On the Mend in Mendoza (Finally!)

Plaza Independencia Park Entrance - Mendoza

Just before leaving Salta for Mendoza and I had this pain that started in my throat that was totally unbearable, like I was swallowing broken glass (when I could swallow) and along with it came some fever, body aches, chills the whole nine yards. In my true style I tried to ignore it,¨just a cold, it will be gone tomorrow ¨. After a terribly  uncomfortable overnight bus ride and 3 more days of unbearable pain and finally my throat just closing up I finally caved and went to see a doctor here in Mendoza (only cost be 20 buck!) and he confirmed what I pretty much knew - I had a big time case of Strep throat. He gave me some free Antibiotics told me to have some Tylenol, lots of water and only little alcohol (his words not mine lol) and then I would be good as new in a few days. Wellllllllllllllllllllll....... he was right!! By day two of my AntiB´s I was starting to feel like myself again - so I am finally on the Mend in Mendoza!


Since I had to spend the first few days of Mendoza trying to get better it was finally time to get to the good stuff.......WINE TASTING. Which we did - lots of! We decided to head out to the town of Maipu (pronounced my-poo) with our Kiwi friends that we met back in Bolivia to do a full day of wine touring. To get out to Maipu we took the city bus. After about 45 mins the bus driver pulls over and just says ¨Mr. Hugo´s¨ which worked out perfectly for us since that is exactly where we are going! Mr. Hugo´s is a bike & wine touring place in Maipu. There are many others also located in Maipu but we had be told by many that this was the place to go! Hugo is a old party dude and he greets you on the way in and the way out with a glass of his own home brew so we knew we would like this guy. Incidentally he also pays of the bus drivers to drop the tourists right off in front of his place so even if you ask the bus driver to drop you off at another tour company you will still end up in front of Mr.Hugo´s.

Mr Hugo's Entrance way 

Whole crew upon arrival at Mr. Hugo's

After indulging in some of Hugo´s home brew for a while the 6 of us got our bikes, red massive beach cruiser types and all us ladies got the ones with the little baskets on the front and then we headed out, map in had, to start of wine touring. We started out small with a brief tour through the Museo del Vine, pretty interesting to see the old wine making gear, plus they offer free museum wine to taste. After the museum we headed to the Olive oil making place ¨Entre Olivos¨ - their oils, spreads, etc were all AMAZING...but the homemade mustard was unreal. I wish I had bought a jar - rookie mistake. This place also made their own liquors so we each got two shots of our own choosing. I had a shot of the Dulce de Leche liquor and their mulled wine and then we hopped back on our bikes to head to Trapiche before it closed at 2pm. Still riding pretty straight by this point but it all changed after Trapiche.

Definitely don't go the wrong way!

Old barrels at the Museum

The tasting at Trapiche actually included a legit tour of the facilities - which were beautiful. Trapiche is a very large commercial winery that exports around the world. You can pick up their Malbec´s in the LCBO for about 10$. The place were the tour and tasting is however is where they actually make the premium Trapiche wines - jackpot! After about a 30min tour they finally brought us in for the main event and we sampled about 4 or 5 of their more premium wines before hoping on our bike again..... a bit more wobbly by this point. We headed back to the main gates to leave only to find them locked. In our wine haze none of us could figure out of we were to get out so Jonny and Kiwi Pete figure you must have to toss your bike over and jump over the rod iron fence (which they did). Then J.J called out from about 20m back..... ¨Hey guys the exit is this way¨...... ooops. Then back on our way.

Inside at Trapiche 

Entrance way

We decided to make out next spot the bodega (vineyard) where we had a discount for lunch - Familia Di Tomaso, which according to the map looked like it was only about 5 blocks away. Unfortunately the map was not to scale so we ended up with about a 6km bike ride ahead of us in the crazy heat. Luckily the ride included some amazing scenery and picturesque streets. First we dinned on some great Italian food and I tried one of their wines, a Torrontes, which is a type of grape native to Argentina and fabulous! After lunch we again indulged in a tasting which included four varietal from their Bodega. At this point the combination of wine and AntiB's put me in a very, very good....but loopy place. Perfect timing to hop back on the bikes! We rounded out the afternoon with tastings at Vina el Cerno and Mevi before heading back to Mr.Hugo's for some more home brew. Our bike ride home even included a police escort home. Apparently there have been some incidents in the area (bag slashing, hold up for cameras, etc) so in the evenings the tourist police give the stray tourists and escort back to Mr. Hugo's.

The beautiful streets on the ride

Jonny liked it I swear

Drunken biking and pic taking.... you can see the police escort in the back! 

After our day of wine tasting we headed back for a much needed siesta before heading out to dinner again with our Kiwi friends. We siesta'd until about 11pm - determined to get onto this Argentinian dinner thing -  before meeting up with Pete and Rachel. We grabbed some dinner and drinks in the very busy bar district with plans to get even more drinks later but by the time we finished dinner around 230am we are all beat so we grabbed gelato and headed home. 


The next day was Sunday, where most things were closed and we were hung over and tired, so Jonny and I planned just to get some food and coffees on a patio and really take it easy. We found a nice little place called to Aldea back in the bar district and it started out as a pretty casual coffee and patio but it turned into Sunday Funday for us. We met these two beauty older guys on the patio, one American. Jeff from Wyoming (he owns a few bars and restaurants in Jackson Hole so if you find yourself there check out the Mangy Moose) and Bachi, a local Mendozian who owns a Mexican joint here. They bought us some wine and we chatted with them for a few hours before Bachi gave us a ride back to our hostel. Plan is to go try out Bachi's Place tomorrow after mine and Jonny's spa day (update to come on that). 


OOO_Talia