After already visiting and loving Buenos Aires, I almost expected the same for Mendoza, but it was... bland. Not too much beautiful scenery, just some run down buildings and mountains, not even pretty ones like the Andes!
Day 0:
Climbed Cerro San Cristobal, a hill by my apartment, in the morning, and left for Mendoza that evening!
Day 1:
The first day, we were going to go to the Thermal spa and hike a hill, Cerro Arco, to eat an asado lunch at the top. After walking about 45 minutes to the bus station, we found out we missed the bus and needed to wait an hour and 15 minutes for the next one to take us 1.5 hours to the spa, so we ditched that idea, and headed for the hill to hike. After the bus dropped us off on the side of the road, we walked about 25 minutes on a rocky path to the bottom of the hill, where we saw a restaurant. Turns out, there is nothing at the top of the hill, and the asado restaurant was right in front of us! We didn't even have to hike to get some good food. ;) So we decided to eat lunch and then decide if we wanted to hike up the hill. I was secretly hoping that we would all be too full to hike, being the hiker I am (not).
The food. was. delicious. Basically what I had been wanting my entire time at Chile! We ordered 4 portions of "parilla" or an assortment of grilled meats for 7 people, and it was enough. The waiter came out with 2 mini stoves/grills full of steak, ribs, blood sausage, and other random meat that we instantly devoured along with salad and bread. The wine was supposedly really cheap as well - around $4 a bottle, so the table ordered 3 bottles. Since I don't like wine, I wished that they had the same deal for some smoothies as well! I mean $4 for a giant bottle of strawberry-banana smoothie would have made. my. day.
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| Photo Credit: Ron Rosenburg |
After our lunch, the boys decided to run up the mountain, and the girls (thankfully) wanted to go home. We went to a super cute cafe, where I ordered cafe con leche (shocker, I know) and we just sat and had a great time. I wasn't even hungry for dinner!
Day 2:
Ziplining, hiking, and repelling! Yes, I did ALL those things! I am becoming quite the outdoors-y type ;). The Argentina Rafting company picked us up from the hostel (where they had delicious crepes con dulce de leche, lemon, and honey, so good), and drove us about an hour away.
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| Best hostel breakfast I've had! |
Although the mountains weren't breathtaking, the scenery was still beautiful! We first hiked about 45 minutes to a cliff, where we were going to repell.
It was a lot higher than I expected! I was freaking out at first, when the tour guide was like "just lean back, you're safe!" but I saw my death before me. Needless to say, it was awesome, and when I got to the bottom of the cliff, the tour guide said I was the best. ;) I might as well backpack through Europe now!
After we got back to the main center, we had a delicious lunch, basked in the sun, and relaxed before ziplining, which was so fun! I had already ziplined in Juneau, Alaska, so I was familiar with the "ropes" (get it?), but it was still a little scary the first time.
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| Basking in the sun |
For dinner, we went to a restaurant, Anna's Bistro, where I ordered skirt steak in chalot sauce, and potatoes, so good!
Day 3:
Biking through Wine country on Mr. Hugo's bikes. We rented bikes from Mr. Hugo himself, got a map, and biked to different wineries! Tripadvisor had hyped it up a lot more, but it was still a fun day. Rather than biking through the scenic wine country of South America, it was more liking biking through a rundown street with construction and some dirt-y mountains in the far distance. We then had lunch at the "Beer Garden", where the only things on their menu was beer, pizza, and empanadas.
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| Photo Credit: Ron Rosenburg |
I realized I barely have any pictures from Mendoza, whoops! Sorry guys.
All in all, I had a great time with some awesome people! I am feeling the travel bug inside me unleash and I can't contain it! That being said, I am ready to go home. I miss my family, friends, bed, and home! 3 more weeks!
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