Our last day in Buenos Aires was a lazy one spent walking around our neighbourhood, sunbathing and saying goodbye to the friends made in our hostel. We then boarded our overnight bus for the 1,050 kilometers to Mendoza.
Day 14
At 10am we arrive in Mendoza. Hugging the base of the Andes mountains, Mendoza is a stunning city with a relaxed atmosphere absolutely obsessed with wine. After our journey, you could not imagine how idyllic our hostel appeared to us with its vines (picking grapes from which is actively encouraged), swimming pool and free wine! I´m proud to say we did nothing else but lounge all day in the shade of the vines drinking glass after glass of the local Malbec. It was during this blissful afternoon that I finally finished Margaret Atwood´s Year of the Flood. I´ve now moved on to King Lear. The girls love nothing more than to hear Tom and I loudly acting out each scene.
(Grape picking)
That night the hostel hosted a wine tasting evening with Tapas. I think the general opinion on the local varieties was that we all loved the Malbec, I loved the Cabernet Sauvignon, the Merlot was ok but not that special, the Chardonnay was surprisingly good (we had low expectations) and the Torrentes was way too sweet.
I got talking to a French family during the wine tasting and we ended up discussing the differences between the French and English versions of liberalism (as you do). Unfortunately, I´d had rather a few glasses of wine by this point and mid-conversation darted out the room whilst singing French nursery rhymes. I carried on down the street singing away, stumbling here and there in search of food. To my utter shame I returned to the hostel a few minutes later clutching my McDonalds and immediately fell into the wine tasting table smashing a very nice Merlot in the process. Collapsing on a chair I nibbled away at my Big Mac then was promptly sent to bed. (Note: Tom was actually much more drunk than me, but didn´t embarrass himself)
Day 15
We passed the morning strolling round Mendoza. After having been completely destroyed by an earthquake 150 years ago, the city was rebuilt with safety in mind resulting in wide tree lined avenues, delightful plazas and few buildings over two stories. One of the few buildings to break this rule though is the town hall which we climbed for some pretty impressive views of the town and the Andes mountains. The same evening we returned to the roof-top terrace of the town hall for a free cultural event which involved more glasses of the local Malbec, a band/singer playing tango music and a view of the sun setting behind the mountains. In the distance we could see a thunder storm and the forks of lighting appeared to illuminate the sky in time with the music. Thankfully the storm passed Mendoza by and we continued to bask in the warm evening air.
Back at the hostel I cooked my signature lemon risotto with chicken milanese and followed this with a shop-bought giant donut. From the sublime to the ridiculous! Needless to say this meal was accompanied by more wine...
Day 16
Grabbing a bus we arrive in the amusingly named village of Maipu - the gateway to the region´s vineyards. We rented some bikes and spent an unbelievably idyllic day cycling between various vineyards sampling their wines. The second vineyard even let us eat some of the grapes from their vines, which tasted so much better than those bought in the shops. With grapes that good the actual making of the wine can´t be that hard at all!
Our final stop though may have been a mistake. Following a recommendation we made our way to a vineyard specialising in jams, chutneys, CHOCOLATE and liquors. Having had our sense of etiquette weakened by the previous glasses of wine we somewhat devoured the samples on offer. I became especially fond of the almond-flavoured dulce de leche and could have drunk whole glasses of the balsamic vinegar on offer. The mistake though was Tom and my choice to try the local absinthe. Several hours later I can still feel the intoxicating burn in my throat.
Having many left-over ingredients from last night, in the evening I cooked chicken Milanese again but this time with a pumpkin and roquefort risotto. Nonetheless I had some food envy when the mother of the French family made her own stock from last night´s leftover bones. Who has the strength to do that at home let alone on holiday!
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