Nothing was on the agenda today except a little exploring around Mendoza. Our hotel was practically in the middle of the cities four main squares but, to start, as recommended by our B&B, we decided to hop on a bus to get a feel for the place. An hour later we arrived at the bus depot! We assumed the bus would do a loop and we would be back to where we started. Sadly, not the case. We managed to convey to the driver that we wanted to get back to the downtown area and he showed us to the bus that would get us there and let us ride for free. We finally made it back and thought we would play it safe and explore the cities four squares by foot.
Plaza San Martín, Plaza Chile, Plaza Italia and Plaza España are at the four corners of central Mendoza. It was a gorgeous day and the walk was beautiful. Some highlights of the plazas.
On our travels we even wondered past some beautiful churches and the cities train.
Our guide book recommended a wine tasting bar in the city, The Vines of Mendoza, being our last day in wine country we thought it would be prudent of us to take advantage. We sampled some of Argentina’s finest: Torrentes, Malbec, Pinot Noir and a very unusual 100% Pinot Verdot.
During the tasting we overheard a couple behind us get progressively drunker. They both had thick spanish accents but I noticed a northeastern US twang to his voice. Hayley disagreed but a few minutes later the waitress asked us where we were from (half the time we’re from NYC and the other half we answer with UK) This time we answered with the US only to have our waitress tell us that the man behind us was from the US as well. Our response triggered a conversation with the drunken couple, she was Brazilian and he was from Connecticut but had been living in Brazil for the past 10yrs. (hence the odd accent) We learned all about Rio, Brazil, their government and favelas, it was a very insightful discussion. Her English wasn’t great so occasionally she had him translate for her, the best part was that before he could get a quarter of the sentence out of his mouth she would start talking to us about something else. When asked if we wanted to join them for dinner we made a quick excuse and got out of there shortly after.
Tonight we headed to a popular street loaded with bars and restaurants. Dinner was great and our wine was served out of a carafe shaped like a penguin, the wine poured from his mouth. Mendoza, like most South American cities, love their ice cream. There was one place particularly that everyone seemed to rave about so after dinner we decided to get some dessert. At this point my mustache and beard are longer than my tongue so if I don’t use a spoon this is what happens…seriously!
The next morning we headed to Chile. Our journey from Mendoza to Santiago was, again, via bus. We picked a seat on the second floor as the most spectacular scenery crossing the Andes mountains had been promised with close up views of the mighty Aconcagua (the second highest mountain in the world, at 6962m above sea level).
We loaded on and found our spot and immediately. A film started, sandwiches were handed out and we were on our way. We left Mendoza in summer clothes and flip flops, the error in this was soon apparent when we had to disembark to go through immigration and a bag check at the Argentinian/Chilean boarder in snow. Brrrr.
After an hour or so we were back on the bus; another film, a brew and some cake and a terrifying twisty turney hairpin ridden ride down in to Santiago. Thank god for the special brew of English tea.
We arrived at the bus stop early evening, grabbed a cab to our hostel and checked in. The area we were staying in was opposite a university, as you can imagine with this came lots of bars, restaurants and a vibrant nightlife. We asked for a dinner recommendation nearby and were given a map to como Agua para Chocolate. A beautiful setting, amazing food and a perfect introduction to Santiago.
Dave and Hayley's Tour 