grass, trees, benches, cafes and of course a fountain.

We headed out on the road on yet another minibus tour, this time to see the highest mountain in South America. Hence why on the pamphlet the excursion had ingeniously been named, Alta Montana - High Mountain!

It was another OK day and Sarah got to practice her Spanish loads with a local girl her age. We got to see some more unique landscapes including a massive river bed that now runs shallow but the banks are over seventy metres high. Now stop and think about that, its tall! Then we stopped at a small artisan market and even though I'm sure Sarah had been complaining about how heavy her ruck suck already was, she still managed to leave the market smiling and holding two large colourful rocks. 'I want to send these home she blurted'.. 'Well lucky you didn't buy anything too heavy' I remarked sarcastically... 'That'll be cheap then!' They weighed over 4lbs!

Just next to this market was a tourist attraction called the Inca Bridge. Now I'd love to tell you more about it but the tour guide was very annoyingly very Spanish so all I can tell you is that I have no idea if the Incas built it, but I can tell you its very very yellow (I think form Sulphur). Check out the photos and you'll see how minerals in the water are eroding the rocks and turning them bright colours.

Further along the road we stopped at a very average viewpoint of this highest mountain. We got you a photo but its hard to really sense its true size. Its name escapes me but it was rather large, yes.

Further still and we found the driver nipping off the beaten track and driving relentlessly up the windiest and most dangerous road up a very Martian like landscape. The ground was very red and the hill we were climbing was very steep so the path weaved backwards and forwards with bends tighter than Hercules's grip. After twenty minutes of this terror we reached the peak only to realise we'd come up all this way to see the border between Argentina and Chile, with two flags staked in the ground and some statue of possibly Jesus. That guy gets around hey. It was freezing up here and ever so slightly windy so we took one photo and dived back in the bus and sat there looking forward to the drive back down. Not.

On the way down whichever girls where on the steep drop side of the bus would scream as we attempted each bend. The driver like me got tired of this so he flicked on the CD player and then things got a whole lot worse. Blaring out of the speakers came 'I Wanna Know What Love Is, and I want you to show meeeeeeee'.... by Foreigner. A song I'd thought had long been banished to the 80's. Now this wasn't the first time I'd heard this on a bus in South America as they all seem to own the worst eighties love songs CDs ever know to man kind. Next came Bonnie Tylor with some drivel and then She Plays Piano in the Dark and closely followed by 'We Built this city on Rock and Roll' and that was when I was tempted to grab the steering wheel and put us all out of our misery... only kidding. No really.

But it has to be said that sometimes down here in these dark parts of the world you get the feeling you have travelled back in time. Its not just the eighties music but the cars as well. I have honestly walked down a street in Mendoza and not seen a car built after the A-Team! The streets are packed with so many old classics and the most populars seem to be Ford with there Cortinas, Sierras and Granadas. At one point I had stop and look at myself just to make sure I wasn't wearing a pair of ironed Farrahs, and a diamond tank top from Erith market. When do you EVER see any of these in the UK these days unless you take the wrong exit of the A2 and find yourself in Thamesmead.

Its not just the fact they they drive old cars but half of them look like they´ve been in no less than a dozen major road accidents. Their bodywork is much like that of a golf ball, and if you see one with a bumper, numberplate or one working light its a miracle. I can honestly say that we´ve got more road worthy vehicles in our scrap yards in London. Lol. I actually spoke to a guy about how they get away with this and he says that if you are stopped by the police in your car you simply make sure there is a bank note underneath your drivers licence when you hand it to him and then you should have no problems. Responsible police work, that's what we like to see, putting themselves before others safety, brave fellows.

So to get over all this craziness we had two relaxing days booked. A day at a Health Spa, followed by a day touring the wineries. The spa day was very nice and involved a lot of getting hot and sweaty in saunas, pummelled in a high powered jet wash and then rolling around in a mud bath before sunbathing and and feeling the mud dry and crack until you resembled a small hippo. A gorgeous buffet lunch of the highest standard accompanied by a litre of beer and then an afternoon reading and lazing by the pool. Absolutely splendid. But don't go thinking that spa are always calm and tranquil places, as we came to much harm here. I accidentally slammed the heavy sauna door on Sarah's arm leaving a nice long scratch and later managed to kick an underwater rock in one of the pools and quite possibly broke my middle toe. It went a fantastic shade of reddy black over the coming days and looked rather pretty.

The half day at the wineries was also pleasant and educational. We visited two wineries and an olive farm. We got to taste their best Malbec, Merlot, Cab Sav and Shiraz so we were grateful when at the olive farm we were fed some bread dipped in oil to soak up the vino. We learnt something about how the leftovers from either grapes or olives (am sure its grapes) is used to make Alkaseltzer.. How ironic, so the fruit that gave you the stinking hangover in the first place also has the power to reverse the symptoms.. bizarre but true.

So I am very sorry for the ranting and rambling but Mendoza to be honest was a tad dull so I have to liven these updates in any way I can.

Chirrybye for now my lovlies.