Mendoza

Day 105 – Shopping for a rainy day

We made a rather slow start in the morning (just for a change), so by the time we hit the shops for one of our last chances of being able to replace Erin’s rain jacket, siesta was just starting.  (You’d think we would have gotten used to it by now…) Resigned to three hours of barely anything being open we had a slow lunch and mailed some photo backup DVDs home. 

Since we’d arrived in Mendoza we’d been seeing pictures of models on billboards, posters, on the backs of buses, in shop windows, etc. but they didn’t appear to be advertising anything.  Eventually it dawned on us that they were competitors in the Vendimia Festival Queen competition, part of Mendoza’s upcoming wine festival.  Aspiring competitors (or those with wealthy supporters I suppose) take out advertising in the hope of swaying the voters. 

A collection of Vendimia posters, each girls seems to represent a different area around Mendoza.

 
Next we stumbled upon full size cutouts of the contestants. 

And finally happened upon the actual women coming out of their hotel (by accident of course!).  Erin wondered if they had to walk around fully dressed up for the remainder of the week!

Back at the hostel I took full advantage of the nice pool in the back garden (our first hostel pool since Iguazu), while the hostel cat befriended Erin whilst she was lounging poolside.

 

Day 106 -  Bikes and Wines

A short bus ride out of Mendoza put us in Maipu, where a dense collection of wineries makes for a popular bicycle tour amongst backpackers.  Erin opted for a mountain bike, while I went for a cruiser, our first stop was Bodega La Rural (bodega means winery).  The huge old vats in the cellar were impressive, as was the collection of winemaking equipment, some up to a century old.  After tasting their ‘exclusive’ Cab Sav we bought ourselves a glass of Torrontes, an Argentine specialty that I’ve taken a fancy to.

Big barrels at Bodega La Rural

 
Grape bags made of hide in the museum.

 

 

Next we tried to visit Trapiche, but they were inconsiderately closed for lunch, so we decided to move on to the next stop.  Almacen del Sur is a working farm that produce delicatessen goods for sale locally.  They also have a restaurant, with tables under a huge tree in their beautiful garden.  We were tempted by their (cheaper) ‘biker' menu’, but instead splashed out ($25!) and went for the wine tour menu, which included such delights as Patagonian Prawns, Red Peppers Stuffed with Hake and Potato and Cheese Croquettes with Olive Paste.  All quite delicious, and we sat there for quite some time enjoying the food, but more wineries beckoned.

An array of local delights.

After lunch we hit Tempus Alba, a posh new winery with a deck overlooking the vines.  The Canadian waitresses gave us a spiel on the tasting options, which included (a pricey) Malbec that they had been specially breeding on site for the last several years.

Our final stop was Viña el Cerno where we befriended an English couple, Flick and Tom.  Between chatting with them and waiting for the bike company to come replace my bike, which had forgotten how to keep it’s chain on for more than 50m, we were a little late back to the bike rental place.  A policeman on a motorbike followed us all the way back to the rental place and we figured it was to make sure we weren’t too wobbly!  But, as it turns out, apparently bikers aren’t supposed to be on the roads after 6.30pm (it was only 6.45) and if they are, the bike rental place must “pay a fee” for their service (of returning said bikers).  The guy from the rental place tried briefly to talk some extra money out of us (to cover the apparent fee),  but lost interest quickly when they realised they were dealing with someone who likes a good argument, especially with a few under the belt, conceding they took a while to replace the bike.

It turns out it was Flicks birthday and so back in town we had a nice night out to celebrate, visiting the local Italian festival, getting some tips regarding places further north and polishing off another couple of bottle of local produce.  Overall it was a most enjoyable day!

Day 107 – Remembering how to exercise

While Erin caught up on some correspondence I decided that I was about three months overdue for a run.  So I ran across town to Mendoza’s sprawling Parque General San Martin, I even found some exercise equipment and tried pitifully to remind my muscles what exercise was like (they weren’t impressed and are still complaining many days later).

One of the park’s many fountains.

 
Mendoza’s rowing lake.

That afternoon was spent planning future endeavours, blogging, splashing around in the pool, and generally killing time until our night bus.

On a brief trip out to the shops I was reminded of a peculiar Argentine quirk that I keep forgetting to write about.  Argentina has a severe shortage of coins, resulting in every cashier asking for you to surrender your change.  Of course if you do this you have no change for the next cashier, so each trip to the shops involves a careful consideration of the mood (and scariness) of the cashier and the shops ability to tender change.  On a number of occasions where neither party has been in possession of the required coinage I have seen change given in sweets or other items kept conveniently close to the checkout!