Day 119 - Mendoza, Argentina

Woke up to a very pleasant surprise this morning - it was 7:30am which meant I had a full 9 hours sleep on the over night bus and was only an hour away from Mendoza. Turned out to be the 'shortest' longest bus journey ever.  I had slept like a baby and Nat had slept pretty well too. I even managed to avoid the toilet for 14 hours too. Bonus!

We traveled over 1100km from Buenos Aires to Mendoza almost crossing the whole of South Americ, albeit at one of the narrower parts and still 250km short of the whole way. 

 

We awoke to a gorgeous sunrise and great views of the snow capped Andes. 

Big news from home. No - not that the folks had landed safely without their plane disappearing. Bigger than that - the Hard Rock glasses we posted on New Years Eve had finally arrived. Talk about snail mail. I liked the description by my Dad who gave us running WhatsApp commentary of 'the opening of the package'. First comment was "some of them sound a bit poorly". Followed by Sydney OK. Bali OK. KL Ok. Phuket OK. But "poor old Singapore".  Still 4 out of 5 not bad. 

At least we know a fair few people in Singapore to send us a new one and I have a shard of glass to prove I got one!  

The collection so far from this trip, 8 whole, one broken, plus the two I sent home with Caroline and Dave. Good haul so far. Only one new one to go though. 

Once in Mendoza we get a taxi about 15km South of the city to Characas de Corias and arrive at our hotel which was rather disappointing. Now I must admit we went against our usual protocol with this one and booked a hotel without a single review as it was new. However it turned out to be a too new i.e they are still building it. The room was old and shabby too and at $120 a night terrible value (it's called Fincha de Octavia by the way - avoid it!)

We have a walk into the town to grab some breakfast and start some research on cancellation policies of our hotel, new hotels and vineyards to visit in Mendoza. We soon turn into a tired depressed couple when we learn it's £180 to cancel the hotel and most vineyards are closed on Sundays, the first of our three days here. Rubbish hotel, pool that is a building site and no wine. Not quite what we had planned. 

Luckily we get an email back from booking.com shortly after saying they had changed our reservation without charge. Starting to love the benefits of being one of Booking.com's best customer this year! Things were looking up when we found a tour with 'trout and wine' that operated on Sundays too which, despite being $160 each, looked amazing. Things had quickly took a turn for the better. 

After breakfast we explore the quaint little town for a bit. There are little bodegas all around that are really cool. 

On the way back we stumble across a great restaurant for later called Dantesco. Must be great if it's got Tesco in the name right?

After a few hours sleep we head back out into town which is a very pleasant half hour walk from our hotel. 

They have a lovely little square in the centre of this tiny town with a church that is heaving for a Saturday night. 

We have a couple of drinks at Viamonte where they had one of the nicest beers we have had in a while called Warsteiner. So nice to have a beer with some taste for a change.  

After, we head to dinner at Dantesco which turns out to be absolutely top notch. One of the best restaurants we have been to on our travels so far and fantastic food. Also, naturally for Argentina, fantastic value too. You really do get amazing wines here for £6 per bottle easy. 

I struggled with choosing from the amazing menu and then remembered I am on a bife de chorizo only diet. Easy!

Nat's trout. 

Nat's trout's head. 

After we have a nice walk home on a perfectly clear night and the stars beaming in then sky, walking off our dinner. We FaceTime Pete and Selena when we are back to see their tanned goggled marked faces. They sound like they are having a great time despite Selena having to constantly wait for Pete to catch up. Lucky for a Pete she isn't ski bitch. ;-)

We then hit the hay looking forward to our wine tour tomorrow starting at 8:30. Just the small matter of checking out, getting back into town and checking into a new place first.