Final report from Mendoza

After Jonny and I's Sunday Funday we had booked a day at the Thermal Spas, complete with various temperature pools, Jacuzzis, Sauna's, etc,  just outside of Mendoza. We figured it was our reward for me being sick and recovering and for him putting up with my sickness and recovery.  

As we were doing on research we discovered there are actually 2 spas that you can go to 1 - is the Termas Cacheuta, that is the one most people end up going to and all the tour companies will try and sell you deals to. These spas are actually a bit more of a water park and completely PACKED. Especially since this is their summer the place is overrun with families with kids, which was not exactly the relaxing spa day that we were looking for. Spa number 2 - Thermal spa is just a few kilometers up the road and tucked away within a really remote luxury hotel up in the Andean mountains. We choose to spend the extra dough and head to Spa number 2 for the day. Only a few tour companies in the city seemed to offer packages to this spa but lucky for us the one in our hostel did so we didn't get suckered into the kiddie water park "spa". Now alot of people get sticker shock when they hear how much the luxury spa day goes for, 300 Pesos each, but this includes your pick-up and drop-off from your hotel, 8 hours at the spa, a massive lunch, lockers, etc, etc. and really 300 Peso's still works out to be less that 70 CDN dollars and trust me this places was WORTH IT!

The van picked us up around 9am and we were relaxing in hot pool number 1 by 10am. We spend a few hours bouncing around between the various thermal pools, foot spas, cold springs and bubble beds before we started to prune up a bit so we relaxed in our land chairs and read our books/napped. Totally heaven and it wasn't even lunch time yet! At 1pm the lunch buffet opens and it was the most amazing spread we had ever seen. Argentinian BBQ of course, with about 25 other side dishes, a massive salad bar, bread bar and fresh fruit bar for dessert. 

View of Spa surrounding area

Lunch Spread

After indulging in the lunch buffet we walked around the hotel for a little while to take in the amazing mountain vistas all around us before hoping back in the pools for round 2. The afternoon was spent much like the morning, bouncing between pool to pool at our whim, but in the afternoon we also decided to get into the mud spas. Jonny had a great time lathering himself and me up in mud. After letting the mud hardened for a bit so that is could do whatever it is that mud is supposed to do for your skin we got into the showers to rinse off, but these were not just any showers, they shoot water at your from every possible direction and various pressures - again heaven.  After 8 hours at the spa it was time to head back into Mendoza, relaxed and refreshed. What a great day. 

Jonny the mud monster

Digging in for some more mud

Cedric also came to the spa

Once we got back we took our siesta (we really like those lol) and then the night was not over. Jonny and I had already decided that we were going to check out Bachi's, one of the gentlemen we had meet on the patio on our sunday funday the previous day, restaurant called Luna Mexicana. Kait and J.J. were also up for Mexican so they can with as well as Jena and Daniel, and super nice couple we had met in our hostel earlier in the week who happen to also be from Toronto! Such a small world. So the 6 of us head off the restaurant and who do we run into on the patio but Bachi and Jeff - mine and Jonny's friends from the day before. We set up at a big table in the picturesque back patio complete with Mexican style table clothes and Christmas lights strung through the rod iron staircase. We started just with some drinks and nachos, which were amazing- the food at this place was the best Mexican that I have had in a very long time. They make all kinds of different salsas and they grow and then pick their peppers fresh daily to use in the salsas. 

Enjoying some Mexican and Luna Mexicana

For our first round of drinks we were all going to start with a ice cold corona, however they only had 4 left so J.J and Daniel decide they would go with the Toc-Toc - and unknown drink on the cocktails menu just to see what it was. Turns out a Toc-Toc is a tequila shot, so when they arrived we decided to all get one and really start this night off right. And the rest of the evening seemed to progress in the same way. Jeff and Bachi, along with Bachi's  daughter joined us on the patio and before we knew it there was about 2 or 3 litre beers and 6 bottles of red wine empty on the table and it was 3:30am.  So far best night of Mendoza by far! We all stumbled home to get some sleep. At which point I felt really had for our new hostel roommate since the 4 of us stumbled in, lights came on, we attempted to fix the AC which for some reason had shut off and then fumble around to find PJs ....could not have been good for her sleep. 

Jonny getting into the bottle of Tinto

The crew at Luna Mexicana

The next morning we had to check out since we had were leaving to head to Buenos Aires that night - none of us were moving very quick (it may have been all the wine from the previous night). Finally we all got going to shower and pack up. Jonny was the first one ready so he headed downstairs to grab a bite and read his book and wait for the rest of us. About 30 mins later I came down asked about where we can store our bags for the day and then joined him in at the table. Jonny's bags were about 10-15 ft away from him in full view. He got up to go get something from his bag and then he turned to me and said "Babe, did you take the SLR camera out of my bag?" to which I replied "No, why" to which he replied "really?? Are you sure" and I can hear by the tone in his voice that he was serious and was not trying to pull my leg. In the time that he has been sitting there someone had opened his day bag and dug under his change of clothes and was able to get out the SLR bag (which also had both lenses and the memory card with the last few days of mendoza picks) and steal our camera! The zippers on his bigger pack had also been opened but nothing taken out. Immediately we went into recovery mode and started asking everyone around if the had seen anything. 

The craziest thing about the whole incident is that first off, its a really small hostel and very secure, there is no way for people to come in off the street because they keep the front door locked and only the receptionist can let people in which means that it had to be someone that was still in the hostel somewhere or one of the 3-4 people that had checked out and left in the 30mins Jonny was sitting there. Secondly, there were people around while it happened so whoever did this had some major balls to go into the bag. 

Both the receptionist and the hostel manager who were there at the time were extremely helpful and felt terrible about the incident although there was not much that they could do.  they called the police who were there within minutes and looked around the hostel. They even searched one guys bag and locker at the urging of the hostel manager who had felt that is was quite sketchy and had seen him wandering around awkwardly during the time it happended, but they didn't find anything on him. At this point we had pretty much given up hope of finding the camera, we still headed back with the police to file a report in case there is anything we can do from an insurance perspective but all hope of getting it back is gone. I am heartbroken over losing it - I mean we knew that at some point something would likely get stolen but I didn't think it was going to be this early and not that! It is especially  infuriating that it was another traveller, I mean if I was going to have something stolen it would be easier to stomach if it was someone living in poverty who really needed it more that we did. We are usually very diligent about locking our bags with little pad locks we bought but Jonny  hadn't put his on yet since we was still just a few feet away and it was so quiet. So one lesson - never let your guard down unfortunately 

After finished our police report, doing one final walk around the city and another siesta we still had about 1.5 hours to kill before we had to leave for our overnight bus to Buenos Aires so we decided to go to a tasting room, Vines of Mendoza, to try a few more local wines before heading out. After a few Torrontes and Malbecs we realized we only had about 20 mins to get back to our hostel, grab bags and cab to the terminal so we booked it and made it onto our bus just in the nick of time!

Enjoying one last glass before leaving Mendoza

Go here! Great wines and atmosphere

So that is our final report from our week in Mendoza - filled with highs, and couple lows, but overall and great stop on our tour.  And once we get off this bus we will see what Buenos Aires has to offer! 

OOO_Talia and Jonny