Mendoza

I was really looking forward to Mendoza. We had heard so many good reviews about it. Unfortunately it would have been better earlier in the Fall, when the leaves were just turning and it was *warmer*.

As with every other country we've been this year, the weather was freaky. It was around zero degrees and we have snow our first full day in Mendoza.

Fortunately for us, there are hot springs outside the town a ways in a place called Cacheuta. Cacheuta was a somewhat depressing little town on a deserted railway line and when we arrived, it took us and some other tourists about half an hour to locate the thermal baths.

There was both public access, as well as a hotel that had a nice day package with bathing, a buffet lunch and a massage at the end... Which do you think Rocky and I were looking for?

Anyway, you would think a hotel would have a sign at the entrance of it, but no. It appeared they went to great lengths to make the hotel as difficult to find as possible. We ended up walking through someone's backyard and down some rickety stairs and into the servants quarters to access the hotel.

But we found it!

The baths were really hot and soothing. The setting was very pretty too. The lunch was delicious! And the massages were... okay, but what do you expect for twenty bucks. Ultimately, it was a great way to spend a snowy day in Mendoza!


Wine tasting
The next day was cold, but sunny, so at least we were able to do the wine tasting tour. It wasn't really an organized tour, just bike rentals along with a map of the winery locations.

We took a bus out to a suburb called Maipu where many of the vineyards are. At the bike rental shop we met up with some girls from our hostel, two Americans and one Swiss girl.

The going was very slow at the start as one of the Americans didn't know how to ride a bike?! She decided to just stay and drink at the first vineyard we hit.

We ended up just having time to visit two wineries: Tempo Sur and Familia di Tomasso. I wouldn't say I loved any wines that we tried... especially not the award winning ones seeing as I dislike the taste of Oak in wine.

But it was fun. The two wineries were totally different, one modern and snobby, the other totally old school, family run and very friendly.

I really feel like our day did not Mendoza any justice, so maybe we'll return in the early fall or spring one day.

For the full Mendoza photo album, click here.