But I caught the overnight bus, and managed to get a bit of sleep while on the road. As we crossed the long flat land towards the mountains, the night sky was lit up by electric storms in the distance: rather dramatic - and perfectly in tune with my mood.
Arriving at Mendoza felt like a real anti-climax, and as I walked through the deserted down town area at 9am on a Sunday morning, it felt too quite. Like being in a horror movie - picture the start of "28 Days Later" and you`ll know how it felt (OK - maybe I exaggerate slightly :-).
I also felt really drained and tired and looking for a place to stay felt like a chore. Someone had recommended the Mendoza Inn - a Hosteling International place, but it wasn`t in the book, and after some wandering around I finally found it. Unfortunately it was full.
They recommended the place next door - which was in the Planet - so I decided to give it a try.
I just wish I`d known what it was like before I went through the door - if I had, I`d have gone somewhere else.
It was the worst hostel I`ve stayed at. Sure - it had common areas, but (as I would find out that night) there was absolutely no life. The rooms were jam packed with beds - a normal hostel would have had 6 beds - rather than the 8 crammed into the room. And it was really hot, with the world`s biggest fan keeping the turgid air moving.
Don`t even get me started on the state of the bathrooms.
Felling slightly fed up, I went for a wander, and ended up at the Aquarium - which turned out to be nothing more than an underwater freak show. They even had a huge turtle in a tiny tank. It was heart breaking - I felt so sorry for this majestic creature that was clearly trying to swim through giant ocean waves, but just kept bumping against the glass, while people pointed and took pictures.
So I wandered through Mendoza, which is a really nice place. It`s success is wine - and the exceptional rock climbing, mountaineering, and walking that`s in easy reach. It also has the perfect climate: it hardly rains here, but the town is still green because of a clever irrigation system that keeps things watered.
Downtown Mendoza - so green for a place where it hardly ever rains:
Just one of the five main squares:
One of the banks:
You can read about Mendoza using the link above - but in summary: it was destroyed by an earthquake in 1861 - so they built a completely new town, with wide streets so if there`s another earthquake people can stand in the middle of the street and not get hit by rubble. They also have five squares where people can go and stay if the town is destroyed.
One of the wide streets:
And how you keep it green:
That night I went for Tapas along with a great bottle of wine, and as I`m sitting there eating (feeling shattered and slightly down) someone asks me what the World`s Most Dangerous Road was like.
At the next table are a couple from the Bristol, and as I know Bristol really well from my Uni days, it was fun to swop notes on the various places we knew.
It was great to have a good chat, and really lifted my mood somewhat.
And then it was back to the hostel to try and sleep. But the room was really noisy, and there were people coming in and out at all hours talking, singing, switching on the light, and I spent most of the night awake.
I felt tired the next day, but was going to do the one thing I`d been looking forward to - the wine tasting tour. Wine is something I`ve developed more than a passing interest in, and I was looking forward to trying the local produce.
The main wineries are about 16km out of town at a place called Maipu (pronounced my poo - which is rather amusing in a childish kind of way) to which you catch a bus, and then rent a bike.
Renee had already been to the tours, and e-mailed me with recommendations, which included renting a bike from Mr Hugo - great move, as they were all set up for rentals, along with maps and recommendations of where to go.
I met two guy`s - one from Manchester and the other from Leeds - and we ended up arguing over which is the best night out (sorry - but it`s Manchester).
We cycled along to the wine museum, which is actually a large scale working winery. The other guy`s decided to head off part way through the tour, but I was so interested I decided to stay.
After the tour you get to taste some of the wine, and I ended up chatting to the tour guide for about 30 mins on the wine making process. While I`d already got a fair understanding of the basic process, it was interesting to learn some more of the specifics, and it filled in some gaps and answered some of the questions I`d got.
It`s actually a really fascinating process. Half of the work is done by the vines, and the rest by the wine maker. It`s a complex process - half art, half science - because the base product changes year to year depending on the climate and amount of sun (terroir as the French would say (hope I spelled that correctly)).
A bunch of grapes - not any old grape - these are Cabernet Sauvignon:
And how they used to make wine: A wine press made of a cow`s hide, in which grapes were crushed by foot - and old fermentation pots:
How it`s done now:
French Oak Barrels - full of wine:
Modern steel fermentation tanks:
After that, I set off to visit some of the other wineries in Maipu. My favourite was run by a French couple, who produce only 70,000 bottles a year. The tasting included a good selection of the wines they make, including one of the top of the line wines they produce. It felt like real wine making, and the tour guide was excellent. I even got the answer to one of the questions they hadn`t answered in the wine museum.
The wine road:
And how you irrigate vines:
I also visited one of the olive oil factories, where I met a lady from Estonia who was in Mendoza to climb Aconcagua, but had been air-lifted off after suffering extreme altitude sickness and the on set of Pulmonary Edema. Her husband was still on his way up - which must have been scary, as a few days before some people had died on the way down.
As it was getting late I cycled back to Mr Hugo`s to drop the bike off.
My bike:
(As a side note, the Police drive along the wine route in pick up trucks and help people out if they need it. Which is kind of nice. I`d stopped at this point to photo the irrigation system pictured above, when one of these vans pulls up and they ask me if I`m OK. I got chatting to them for a while, although I`m fairly sure they were just checking to see if I was in a fit state to cycle back to see Mr Hugo :-)
Now one of the great things about Mr Hugo (and yes - it`s a little family set up with a real Mr Hugo) - and the reason you should go and pay him a visit if your in Mendoza and need to rent a bike - is because when you drop the bike off, he gives you wine - free wine.
It`s made by a friend of his, and (the red) is pretty good stuff. He even comes around and keeps filling up your glass and stopping for a chat.
And as more and more people arrive back, it turns into some what of a party.
I ended up chatting to quite a few people, including three really nice girls from Sweden.
The other really great thing about Mr Hugo is that he stops the bus outside his house, and makes sure you get on the right one. Just what you need after wine tasting and a few extra glasses (or four) of a good red wine :-)
So we`re chatting on the way back, and I end up spending the rest of the evening with the Swedish girls - including a trip to an ice cream shop.
After a fun day - I headed back to the dump which is my hostel and try to sleep.
And that was Mendoza. I`d definitely recommend it - it`s a fun day out...
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