Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Day 21 - Mendoza, Argentina

Day 21. Thursday, December 11.
We awaken to quite a nice little breakfast for being on a bus; or any other form of transportation for that matter. The meals are comparable to what one would expect in a first class international airline meal. Everything reported about the quality of bus travel in Argentina is to be believed. This 13 hour ride goes much quicker than ½ of the 9 hour plane ride to Santiago. But let’s not think about that just yet because we’ve still got another one of those to go. Taking this bus was a great idea. For less than the cost of a night in a hotel we got 2 really nice meals and saved about $700 in airfare. We get off the bus and Walter is waiting there with our name on his sign. He looks more like a Juan or a Hector, but we will call him Walter. He doesn’t speak any English, and yet on the way to the room we are able to determine that he will be back in ½ hour to pick us up for our wine tour that morning. He drops us off at our bed and breakfast inn, The Hotel Bohemian. The lady at the front desk / coffee table is very nice. We go to our room and brush our teeth, sponge bathe and change our clothes. We make it just in time for Denise to get some coffee in the dining room before Walter shows up with our tour guide for the day. When Todd booked the wine tours he had no idea that we were getting private tours. BONUS FEATURE! Once in the van he introduces himself as “Ricky, Ricardo, Richard, Rick but I am not Dick.” We both immediately think “Ba-Ba-Loo” and are able to remember his name easily. He is very warm and personable and full of information. Ricky Ricardo has a degree in winemaking with minors in English and Tourism. He explains to us that within the past decade (after Mendoza switched its mindset from quantity of wines produced to quality and became one of the top 5 wine regions in the world) the young people of the region have come to realize where the future is to be for employment in Mendoza. Tourism has grown dramatically in the past 5 years here. People like Francis Ford Coppola, Ward Lay of Frito-Lay and Julio Gallo are just a small number of people who have invested in new wineries in this region. The province of Mendoza has more than a thousand wineries, referred to as bodegas, 300 alone in the immediate area of the capital city of the same name. Many of these have gourmet restaurants, provide wine tours, and some even provide very comfortable boutique accommodations. But the destination is about to go big time. While the city has only one five star hotel, another five are set to open within a year. Yes, the Hiltons, Sheratons, Marriotts and more are under construction. America has proven to be the biggest boon to the tourism industry with over 60% of all wine tours provided going to Americans. Today, we are touring the wine region of Luján de Cuyo. Now that we have gotten to know each other we arrive at our first winery: Benegas Winery. We are met by the public relations person who leads the tour here. She speaks of the owner, her boss, and his philandering ancestral history. Having big mouths ourselves, we embrace this candor. We see the little museum area with ancient winemaking tools.
These are pretty cool. At one time these were state of the art pieces of equipment. Were these pieces of equipment well received in their day, we wonder, or were there wars like Elias Howe and Isaac Singer fighting over sewing machine patents? Wait! We’re here for the wine! We proceed down to the cellar where it is too dark to take pictures, even with the flash it’s just not working quite right. We see the storage barrels and giant concrete vats that look like dungeon prison cells.
This would be a great place to film a castle dungeon scene. We are then
shown the modern equipment where they make their production wines. Then we move on to the tasting. We try several of their high end wines; all named after the owners children – the legitimate ones anyway. We then drink our four sample glasses, served with palate cleansing goodies and good instruction on deciphering the characteristics of the wines. All four = YUM. Now it’s time to move on. We travel to the second winery, Tapiz winery. This is one of the Gallo brothers solo projects. It’s a very new, very state-of-the-art winery and we are taken on a tour of the facilities. We are told about the various pieces of equipment like the conveyors that separate the branches from the fruit and the big red washing machine looking thing that separates them at an even finer level.
We see the giant stainless vats that are only working at 40% capacity right now. All around the courtyard there are old oak barrels that are being used as garbage cans. If you look closely here (or enlarge the picture) you can see one next to the fourth post from the right across the way. We even get a peek at some winemakers working in the lab. This would
prove to be a rarity because of the time of the season we are there. We are then shown into the tasting room. Our Tapiz guide explains to us that from a distance, this building is designed to ape the contour of the Andes in the background. She shows us pictures reflecting this but, since there is a cloud cover over the mountains, we cannot see this first hand. During the tasting (all of them great by the way) we discover that by engaging our guides in conversation we are offered even more wine. YUM.
Next stop: lunch. We stop at Ruca Malen Vineyards where the big event

here is the lunch. This vineyard is owned by the same people who produce the popular Alta Vista wines. We are treated to a 5 course meal; each course served with perfectly paired wines. The food is every bit as spectacular as the wine. The Argentine beef main course is so incredibly tender. Great meal and great wines.
Our last winery of the day is the Carmelo Patti Winery. We are met here by the wife of the oldest Patti son. At this stop we do not tour the winemaking facilities, but rather the vineyards themselves. This place is so full of charm and beauty. Here, look for yourselves:

This is where we learn about the grape itself and not just the process. They also have olive trees all around the vineyards. these have a different harvest season than do the grapes so it provides olive oil sales during the off season for winemaking. Plus, the trees force the vines to fight for sun and water and make them stronger. By rationing the water supply to the vines, the fruit contains less diluting
water content and tougher skins for heartier tannins. It is an absolutely wonderful end of the first day here; after the tasting of their wines of course. None of their wines are exported out of the country, so we’re out of luck there. After “relaxing” at the room for a while it is now 6:30 and we’re off to go find some dinner. No luck – every place is closed. We walk down the main restaurant drag and see the same thing everywhere: Cerrado. So we stop at the park and decide to wait until after 8:00 when we predict things will begin to open. We are now at the Plaza Independencia. It’s a beautiful park and we just sit and talk about everything.


Light turns to dark in the square. We take a walk around it now that it has come to life and is all lit up. We observe yet more vendors selling their stuff: same stuff – different city. We walk back up the restaurant row and find a place that looks nice and comfortable. We are invited to sit at one of the sidewalk tables by one of the army of waiters outside the restaurant and we tell him we’d rather go inside. Does anyone really like a constant parade of people cruising past their dinner table during the meal? We order the 2 things that Carlos told us we needed to try while in Argentina: Bife de Chorizo (new York steak) and Provoletta (a deep fried provolone cheese appetizer in a wonderful sauce). Great advise Carlos amigo! We get one order of each and share. He also urged us to try Bolles de Toro. Not a chance dude. Back at the hotel we sit under the kaleidoscope light on the deck and ponder and enjoy.

Day 22 - Andes Mountains

Day 22. We get up today excited about our excursion up into the Andes this morning. The continental breakfast is just as bad as the one in Buenos Aires: sugar bread and fruit. All carbohydrates. We need some protein. Well, we’re not going to get that. The tour bus shows up and we climb in. After about 30 minutes of driving to hotel after hotel we are finally able to get on the freeway and begin the journey. The “tour guide” asks for a count of everybody who speaks English and only 4 hands go up. The couple in the front row seats, directly in front of us, is from Canada. Everyone else on the bus speaks Spanish. We learn today to check the fine print on your travel agent’s itinerary. Just because the description says “English speaking guide” doesn’t mean that she’s going to speak English during the tour. Our “guide” goes on for literally 10 minutes speaking only Spanish. Then turns to us and speaks to us for all of 1 minute. Then back to Spanish. We stop at a giant lake and everyone gets off the bus. We approach her and ask what we’re looking at and she tells us that this is Lake Mendoza.
We get the bright idea that we should go and chat her up. Maybe if she likes us she will take more time being a tour “guide” to us as well. We engage her in conversation until everyone has to get back on the bus. Our plan has failed. Every time we get off the bus we are required to approach her and ask what it is we are looking at. We stop at a little snack shop / souvenir hut in the city of Uspallata.
We continue to one of the day’s main events. It is Puente del Inca. This is a natural stone bridge. Very colorful and beautiful! Scientists suppose that in ancient times ice covered the river and acted as support for avalanches of snow, dust and rocks. So the dust over the ice over the river would have served as a path for the sulfurous water and petrified the surface, so when the ice melted, the bridge remained by itself.
We continue up the mountain and pass a checkpoint staffed by armed guards. We ask and are told that since this is the road between Santiago and Mendoza, it is heavily guarded. Against what? Who knows, she’s busy again. We stop briefly as we get to a point where we have a good clear view of Mt. Aconcagua. For those of you who may not know, Mt. Everest is the highest peak in the world at an elevation of 29,035 feet. Then comes Mt Aconcagua at an elevation of 22,841 feet. The next highest peak in the world would be Mt McKinley in Alaska at 20,320 feet. People come from all over the world to climb this mountain. We get the idea that the reason we are rushed here is because the armed guards will not allow a bus to stop and unload here. We must leave before they catch us. This is exciting!
We make it as far up the mountain as we are going to today as we stop in Las Cuevas, a small village where we have lunch. We meet another English speaking couple (also fluent in Spanish) from San Jose, California at the lunch table. The buffet is alright as we are pretty hungry by now anyway. A guy comes along and asks what everyone wants to drink and brings the drink orders back. Denise gets up to walk around after finishing and Todd is still seated with most everyone else when the drink guy comes back around and tells everyone exactly what the drinks are going to cost today. The couple from San Jose translates this for Todd. The price is outrageous on its own - about $5 per soda. But when you pair that with the fact that everyone thought the drinks were covered with the package tour, there was a small uprising. “Including lunch…” means soda too unless it says “drinks available at an extra charge” or “sodas not

included” doesn’t it? Todd couldn’t understand most of his travel mates, but he understood what they were saying nonetheless. Most everyone stood up and started backing away from the very long table and spreading around the room. Todd followed this lead. Money was collected from a few disgruntled travelers but not from us, and about half of the others, as we filed quietly into the street and waited for our “guides” to arrive and unlock the bus.
On the return down, we stop at Pichueta Colonial Bridge. We exit the bus and the “guide” is too busy to tell us where we are so here you go. Now you know what we do. We get back to the city and our bus saves us until near last. We realize that we’re about 2 blocks from our hotel when the bus pulls over and the “guide” asks us if it is alright to leave us here. We don’t care. It makes sense with the way the one-way streets are lined up. Almost everyone who has exited the bus has slipped the “guide” a tip we have noticed. When it’s our turn to get out we just give the driver a simple “gracias” and head away. She should know why there was no tip from us. Our agent is going to get a letter about this company.
We have seen a lot of pizza parlors since we arrived in Argentina. We decide that tonight we are going to try one. We hang out for a couple of hours at the hotel and then, after 8:00, we go to the pizza parlor down the street. This would prove to be one of, if not the most, memorable dinner experiences of the entire journey. We enter at 8:15 and the place is empty. We sit in front of the jumbo screen television and watch a Bee Gees concert video. Our wonderful server comes to our table and gives us menus and, and even though she speaks absolutely no English whatsoever, it is no problem ordering beer. Ordering the pizza itself would be the sticking point. The great thing about this waitress is that she talks to us non-phased, as if she understands us completely and is merely responding in an entirely different language. She doesn’t flinch, she just keeps repeating herself and talking away like she’s talking with her friends. It is very challenging trying to communicate here. The entire menu is in Spanish. No English added. What are these toppings? We don’t want another bowl full of hard boiled eggs. Using the 30 Spanish words in his vocabulary, Todd proceeds to ask her which pizza is their #1 seller. Once this question is (we believe) understood by our gal, she speaks while touching 3 items on the pizza menu. She taps one of those items twice. We have a winner!! We order one of those. Now… there are 3 sizes available now for that pizza: 6, 8, and 12. Todd holds his fingers out in front of him and makes 6”, 8” and 12” circles and decided that 12” of pizza will do just fine. He doesn’t hear that Denise is telling him that those numbers are not inches - they are slice quantities. So, when the pizza arrives and is HUGE, Todd is amazed and Denise has her “Told ya” face on. Looking back, Argentina being on the metric system should have come to mind when thinking about a 12” pizza. Well, 4 pitchers, 12 slices and 3 hours later, the Bee Gees have turned into Donna Summer and we call an end to the evening; returning to the hotel's deck to unwind and enjoy one last evening.

Day 23 - Uco Valley Wine Region

Day 23. Saturday, December 13. Surprisingly, we do wake up in the mood for a day full of wine. Ricky Ricardo picks us up and we head out to the Valle de Uco region. Looking out over the Uco Valley is this South Park Jesus statue.
Our first stop is at the Salentein Winery. The architecture of this building is amazing. The interior is the epitome of awesome:
It's very dark and medieval looking down here, and yet very tranquil at the same time.
Our Salentein tour guide is a nice guy and once we get to the tasting room we know how to get the wine out of them by now. At one point, Todd notices that if he gets a head full of
one of the varieties and then goes straight to another without cleansing, the second one smells exactly like cat piss. This cracks up our guide when he tries the same thing and realizes it is true. We end up in this room drinking for a while. When we get to the main front building again we meet Ricky and he takes us to the art museum portion of the winery. The owner of this vineyard believes that winemaking is an art. So, he believes in creating that atmosphere by having a local artist museum built in right there. But we had spent so much time in the room of wine gluttony that we’ve got to cut the museum portion short. We sincerely enjoy every single aspect of this winery and the tour. We absolutely loved all of the wines. (Except the cat piss, of course.)
The next stop is Andeluna winery, owned by Ward Lay of Frito-Lay Company. The name Andeluna, was chosen “to symbolize the romance and heritage of the Argentine moon illuminating the magnificent Andes Mountains that frame the Uco Valley”. Here we meet up for our first shared wine tour with the know-it-all clan. Two obnoxious ladies, one of whom is the personal wine tour guide of the other, are interrupting our Andeluna tour guide. Admittedly, between the two of them trying to outshine the other in winemaking knowledge, we were hearing quite a few things that we hadn’t learned from any of the other wineries. When we make it to the tasting area we start talking with a gentleman who was also on our tour. We thought he was with the other 2 ladies but he wasn’t. He was a married father from the states in town to climb Mt. Aconcagua the following day. By the way, the wine here has won several awards and yet is not among our favorites.



We didn’t expect that anything could come close to the wonderful lunch we had 2 days ago at Ruca Malen. Well, we were in for a pleasant surprise. We ended up at Altus Winery for our midday meal. We can’t say that it was better or worse than the other, it was a different dining experience. We were given multiple appetizers made from only things grown and processed on their land; grape leaf wrapped goat cheese along with pickled turnips start out the afternoon of seemingly endless tapas (appetizers) and the wine glasses were never empty. This is one of our last hours in South America. It is our last winery and we take our picture with Ricky Ricardo in the vineyard.
We consider ourselves fortunate to have been under his guidance for this adventure. We both learned a great deal about wines and grapes during our stay in this province. Our van takes Ricky home first and then the driver takes us to the airport. As we leave the van for our last seconds of South American Air it is 85 degrees. We pay the exit fee to leave the country, check our bags and, after about 1 ½ hour wait, we board the plane for Santiago which flies over the Andes. The flight is fairly short as Mendoza is basically just across the mountains from Santiago. In fact, with the time zone difference, we land 5 minutes earlier than we took off. The layover in Santiago is a couple of hours. Everything is uneventful, and then we are compressed into our metal tube for the return. The food... well let's not talk about that. The movie is Wall-E. It's hard to enjoy because we had one screen directly to the left of us and another 30 feet down the aisle. Denise watches and likes it while Todd falls asleep half way through.