An exciting lead up to our return to Canada!

(Mar 18, 2013)

Tante Heloïse and I have just been having the most marvellous and busy time! 

We arrived in Mendoza to our small hostel suite and found ourselves immediately surrounded by people who wanted to help make our experience in Mendoza amazing! Francisco, at our hostel, immediately set to helping us find restaurants and plan our wine tours and jaunts into the nearby Andean landscapes. After a quick snack of llama sausage, avocado, and cheese that we toted with us from Cafayate, Tante Heloïse and I headed out to what would quickly become our favorite Mendoza haunt: The Vines.

I had learned of the Vines during my various investigations leading up to the planning of our Argentine adventure. When we arrived we were greeted by our sever, Augustina, who led us through our first Mendoza wine adventure – The Vine’s blind tasting. Tante Heloïse and I were fascinated by all of the tasting and production information that Augustina shared with us and we scribbled notes frantically and enthusiastically as we tried to guess what wine varieties we were tasting. When all scores were in, we did pretty well and Augustina returned to our table with a few extra bottles just to try for fun. She sat with us, laughing and chatting about the ins and outs of wine until the chairs around us were being stacked.

The following day Tante Heloïse and I hopped on the city bus and ventured out to the Lujan de Cuyo wine growing region of Mendoza. We spent the day gliding through the shady countryside on bicycles as we moved from winery to olive vendor to absinthe/caramel/tapenade/chocolate vendor to winery. And while things got a little dicey when rush hour coincided with the end of our tour, we both did very well on the bikes, which was especially impressive based on the fact that Tante Heloïse had been out of the game for a few years (she says 40). We navigated our way back into town via city bus and dashed back to our ‘spot’ to embark on our ‘Blending Lab’. Augustina was eagerly waiting for us and led us into the beautiful ‘blending lab’ room where we further explored the science of wine flavor profiles and typical blending compositions. Tante Heloïse and I each had the opportunity to create two blends from the Merlot, Malbec, Syrah, and Cab. Franc. Provided and it was a close race to see who’s wine would be bottled! Augustina said that we both did very well and was surprised at how seriously we took our responsibilities as ‘temporary winemakers’.

Our second day in Mendoza took us outside of the city on a tour that led us up among the glacier-capped peaks of the Andes along the Chilean border. En route we passed through a series of Inca structures along the inca trail, and enjoyed a delicious hot chocolate and alfajore (a typical Argentinian caramel and chocolate cookie) as we fought the wind amongst the high mountain peaks. That evening I was determined to enjoy a typical Argentinian Asado (BBQ), reminiscent of the amazing dinner I shared with Peter in Ecuador, and found quite an assortment of grilled innards at a restaurant downtown. Tante Heloïse observed with interest over the top of her massive (normal Argentinian-sized) Sirloin steak, letting her sense of adventure get the best of her as she dared to try the grilled intestine, liver and blood sausage. I ate all the weird bits first with the idea that they probably wouldn’t be as good the next day for ‘round two’.

On our third day we enjoyed a very luxurious and educational wine tour with Adam from Mendoza Wine Camp, that ended with a bit of unfortunate tomfoolery. We visited three beautiful wineries with the highlight certainly being the tasting at the Gimenez Riili winery, where we toured the facilities with the owner, Federico, sampled wine straight from the barrel, melted over his mother’s secret empanada recipe, and sampled the Asado (BBQ) sizzling on the lawn outside. After a delicious 5 course lunch at the third winery I made the unfortunate decision to try wading into the sparkling lake that surrounded the restaurant, only to find it a sludge-filled sulphur pit. So much for appearances! The ride home was unpleasant but I we all had a great sense of humour about it all!

We left Mendoza and headed for Buenos Aires to enjoy the final 4 days of our adventure! And what an adventure it was! Almost as soon as we arrived in the city and checked-in to our very hostel-like hostel, we headed out again for our wine tasting at Anuva Wines. We climbed up through the unmarked and mysterious black door to arrive at a beautiful loft apartment set for an English-only dinner party! We met some wonderful people and were quite a hit with all of our stories straight from wine country!

We started Tuesday off with a wander through the Recoleta Cemetary (yes, we saw Evita’s grave and no, it wasn’t all that spectacular) and went on a slightly unfruitful excursion to find interesting art galleries and museums that were open. We did enjoy our time at the Recoleta Cultural Centre, the grand mansion space of the Museum of Decorative Art, and the Evita Museum, but had our day interrupted by a near-theft opportunity.

As we were walking near the Japanese Garden it appeared that a bird had ‘gifted me’ in an incredibly foul smelling way. Luckily for me (I guess) a pair of very enthusiastic by-passers were on hand with napkins and water to help me clean up. It was all very disorienting as they continued to spin me around (‘there’s more here!’) and we only wised up to their plans when Tante Heloïse money fold fell out of her previously closed purse. We realized in time that we had been near victims of the well-reported ‘squirting scam’ and managed to escape with all of our possessions in hand.

We went for a disappointing dinner at La Cabrera Steakhouse (bad service, disappointing food) but salvaged the night with an exciting time at a local ‘milonga’ Tango space. Milongas are where Tango enthusiasts go to enjoy Tango into the wee hours of the morning and Tante Heloïse and I were the only tourists in the joint and closed the place down as the professional tango dancers and band held us mesmerized.

The morning brought us the gift of bed bugs and we spent the first half of the day frantically bagging and un-bagging all of our clothes and luggage and jumping from room to room, hostel to hostel. In the end we found a more comfortable hostel a few blocks up the road (luckily for us) and had time to visit the colourful neighbourhood of La Boca, albeit in a  bit of a daze from the morning’s activities. We made up for our lost time on the following day, fitting in a brisk walk through the antique shops of the San Telmo district, the trendy residential Puerto Madero neighbourhood, and shopping along Florida Street in the heart of the downtown core. As we walked along we encountered marching bands driving and playing throughout the city – apparently we picked a protest day to take in the sights! We finished up the night with an uninspiring meat and cheese plate experience at a Picada restaurant near to our hostel and fell, exhausted, into our lovely and clean beds.

Our last day we spent again winding through the shady streets of Palermo, on another fruitless hunt for inspiring art galleries. We ended our hunt, slightly dejected, with a delicious lunch in the heart of the ‘barrio’. Apparently Palermo does food and clothing best. Tante Heloïse and I are taking all recommendations for how to find the underground art scene that goes beyond the tiles and colourful street art in the city’s subway!

After all of our excitement I wasn’t quite sure how I would be able to follow it up over the rest of my 1.5 months of travel through Patagonia. A last minute decision to return home for family and job-hunting reasons has led me to where I now sit, typing my last blog. It all starts and ends with BC Ferries…

Thanks for following my grand adventure! I’m now embarking on a new adventure into the ‘real world’ and though I won’t be keeping you posted with play-by-plays on my blog, I imagine that it will be just as challenging and exciting as my journey through Latin America over this past year and a half.

Love to you all –

Robin