Mendoza

In writing this blog I’m simply afraid that I will run out of superlatives to describe this great city, I’d say almost certainly say it has been my favorite so far! Arriving in Mendoza
having not slept at all on the plane was all a bit overwhelming getting there at around 10am and going from the much cooler and windier south up north where it was already reaching the balmy heights of 27 degrees at that time in the morning, I was looking forward to taking in some hot rays once again! After getting a taxi from the airport and arriving and checking in at the hostel Independenzia it was time to say goodbye to Stevie as he had to catch his bus back to Santiago from where he would fly home the following day (although the poor guy had his flight cancelled so had to stay an extra night but we’ve heard he’s home safe and sound now prob in bed with his gf Charlotte as I write this). It was a quick and somewhat emotional goodbye, we exchanged so now we are two. 

Lee was clearly shattered as was I so he went straight to sleep but I decided that I’d stay up as I was excited to explore the city a little and thought that I probably wouldn’t sleep that evening if I slept at that time. So Lee went to bed and I went out to explore a little. I was extremely tired and zombieish so I was especially aware that I should take extra care wandering around alone in a large unknown city. Asking the guy at the hostel for a map and places worth seeing, I realized just how central we were. Turning left out of our hostel lead almost immediately to the main square (Plaza del Indepenzia). This was a simply beautiful place with beautiful ornate lamps, palm trees, grassy areas and in the centre a huge fountain with about 8 jets spurting onto a big statue of a waterfall. I was so taken aback by the beauty of the place and the heat and tiredness that I barely noticed that some guy was just staring at me. I thought oh God, here we go I’ve just arrived and already someone is after me! I continued walking and he followed. I then saw a wonderful trio of native American Indians playing panpipes, flute and drums and stopped to take a photo and realized he was almost behind me. He looked fairly well dressed and about my age maybe slightly older so I was thinking what does he want? Is he gay and likes me or does he want to rob me?! Anyway so I just walked on back towards the hostel back to safety and looked round and noticed he had stopped following me which was a big relief so I continued on past the hostel in search of food and saw mcdonalds and subway! The first I’d seen since Buenos Aires which seemed like years ago but I decided just to get a beer and toasty and sit out in the sun. I was now feeling quite scared, the fact that Steve had left and that Lee was leaving me very soon kicked in and I felt somewhat alone and scared in this big city, what was I going to do when Lee left! I was also worried about how Lee would be without Steve as they got on well and it was going to change the dynamics and the mood. Next I had some guy asking me for money and then a dog sniffing around so all this just gave me the fear. Lee said that he’d be asleep for about 4 hours so I had lots of time to burn and since the guy at the hostel had recommended the big park to the north of the city I decided to head there and just chill out in the sun and wait for Lee until we went and did the sights. Heading towards the park I realized just how many squares (plazas) and parks there actually were in the city! Plaza de Chile was the first I came across and looking at the map I noticed that the plazas were symmetrically laid out at each corner of the main square and from the main square, a road straight up to the park and a pedestrienised road full of shops and restaurants with chairs and tables out on the road. How wonderful this city was I thought to myself, so well thought through and well presented.

I soon lost the intimidated feeling I had when I arrived having gone on a long walk in the park. I foolishly had put my flip flops straight on with a plaster over my blister but that soon came off. I wasn’t expecting to walk quite so far but it was a lovely park with some beautifully ornate wrought iron gates with a big golden eagle on top at the entrance and some lovely looking statues, fountains a large lake and palm trees, wooded and grassy areas everywhere. The entire park was a public place but also it was actually the campus for the university so there were students everywhere and people cycling, jogging, rollerblading and playing sport wherever there was grass. It was a lovely hot day and on return to the main plaza, I wondered just how they kept everything irrigated and so green, everywhere you went in the city the parks and roads were lined with trees. Along the sides of every road were large gulleys with water gushing to presumably all the water came down these gulleys from the mountains to irrigate the land down in the city and keep everything so green and lush looking despite the heat.

At the main plaza I continued to wander around and explore this grand place and was approached by a nice guy who offered me the tour of the park and the mountains in the brightly coloured bus I had passed earlier which I thought would be good for just 15 pesos even though I had just been to the park, I’d like to see the mountain too. I took his last flier and informed me and this Brazilian guy who he had been chatting to before that there was going to be big fiestas over the coming days and nights for the festival of wine that happens every year so it appeared that we had arrived at the most perfect time, the first night of carnival. After he left the Brazilian guy and I chatted for a good while in both of our second languages (Spanish) and had a fluent conversation without a single word of English muttered which I commended myself for and he was shocked that an Englishman had such good Spanish! We talked a lot about Brasil and Europe, Santiago de Chile (where he had come from on the bus), he showed me some photos and told me that there was a festival of Italy at Plaza Italia and we said our goodbyes. Plaza Italia is one of those I mentioned before at the four corners of the main plaza, the others being Chile, Espanol and San Martin (each very different but each as beautiful as the other). Oh I found out that the famous San Martin roads aren’t named after the saint but actually after some guy who liberated Argentina so that’s why everything is San Martin. Anyway so the festival was that evening as a celebration of Italy and since Lee was half Italian I was pretty sure he’d be up for it!

So I returned to the hostel to tell Lee of the news and we agreed we’d go check it out after dinner so we went on search for steak and wine. After a pretty good steak but not the best and half a bottle of wine each we headed to the plaza Italia where there was a large stage and stalls all around the plaza selling produce of Italy. The performance on the stage by primadonna, tenors, altos etc of all the classic Italian opera and some pop was fantastic and the wine from the stalls was great too. Both Lee and I fell in love with one of the singers as she was simply stunning but she didn’t have the strongest voice but still very good and able to hold her own. Once it was all over, I had been handed a flier for free entry to a club which I went along to since it was only 2 minutes from the hostel after a couple of drinks and a boogie to everything from reggaeton to Britpop I decided to call it a night and looking at my watch realized it was certainly time for bed! It was probably about 4am and on return to the hostel 3 guys were awake and chatting in the area outside. I joined them but I must’ve scared 2 of them off or actually I think they were just heading to bed. Anyway the other guy asked me to stay and chat and share a beer which I duly obliged. He turned out to be a very nice guy, perhaps in his late 50s or early 60s with a silver head of hair, we started in Spanish and then when I realized he was a Chilean who lived in Sydney, Australia, the chances are that his English was better than my Spanish so we changed to English and he told me all about himself which was fascinating. I really enjoyed chatting to him. Turned out he was doing Aconcagua (7000 metre mountain and highest in western hemisphere) tomorrow and he wasn’t even going to bed! He told me that he frequently goes to New Zealand to climb mountains and cross glaciers etc! I hope I’m like that at his age! He certainly had great fitness, stamina and mentality. I recall the first thing he said to me which I loved was I love to travel, that is my life and my passion which immediately made me like him. I got his e-mail and I will definitely have to look him up and find out how he got on up the mountain. After chatting for a while, I looked at my watch and saw it was 5.30am and I hadn’t slept at all the previous night!! He suggested I stayed up with him and had breakfast with him at 7 but I quickly declined, I needed bed desperately! Early night for me tomorrow night I thought although I recalled that it was the official first night of the wine festival with beauty queens on floats parading the city and a live concert and fireworks in the main plaza!

The next morning I woke with quite a hangover at around midday and since it was such a nice day and we’d already missed half the day we decided just to have a chilled one in the park and go on the brightly coloured bus el oro negro (the black gold) Id seen and spoken to the guy about the day before. This turned out to be a nice trip back through the familiar parts of the park where I had been to as well as extra parts I handed seen on foot. We then headed up the mountain and saw one of the most famous statues in Argentina (it’s on the back of a 5 peso note) which was an impressive stone and metal statue at the top of the cerro (hill) and there was a lovely view of the city up there too. All in all it was pretty good although the guided tour was all in Spanish so there were parts I didn’t get but the guy I’d spoken to the day before came and translated if I was unsure about any of it.

After being dropped off we went to look for some dinner and decided no wine since we were still so hungover from the previous night. We picked badly with the restaurant in settling for some awful set menu with some dodgy salad to start, the thinnest steak I’d had in SA (prob still same as you’d get in UK tho!) for the main and then some 30p choc ice still in its wrapper for dessert! Oh and the beer was flat to top it off! We saw 2 groups of people sit down and then walk off again when hearing the deal which is what we should’ve done! After this Lee declared he was knackered and off to bed as the concert wasn’t due to start til the floats and queens had been paraded round the city at around 11.30. I certainly wasn’t going to miss it and headed straight to the area where the people were lining the streets. After watching for around an hour, , trying to get a good view through the hordes of people, seeing all the queens from all the regions of Argentina and having all sorts of things being thrown at us such as fruit, fliers and even small bottles of wine I decided to head to the plaza as the concert was about to start. After sitting down and watching the intro I decided that since it was past midnight that I should head back to the hostel having been good and only one bottle of beer all day. Unfortunately this didn’t last and on returning to the hostel met a nice young English couple and a Kiwi who very kindly offered me to join them and share a beer with them. After a while chatting the fireworks went off so I ran to get pics and then they suggested we went to the road with all the bars and clubs, so not being one to say no we went along. It was a fair walk but when we got there you could see this was the happening area (Calle Colon) Colon street. The streets were lined with tables, chairs and people everywhere. We picked quite a funky little place which was actually a hostel and proceeded to drink beer and have tequilas. After a while there we decided to head back, again it was another late on for me, this time around 4am when we finally got back. I couldn’t believe the queue was only just forming for a club across the road as we were leaving! Just shows how late they go out here in SA! They were all really nice guys and unfortunately didn’t exchange details with the English guys, I got Russells (Kiwi) e-mail but was so drunk think I may have mislaid it but if we bump into each other again as we’re on a similar route then it was meant to be I guess!

The next day I slept late again understandably and again headed to the park to take some sun but it was so hot that no matter how much you drank you were still dehydrated (the hangover probably didn’t help) and then decided to go find an Irish bar to watch the FA cup, fulham v spurs game . On arrival at Believe the Irish bar down colon the guys had told me about the previous night, the guys happened to be there too. Should probably have guessed they’d be there too. After watching a small part of a boring 0-0 (surprise surpise spurs involved and yet another fa cup replay!) the whole street had a powercut so we didn’t even get to finish watching any of the games and the English couple (Jenna & Joe) and Russell left so we exchanged farewells and that was the last I saw of them.

On return to the hostel having earlier booked the bus for Cordoba, I met a nice French girl who I shared a bottle of wine who told me she had been in Cordoba and recommended me a hostel which I booked and then we were joined by a couple of guys, a Swiss and Brasilian (the Brasilian actually spoke English with a cockney accent having lived and worked in London and he had had a girlfriend from London) which I thought was quite funny. I was pleased when I found out that they’d both been to Ecuador and attempted to climb Mt. Cotopaxi but both had failed and I had made it so I had one up on them there. Apparently one of the most famous mountain climbers in the world who had done Everest tried and failed Cotopaxi which made me feel even better for having made it to the top! Anyway after all having a good chat there was talk of disco pisco. I had no idea what that meant but clearly they meant lets go to a club so I suggested that we went to the one opposite the bar I had been at last night as one of the locals had recommended it so off we went. We stopped on the way for a drink of fernet and coke which I had drunk previously with the guys from the hostel at Mar del Plata and so I knew what it was all about. There was me thinking you get a little fernet in the bottom and the rest coke like a vodka coke you’d get in England but oh no, out comes a full glass of fernet each accompanied by a bottle of coke! Apart from the fact that the stuff tasted like mouthwash and it was about 70% alcohol, I quite liked the stuff and did finish it albeit feeling rather worse for ware afterwards. After about half an hour in the club taking photos I don’t even remember taking and nearly falling over a few times, I decided it was time to leave. This time it was only about 3am so I was gradually getting better each night!

The next morning I didn’t feel as bad as I thought I might and even made it up for breakfast! After some more sun lounging at the plaza, I decided to visit the museum of modern art in the plaza (the most random art museum I’ve ever been to!). There was some cool stuff in there like a Che Guevara picture made of coke bottle tops (apparently he was born in Mendoza) but then there were some quite weird and disturbing things like a video of a man pouring petrol all over himself and his wife in bed and lighting it and himself! After that I returned to the hostel to watch the mighty Chelsea in the FA Cup beating Stoke quite convincingly 2-0 at the bridge which was much needed having lost the previous two! Drawn against villa in the semis which will be a test but I think if we do them then the trophy is ours! After this I went to the plaza and took in the beauty of it all again. It is simply an amazing place with so much noise, music, entertainment, street vendors and general liveliness. If I was ever bored I’d just go to the plaza as there was always something going on there, be it the native Indians, plays, music, singing or dancing there was always something! This was one of my favorite cities for this reason, the layout, the climate, the beautiful women everywhere and just the general liveliness and yet at the same time tranquility of the place. One thing we’re forgetting here is what Mendoza is mainly famous for which is wine! I decided that since it was my final day there the following day that I would definitely have to go try the wine tasting trip with the highly recommended Mr Hugo’s who provide bikes, free water, a map and free wine at the end. So I decided to get a nice early night, had some dinner and a beer with a nice Aussie guy I met and headed to bed. This was the first night I’d slept in the bed without being completely drunk so typically I couldn’t sleep and barely slept. It was strange sleeping in a room with 4 girls and made me feel a little uneasy for some reason. I actually was dozing off at one point then had a nightmare about Lee and woke up screaming. Not sure if I woke any of the girls but one of them seemed to be talking in her sleep which was freaky!

Next morning we got up, had breakfast, packed, checked out as it was unfortunately our last day and got headed to get the bus to Mr Hugo’s in Maipu. Lee had already done lots of wine tasting tours and not enjoyed them so I was a lone soldier on this trip (figured I had to get used to being alone now). Turned out all the guys on the bus I got on were heading to the same place and I’m so glad I met them because they all turned out to be legends and great people to spend the day cycling round vineyards drinking fine wine and absinthe with! There were 4 English including me, 1 Scot, a Dutch couple and a Kiwi girl, every one of them was so nice and we all got on so well that we all agreed to swap details and meet up again wherever we were going to be at the same times. I may meet the Scottish guy who was a great guy in Peru as he’s climbing Machu Piccu on the 23^rd of April which is the sort of date im looking to do it. Anyway so the wine was great, the company was great and the place was great. Unfortunately the weather was a little cloudy but I had really enjoyed myself and was very glad I had gone along. Unfortunately I thought I had to leave early as we had to get the bus to Cordoba I stupidly thought at 8 but it was actually 10 so I could’ve stayed with them til the end and got to know them all a bit better. I’m glad we all swapped details as I’d definitely like meet up with them all again at some point even if it’s not in south America. Even the Kiwi and Dutch guys were arranging that they were going out clubbing in Amsterdam when she visits Europe on her travels.

All in all Mendoza was just amazing, I absolutely loved it for many reasons although obviously it helped the fact that their yearly festival just happened to be taking place while we there, I just loved the vibe, the youthfulness, the layout of the city, the architecture, the mountains and the wine. I’d highly recommend it to anyone. Admittedly there are bound to be some crime and drugs problems as there is in every city but you just need to keep your wits about you and try not to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I definitely had the fear when I arrived but that was soon dispelled. It helped that our hostel was great for meeting people as it had a lovely big courtyard and great staff who spoke great English and even knew all about English football (one of them even had a Colchester United shirt which I thought was hilarious). I must admit it certainly grew on me because it did seem a little dirty and the toilets and showers were communal and you had to go through the downstairs and through the kitchen to get to the showers which I didn’t like at first but I was fine with it in the end.

On the bus now headed to Cordoba which has the oldest university in the country and is supposed to be similar in terms of a young, buzzing and vibrant city. The Dutch girl told me she loved it as she had lived there for 4 months and said I’d love it and recommended a club to go to which I intend to check out.