Mendoza!

Finally, the Mendoza recap! The weekend in Mendoza was definitely una mierda (a mess). The ride there was pretty interesting, in our FlechaBus. We brought some boxed wine (to avoid having to bring an opener), and ended up forgetting cups and having to pour the wine into our empty water bottles from a tiny hole made by nail cutters, since the pour spout was too big. We met a South African girl named Jenna, who was just ecstatic that we were speaking English and came to share the wine and chat until she was booted back to her seat. We had some interesting bus food and a mostly sleepless night, despite the semi-cama seats. Melissa and I also booked different hostels while trying to accommodate all my friends from Santiago…big mistake, trying to work with boys to plan something. I ended up staying at one with my friends, and Melissa couldn’t cancel her reservation, so she stayed at the other. So that was an issue upon our arrival. By the time we got everything settled, we were ready for a good girls’ afternoon/night, before the boys from Santiago were to arrive later. We wanted to shop, but apparently Mendocinos take a siesta, at least in terms of stores staying open. We wandered around town, looking for good shopping, and everything was closed. From there, we took a nap and got ready for our evening.

For pre-dinner cocktails, we headed to Casa 3, which is also supposed to have delicious food. But for dinner, we were heading to Azafran, the pricey joint in town that’s in every guide book and has been reviewed by the NY Times. First of all, Azafran was Argentina expensive, not US expensive. Secondly, the entire wait-staff was extraordinarily attractive, to the point that we were giggling like school girls. It was bad. We wanted to order a bottle of wine, but there was no list; instead, we were told that they don’t believe in a wine list and lead to the wine cellar to choose a bottle of our liking. Luckily the prices were clearly listed in the cellar! The restaurant really looks like an old wine and cheese shop. The food was also amazing. We ordered seared tuna and noquis to share, of course with crème brulee to top it off. But the best part of the meal was Melissa’s crush on the waiter. I was trying to get her to take a chance, give him her number or ask what he was doing later. Fortunately, he asked us out for drinks before she got the chance!! From dinner, we went with Abel to another bar for my first taste of Fernet and Coke, the local cocktail. It tastes like scotch and coke to me…not my favorite, but I got it down. We then met up with his friend Kevin and moved to a disco, or boliche, that was filled with locals, no foreigners at all. We had so much fun; in fact, I didn’t look at my watch until 5:30, and I needed to be back at the hostel around 5 to greet my friends. I felt a little bit like Cinderella, having to leave so quickly, but it all worked out in the end. The bus from Santiago was late, and my friends did not get to the hostel until after 6:30. We all settled in for a VERY short night of sleep before heading to the wineries the next morning.

The wine tour was equally a mess. After booking the tour and exploring the city a bit, we set off for the wineries around 2:30. I didn’t realize that the boys had never done a wine tour before…they thought it was like a pub crawl, and were a little bit upset when the first winery started us out with an actual tour of the facilities. It got messy at the 2nd winery (and 3rd stop) when the boys bought bottles instead of taking the tour – between 5 people, we killed 2-3 bottles before the tasting began. From that point on, it was a mess. We were not supposed to drink in the bus, and sure enough, they made it happen – even opening a bottle with a mechanical pencil. By the end of the night, we were all trying to go out, but some of us were dragging from no sleep and day drinking. Sunday was sad, saying goodbye to the bys again, but I was anxious to catch up with Melissa as well. She was sick on Saturday and missed the whole wine tour! As we waited for our bus, we ran into our waiter from Friday, Abel, at the station. We sat and chatted for a while, and at some point he bought us these weird little rat-looking key chains from one of the kids selling crap in the bus station. I had not yet found an ornament (or suitable keychain to become one) in town, and this random keychain is a perfect representation of what a crazy weekend we had in Mendoza. I can’t wait to tie a ribbon around it and put it on my tree this Christmas, to remember la mierda que fue Mendoza!

Oh and Cata bus, which we took back to BsAs, is the bomb. I highly recommend it for your South American travels!