Bariloche and Mendoza 9 - 16 March 2023

Mendoza 9  - 16 March 2023

Thursday 9 March

Up and have breakfast (included) and back to the room for planning/ booking/ travel admin.  Go out for a walk which includes a coffee, an ice-cream (delicious - Bariloche is famous for ice-cream and for chocolate), a walk by the lake and a visit to a craft market. John is muttering about buying a poncho and has to be reminded of the stick he'd get wearing it in the UK.

Friday 10 March. Up at 7.00 am, pack, light breakfast and wait for our taxi - we've re- ordered Adrian,  the driver that drove us here the day before yesterday. He texts to say he's running 15 minutes late…. and turns up 20 minutes late, playing latter day Leonard Cohen on his in car system, followed by the Travelling Wilburys, so all is forgiven. We have a good chat about old and dead rock stars en route to Bariloche airport.

Check in, have a coffee and get on the 11.50 am flight to Mendoza which takes about 1.5 hours (compared to 18 hours by bus ….and the bus is slightly more expensive). Take a taxi into the centre of town - the driver doesn't seem to be aware of speed limits or lane control so it's a bit 😲.    

Mendoza city centre feels very European - wide pavements and shade trees eg planes. We learn later that after a big earthquake in 1861 - which explains why there are no early colonial buildings - the city was rebuilt with wide pavements and no high buildings for safety, in case of subsequent quakes - and there have been a number.  

At our hostel, Hostel Lao, we're shown our room and bathroom (just for us but not en suite). Nice place, shabby chic, garden, two lovely dogs, Sunny and Naomi. 

We unpack and walk to the nearest big supermarket - can get most things but there are limits on the amount of some things one can buy e.g. only two bottles of vegetable oil. Empty shelves where the tuna sits, apart from big tins, which are in protective locked plastic cases! What's up with tinned tuna??!  

Then my card doesn't work at the till, and the cashier has to have several goes with John's card before we can pay. There are definitely challenges here in Argentina in getting cash and using debit/ credit cards.  To say nothing of 100% inflation they've got.

Back to hang out in the garden, drink beer, talk to the dogs and get legs bitten by bitey things. Make dinner (I've found a very acceptable brand of veggie burger) and then bed. Air conditioning in our room which is good - we're in temperature shock after travelling from Ushuaia (6C to 8C), to El Calafate (10C to 14C) to Mendoza in the high 20s.

Saturday 11 March. After breakfast in the garden we take our laundry on a march to Laundry Bubbles, a 20 minute walk away, but very well reviewed. Explain the cool wash Vs warm wash clothes, pay Arg pesos 5,000 (£20) and agree pick up later today. To a chemist to buy anti mosquito spray, then back to the hostel, followed by a visit to Liverpool Pub to watch the tail end of a Chelsea football match, and then France walking all over England in the Six Nations rugby. To the hostel again (for a nap) then back to Laundry Bubbles to pick up our washing, all dry and neatly folded. Spend the evening outside, garnished with anti mosquito spray, with other Eco Hostel dwellers - French, Norwegian, Maltese and Dutch, all speaking very good English. And almost all smoking. Invited to join people for dinner when they go out about 10.00 pm (Argentine dinner time) but we are still in recovery from our travels!

Sunday 12 March. Another hot day.  I find a bakery that sells nice bread rolls (not sweet like so much bread in Argentina);  meet Mike the Lao hostel landlord (originally from Derbyshire) and pay our rent for six nights - Arg pesos 42,000, all in Arg pesos 1,000 notes 🥴

Spend the day and evening in the garden and hanging out, plus one quick trip out to buy wine, so not much to report.

Monday 13 March a bit overcast today - we book a bodega to visit for lunch, visit Western Union (recommended for best exchange rate - it is!), the supermarket (tinned tuna has returned but limited to 4 cans per shopper) and a Banco Patagonia to unfreeze my card. Only one of the three ATMs is working….  So, much of the morning is spent queuing.

Uber about 25 minutes out of town to the Bodega Hacienda del Plata where we're greeted warmly and have a delicious but v. rich and filling lunch with a glass each of three different red wines. 

We buy two bottles of our favourite wine. Bit of an issue with paying for the Uber (problem at their end, not John's credit worthiness) and can't order an Uber back, so the bodega orders a taxi for us.

Have a nap / fall into a food coma when we get back, and then watch the French contingent prepare an assado - we're invited to join but still too full and we have to be up at dawn tomorrow.

Tuesday 14 March. Up at 6.15 am as we're off on a day trip to the Andes today. Outside at 7.30 am but we're the last to be picked up… at 8.15 am. But can use hostel WiFi in the street.   In a long day of travel we visit in no particular order, a reservoir, Mount Aconcagua view point, Uspallata town, a statue of Christ the Redeemer and Puente del Inca.   The Cristo Redentor pass is 3854m - Higher than Mt Aoraki/Cook, the highest peak in New Zealand!

The sights are thrilling, (albeit the landscape is 50 shades of brown) the other guests we talk to are lovely, but the tour itself definitely meh.  Too rushed, the lady doing the guiding/ chat was difficult to understand (and she pretty well gave up later in the day). The driver was, frankly, scary - when telling stories to his new BFFs among the passengers he kept taking both hands off the wheel.

The return journey becomes a hot mess. First of all the air conditioning won't work, then it does. We stop for a bathroom break and fuel, then stop again for 20 minutes or more for more fuel.  No explanation (in English) for the delay. Finally dropped back at our base at 8.30 pm, where we do rather off load our angst on our friends at the hostel!

Wednesday 15 March some of our fellow hostel guests have organised a trip to go by bike to three vineyards, and we've signed up for that. Very useful hostel WhatsApp to communicate invites and info.  Sjoerd from Holland, Tedi / Amelia (she answers to both) from Finland, Katie from Canada and we get a city bus (cheap as chips but there's been a plastic shortage so we haven't been able to buy a bus card - Katie pays for us) for about half an hour to Lujan de Cuyo, pick up bikes and set off. Very flat terrain and we're on cycle paths,  not the road, but my saddle keeps sinking which makes it hard on the legs.

First stop is a coffee shop (Sjoerd and Tedi are feeling a bit 'morning after the night before') which takes forever, so we're 15 minutes late for our 11 am wine tour at Alta Vista Winery.  Disculpe, disculpe. Shown the wine tanks, then the cellar including where they store and riddle the fizz bottles, and the barrel storage for red wine (French oak). 

To a professional tasting area with spittoons and try five wines.   Pleased to see that Sainsbury's is one of their two UK stockists. Most of other guests are four American nurses and John spends time persuading them that New Zealand is the place they should go to live and work for a bit. Photos are taken 

and we're off to the next winery, Rincon Geico, for lunch - lovely setting on a raised  veranda overlooking the vines. We have a sandwich each and some very red rosé  / beer / lemonade, depending on our level of hangover…

Haul ourselves away to the third vineyard, Viamonte;  the vineyard has been going for about 100 years but they've only been producing their own wine for about 15 years. Five different wines to try, mainly reds.

Ride back to the cycle rental shop, have our photo taken for their social media, and get the bus back to Mendoza.  According to my app we've cycled 11 Kms today - its been warm, so definitely in need of a shower!  I sit next to Tedi (who's in her mid 20s) on the way back and have an interesting chat about how attitudes to and the rights of women, gay and trans people have changed since the 1970s.

We spend the evening sitting outside and watching lightning until thunder and then heavy rain start and we retreat inside.   Share photos of the day with our fellow cyclists on WhatsApp and say farewell as we're back to Chile tomorrow.