Mendoza, Argentina: It's Wine Time Again!

After Stellenbosch in South Africa, I wasn't sure anywhere could ever beat the world's prettiest, cheapest, best wine region ever (awarded by me).  Mendoza is Argentina's wine region, and I stopped through because it's a good stop on the way to Santiago, Chile.  It's an incredibly popular city to visit, so another 19.5 hour bus ride later from Bariloche, I was in Mendoza!

I treated myself to the fancier seats on the bus ride this time, which are $20 more but include meals, and the seats are leather and recline a lot farther. And they played super recent bootleg movies!  Except the bus man promptly turned the volume off and only left the Spanish subtitles.  Also, the man next to me kept tapping me to get out into the aisle, and the bus employee kept tapping me awake to serve me food, neither of which were pleasant in the middle of the night. Overall, the experience wasn't too bad, but next time I'm saving the $20 and just getting the regular recline-y seats.  I can apparently sleep like a rock regardless of what bus class I'm in.

Also, I've officially left Patagonia. Cries.



What It's All About:
Mendoza is better known as Argentinian wine country.  Located very west of Buenos Aires (I've made it back up from my foray to the super, super south of Argentina), it's also very close to the Chilean border.

Horse riding at sunset in Mendoza

There's three main wine regions in Mendoza, which are all pretty outside of the main city (a car really helps here!).  The city itself was not at all the Tuscany-like village I was imagining when thinking of wine country (is this what happens when you're traveling without having done any research at all?). It's actually a pretty big metropolis, with huge buildings and concrete streets and the works. But after a couple days easing into it, I actually quite enjoyed the city itself. Like the rest of Latin America, the main street is great for walking, and there are a plethora of parks and plazas where people are always hanging out.  But again, nothing like Tuscany.



Cliffnotes of the Day:

• Arrived in Mendoza in the early AM to make it time for my hostel breakfast (nom pancakes and eggs), where I ran into Nadine - she's a fellow traveler from Switzerland, who I met about a week ago at my hostel in El Chaltén and really hit it off with. She's seriously on the exact same travel schedule as me, going to the exact same cities, but about 2-3 days ahead. Therefore she left El Chaltén the day after I arrived, and then met me for a drink the night I arrived in Bariloche and left the day after, and now in Mendoza, we got to meet up for the third time! We had planned to be at the same hostel, and true to form, she was leaving the day after I arrived - but we got to hang out for a day (my stalking skills are on. point.)
• Nadine had already done a bunch of wineries by the time I got in, so the first day, we headed to some hot springs outside of town with other hostel friends.

So when someone says  "hot springs", do you imagine a more natural setting than a dozen or so concrete pools jammed to the brim with Argentinian couples and families?  It was actually kind of cool - all the pools were on different levels and were different temps and were surrounded by the valley - but it was a Saturday and there were SO many people. The BBQ area was basically packed to the brim with chattering people and slabs of meat. And children; so many children.

Nadine (Switzerland), Mattias (Germany), and Thomas (Austria)

• Next day, I signed up for a half-day wine tour. So, you know, I could actually see some of the wineries (because these things are NOT easy to get to from the city!). It turns out there were only two of us on the entire tour - me and a middle-aged man from Chile who was only on the tour to take promotional photos for his marketing company. So it was basically a private tour for me, since the other guy was barely listening (and didn't really speak English) and left the tour often to go snap hundreds of photos with his fancy camera. It was awesome, but intimidating. I tried to ask intelligent wine questions, I promise ("And how old did you say these French oak barrels were?").  For as many wine tours as I've taken, I seriously know zilch about wine.
• For our tour, we visited the Maipu area for wine - as I said, there's three separate wine regions, which are pretty far apart and pretty distinct.

First winery was the Bodega Toneles Winery. According to the guide, this winery was started in 1922, but then closed down. In 2002, an uber-rich family with no previous knowledge of winemaking (but oodles of money) bought it and started producing wines here again. Everything here is gorgeous and state-of-the-art, but it is fairly obvious that whoever bought this just threw shiz-tons of money at it.  I was like "How did they learn to make wine?" and the guide was all like "they pay people who know how to make it."  I mean, not your typical "loves wine, opened a winery" backstory but can't hate.

The wine in Mendoza is stored in these traditional concrete tanks. All of these tanks are restored from the super olden days when they were first used.

Our.....errr.....my private tasting room

"Do you taste the pepper?? DO YOU?"

• Second winery on the tour was the Cecchin Bodega, which is an all-organic winery.

Bodegas y Vinedos Cecchin! Another winery that was purchased and restored, and is now on its 3rd generation in the family. And I think these people actually had an interest in making wine.

Because it is all organic, the vineyards look super messy - the other plants and stuff grow next to the vineyards and act as a natural protectant from bugs and insects. I know it's a good thing, but I couldn't help but think about how messy it all looked. #ADD

Third stop was Carinae Vinedos, which is a French-owned winery. And at this point, I'd given up taking photos of all the machinery and vineyards. Here are some barrels. You're welcome.  This winery had cool wine bottles because the owner is into astronomy, so all the bottles have constellations and stars on the label.

• So, honestly the wine tour was great, I'm glad I saw them, and the wineries were pretty - but it was no Stellenbosch. Wine always tastes fine to me, so I can only judge on the basis of experience. The best part of the tour, to me, was when our tour guide invited us out for drinks with him later that night to show us local Mendoza. The other Chilean guy only showed up for a hot second because he was with his family and had to take the kids home, but I got to hang with the guide one-on-one. His name was Fernando, he was from Mendoza but had lived in Australia for 15 years in between, and he was awesome. He likes to take his guests out because he genuinely just likes meeting people. And the area he took us to was awesome - tons of outdoor bars/restaurants/cafes on a strip with outdoor seating (and everyone there knew him). It was an area of town I never would have found myself, but it was great getting to hang out there with a bunch of locals and Fernando and his friends.
• My last Mendoza day consisted of exploring more of the city during the day, then doing a sunset horseback riding/unlimited wine tasting/BBQ in the evening.

The central market of Mendoza - chock full of food goodies

Mendoza's wide, pedestrian-friendly city streets actually grew on me

Horseback riding time! My horse was like a bucking bronco. They should have paid me to stay on that thing, for serious

This is Mark (UK), one of my hostel roomies, and his horse - who he named Blanco. 

Shady grove riding

So we crossed this stream but we didn't really have to (we seriously crossed it, then crossed back over it 2 seconds later - it was purely for photo purposes, apparently) - and the horses knew it. Blanco basically refused to get in the water at all for awhile.

Riding into huge bushes, which my horse kept stopping to eat. And when I pulled him up from there, he basically veered into them and had them whap my face. Thanks, jerk horse.

But oh, the sunset was pretty

And after our hard work horseback riding (err..the horses' hard work?), we got unlimited delicious BBQ!  And a huuuuge jug o'wine. It was super fun getting to chat with everyone while munching on BBQ and guzzling Malbec.

Meal of the Day:
I think I had the same dinner every single night in Mendoza - a giant slab of Argentinian beef. They take their steaks here quite seriously (and they're quite well-known for it), as you usually order the meat á la carte and then add on any sides you want.

God I love steak.

Sadly enough, however, I forgot to take a photo of the best Argentinian steak I tried - so I took a photo the next night of this steak which was also pretty ok (but a little dry), but also slightly sub-par visually. I don't know why the steak juice looks so unappetizing.

Fun Facts of the Day:

• Malbec is the wine of Mendoza, or the wine that the region is home to.  
• Wine tastings in Mendoza are more equivalent to what they are at home - about 100 pesos (or $7-8), and 500 pesos if you include lunch. Some of the wineries do really nice lunches, and there are some that were recommended to me where the winery is apparently gorgeous and the wine/lunch is delicious - I just didn't have time (or the heart) to haul myself out to them on my last day. But in case anyone is here looking for some winery recs, they are Bodega Salentein and Ojo de Agua.
• Mosquitoes are back. I got eaten alive in Mendoza.

Bariloche, Argentina: Switzerland is in Argentina!

A 24-hour bus later (which honestly - wasn't that bad! They played movies and such, and the seats were super comfy and recline-y), I arrived in the city of Bariloche, Argentina!


What It's All About:
San Carlos de Bariloche, Bariloche for short, is a city in the very northern tip of Patagonia, probably halfway down the huge length of land that is Argentina.  It has great skiing in the winter, and is known as the land of a million lakes.  It's also basically Switzerland: rolling green hills, tons of gorgeous lakes, and delicious gourmet chocolates everywhere.  They style a lot of their buildings kind of Swiss-looking as well, which makes it all the more appropriate.

SWITZERLAND, is that you??? Not that I've ever been in Switzerland, but...

And appropriately for Patagonia, it was super amazingly stunningly gorgeous.  There are so, so many hiking trails - EVERYwhere - you could spend weeks here and not even hit up all the gorgeous trails.  Bariloche felt distinctly different from Southern Patagonia, and I was so glad I went.

Cliffnotes of the Day:

• Are we done hiking yet? Because the answer is that you're never done hiking.  Headed out the first day in Bariloche to Campanario, a super-scenic outlook that looks out all over the gorgeousness lake-world that is Bariloche.  It provides a 360 degree view, and all you see is lakes and mountains. SO. stunning.  I went with Thomas, an Austrian guy I met on the bus.  At Campanario, you can choose to take a ski lift chair up to the top, or it's a quick 30-minute hike (we opted for a hike. After two days of 6-8 hour hikes, 30-minutes seems like it rounds to zero).

View from the top of Campanario

Lakes everywhere!  Our hostel owner said this was voted one of the top views of the entire world; obviously I have zero idea what source that is or what basis they judged on, but I'll take it.

360 degrees of lake and mountains <3

We had a coffee at the café at the top, then rode the ski lift down.

• Next, we continued on the bus to a mountain called Llao Llao (which strangely, in their super-weird Argentinian Spanish, they pronounce "Shao Shao") - we started on a winding trail by one of the lakes, and then took a quick hike to the beach, then to the top of the mountain. It was supposed to be a super short hike, but accounting for all the other trails we wandered off onto, it was another 8-hour hiking day.

Some kind of fancy forest with fancy trees

Here is one of the beaches we stopped by, which was rock city. What kind of beach is this. 

Another overlook from one of the trails

And then we made it to the top of Llao Llao!

Look at this view!  I honestly don't think I could ever get tired of gorgeous views daily

Mountains, lakes, mountains, lakes, and mountains

Could we stay here forever

This one lake is super large and winds around Bariloche

Sunset over the mountains

• Last day, we thought we'd do one last hike - a popular one people recommended to us was called Refugio Lopez. I kind of agreed to do it without knowing what it entailed - and found out once there that is was ANOTHER 8-HOUR HIKE. At this point, the all-day hikes were getting slightly tedious and I'm not sure I was as appreciative as I would have normally been otherwise. The path was honestly really pretty, but the first half of the hike was flat so you knew you weren't really making any progress up the mountain: then the path FINALLY wound up and around the mountain with changing views of forests and rivers and such. My newly-minted hiking snob self was thinking that the hike could have been half the amount of time and been just as pretty.

River, meh. IMPRESS ME, I DARE YOU

Halfway up, there was a cool impromptu stone church thing

Valley views as we started to ascend

The mountain sat along one of Bariloche's million lakes

4 hours later.....the top of Refugio Lopez!

I look like I'm in a bodysuit and the water was so, so ice-cold.  I actually loved hanging out at the top the most. A refugio is a shelter-like place, so at Refugio Lopez, we each got a chocolate bar and a beer and laid by the water sunning ourselves for awhile. It was so peaceful and perfect that it almost made the tedious 4-hour hike worth it. ALMOST.

And then we missed the bus back to Bariloche by 2 seconds (it only comes once an hour). But on the bus we did manage to catch, there was the most stunning sunset out the window on the way back to town.

• That evening, and the next morning before my next bus out of town, we spend wandering Bariloche's chocolate shop mecca.  Seriously, there are so, so many amazing, ridiculous, gourmet chocolate shops here - they're beautiful and huge and usually have their own cafés attached, where you can sit and have a steaming mug of hot chocolate and pastries (AND BONUS! Usually they serve ice cream too!), and they also offer every kind of chocolate you could ever want.  

There's seriously a street downtown where there's choco shop after choco shop after choco shop. All different, all with a Swiss flair, and all delicious-looking.

IS THIS NOT THE WORLD'S MOST ADORABLE COZY CHOCOLATE SHOP EVER

Bariloche ice cream is also tops - it's open late, and there's so many amazing flavors. This was my reward to myself after the last 8-hour hiking day. Ok no it wasn't, because Bariloche is maaaaaaybe where I decided to resume my daily ice cream habit.

The next morning, I dragged myself to chocolate shop Rapa Nui to get myself a box of chocolates right before my next bus trip.

Don't judge me, but this is maybe a personal box of chocolates I got for myself for the bus trip. I kept telling myself I'd save some to give to new friends and roommates and such, but it didn't happen. One 19-hour bus ride later, this box was maybe depleted. And I maybe hopped on a train heading straight for diabetes.

Fun Facts of the Day:

• If you're wondering about all these crazy-long bus trips I'm taking, it's because Argentina is HUGE!  Also, the bus system here is the shiz - there are tons of different companies, but for the most part, the buses are SUPER nice and fancy and you can get anywhere you want (and they're expensive!  My 24-hour bus ride to Bariloche was $140).  But imagine the nice air-conditioned mega-coach buses with nice reclining seats and cushions and such.  On my 19-hour bus out of Bariloche to the city of Mendoza, I paid an extra $20 and got leather seats which reclined a ton farther (aaaaaalmost flat), meals and snacks, and movies. 

And they offered a bingo game!  I think the prize was a bottle of wine. Clearly I was not the winner.

• Frutilla = strawberry. They don't use the word fresa here. So when you're ordering ice cream, take note.
• President Obama is apparently heading to Bariloche on the 23rd or 24th of this month!

El Chaltén, Argentina: Stunning, Stunning Patagonia

From El Calafate, I took a quick 3-hour bus to the adorable city of El Chaltén.


What It's All About:
El Chaltén is another amazing town in Patagonia - known for its various famous hikes, it's located in Parque Nacional Los Glaciares itself and tucked SUPER cutely within the mountains. The town itself is super small (but growing fast from tourism!) - basically just a Main Street lined with the sweetest little cafés and restaurants ever. This town truly feels like an adorable, tucked away little ski village. I not only loved the hikes I took, but the entire feel of the town - I could have hung out there, surrounded by gorgeous mountains and cafés, forever.  This was definitely one of my favorite towns ever.

DOES THIS LOOK LIKE A POSTCARD?  THAT IS MOUNT FITZ ROY

There's two main trails that people come to hike - Mt. Fitz Roy/Laguna de Los Tres and Laguna Torre.  However, there are tons of other trails as well - you can even combine the main trails or extend them to do multiple days of camping/trekking (some people you meet here are pretty hard-core with their tents and hiking poles and all). For the most part, though, both the popular treks can be day ones (good, because I would have definitely failed the camping part given my complete lack of equipment.)



Cliffnotes of the Day:

Pulling into El Chaltén! Entering the national park - and look, it's surrounded by mountains!

• My first day, I chose to hike the most famous trail, Laguna De Los Tres - it's known to be the granddaddy of the trails and the prettiest one. I had wanted to save it for the next day, but the weather up here in Patagonia is incredibly unpredictable. If there's a nice day, you take advantage of it because the next day might be totally different.
• The hike itself for Laguna De Los Tres is 10km and is supposed to take around 7-8 hours in total.  The beginning wasn't too bad, as the trail kind of rolls up and down and has various beautiful viewpoints. There's also incredibly helpful markers and signs which indicate how far you've gone. 

First viewpoint from Laguna De Los Tres trail - rolling hills, winding rivers - Patagonia you are ridiculous

The entire time you walk up, you get different viewpoints of Mt. Fitz Roy

Around Km 4 or 5, there's a lake! And Mt. Fitz Roy looks like it's pretending to be a chimney

You also pass by cute little rivers the whole time. And the water is all drinkable!  I tried it out (against all the crazy voice in my head), and I am still alive today.

• When you reach Kilometer 9 (1km left!) of the trail, it gets completely ridiculous. The last kilometer involves a crazy steep rock scramble - it has tons of loose scary pebbles, and the wind was blowing like a maniac the day I went. The last kilometer took longer to get up than the previous 3 km combined.  BUT MADE IT.

HERE IS LAGUNA DE LOS TRES

The water is this absolutely gorgeous turquoise blue

Made it!

If you hike a little further along the lake, you discover another lake hidden behind the mountains to the left.  This one was super sunken-in and had dozens of tiny waterfalls flowing into it. This was my view while I ate my lunch.

• At the top, I ran into Jacob, who I had met on the glacier tour a couple days earlier - he was with a friend, and the three of us hiked down together.  All I have to say is, the last 2 kilometers were torture - you just get so tired of walking. I also maybe wanted to saw my knees off.  And then I hobbled around all night like a geriatric. 

But we saw wild horses on the hike down!

• The next day, I was planning on taking it easy, but it turned out to be another completely beautiful, sunny day. And my knees had kind of recovered after a good night's sleep, so I was like, "what the hell, I'll go hike Laguna Torre today." Laguna Torre is only 9km, but it doesn't involve any kind of insane rock scrambles, so it only took maybe 5-6 hours total.

Starting my path up, rock climbers!

My first glimpse of the mountains at Laguna Torre. I have to say, people say this one isn't as pretty as Laguna De Los Tres, so I wasn't expecting much. But obviously, it's still freaking gorgeous.

I hiked this trail alone the whole day (this photo is courtesy of a couple Spanish girls I ran into), which I wasn't sure if I would love. But I did. I literally just took my own pace, thought about issues, resolved them, got into fights with myself, resolved them, thought about great parts of trip and everything I'd done, etc. It was the best.

And just like that, I reached Laguna Torre!  The water isn't as pretty, but there's huge ice chunks floating in the water!

This was my chosen lunch spot today. There weren't that many people, and it was seriously one of the most relaxing hours I've ever had in my life.

And I made this rock pile!  Be impressed.

Zoom in on the crazy snowy mountains

Some of the peaceful hiking scenery on the way back

Overlook into the canyons

And the end of the hike overlooks onto adorable, adorable El Chaltén!

• I had booked a bus to a city at the end of Patagonia in the north called Bariloche - a 24-hour bus ride (ouch, I know).  It left at 8pm the next day, which left me with one last free day. I had planned to maybe go on one last baby hike or something, but the weather the third day was terrible (torrential winds and rain and no sign of the sun) - going to prove that the weather in this region really does change super rapidly. And at this point, I was just really glad I'd done the two main hikes.  So I maybe spent the day holed up in one of El Chaltén's adorable little cafés.

WiFi is notoriously terrible everywhere in El Chaltén, but this café had kind of passable WiFi (I use "passable" very loosely here).  But I did have the most delicious omelette, scones, and mint tea that I've ever had. I LOVED THIS CAFE.

• El Chaltén was truly an amazing, relaxing, adorable little retreat (minus the intense hiking, of course). After a couple of days, I loved strolling up and down its main street and stopping here and there for an ice cream or a tea in one of the shops.  The hiking was also some of the most stunning that you'll see in Patagonia - in my opinion, this town absolutely cannot be missed!