Mendoza, land of good vibes

I was told months back: if you're in Argentina in Easter Week, book in advance. This is because it is when all the locals take one last weekend trip before winter sets in, and places book up fast. Needless to say I did not heed this advice and ended up stuck in Bariloche waiting for the cheaper bus tickets. To be fair, there are worse places to be!

My destination on Thursday was Mendoza, heart of the wine industry in Argentina and the international capital of Malbec. I was prepared to put the hiking to one side for a bit to indulge in a few days of reckless hedonism, and so far I have not been disappointed. 

To start with, I shambled into the hostel at 7am fresh off a very entertaining but sleepless overnight bus, where I met a punk rock band and a woman from Madrid who had the most amazing accent. After I finally got a bed and shower, I was told by the desk staff that everything was closed for Good Friday, but the bloke took pity on me and invited me to an asado at his house in the countryside.
Asado + vino + amigos
We were joined by some of his mates and spent the afternoon brewing beer, sipping wine and munching on delicious meat and guacamole. I got a lift home with one of the friends afterwards, but on the way he decided that I absolutely had to go out and see the Mendoza nightlife that night instead of sleeping so he took me and some other locals out to some bars and clubs. The night was amazing despite my tiredness, and once again I ended up stumbling into the hostel at 7am. Argie life is something else!

The next day I took a walk round the city which is a very nice place. Like most Argentinian cities it has very planned streets, but here they have a series of civic squares and parks dotted around the centre full of statues and mosaics. There is a street called Paseo Sarmiento which is full of cafes and eateries, where I got a very tasty double stack burger as big as my face for about $8 AUD from a place called Denny's. 

Further down Sarmiento I went to get a coffee, but when I paid I forgot about the tipping rule here. If you give a note and want your change, you have to tell the server "cambio, por favor", then you can leave a tip afterwards. However, I said "gracias", which over here implies that you want to give the whole note. Since I paid for a 30 peso coffee with a 50 peso note, I'm sure the staff will be pleased to see me if I go back again!

Burger, meet face
On Easter Sunday I wanted to go to Cerro de la Gloria, a hill with a monument to the country's leader against the Spanish, General Jose de San Martin. The hill is part of a huge park that bears the general's name which is almost as big as the city centre itself. As I was getting there, I started hearing noise and chanting, and suddenly stumbled across a huge crowd of Boca Juniors fans, who were in town for a match against one of the local teams. It was an electric atmosphere, with buses rolling up continuously and fans literally hanging out of the bus singing Boca anthems. I was sorely tempted to join them but I realised I looked very touristy, especially in my red sweatshirt, the colour of Boca's sworn enemy River Plate. Reluctantly, I went back the way I came, but hopefully I will have another chance to see the Cerro.

A totally no homo statue of the liberators of Chile and Argentina, Bernado O'Higgins and Jose de San Martin, Plaza de Chile
On a side note - one odd thing about this city is the drains. Instead of a little gutter on the side of the street, you get a trench that is anything from 1 to 3 feet deep with little bridges across it. A nightmare for a larrikin I'll tell you that much.

Today I am hoping to go on a tour of the wineries, one of the must do activities here. Unfortunately it is too wet to do the cheapo bike tour as I had planned so I will have to book a bus. Could whoever is doing the rain dance please knock it off so I can enjoy my holiday?



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