Our friends from Yosemite, Jennie and Delaney, also happen to be in South America. In fact, they were traveling all over Patagonia the same time we were but, somehow, everywhere we went, we always missed each other by a day or so. They are currently staying in Santiago, Chile with Delaney’s brother, who lives there, and decided to come over to Mendoza for a long weekend. It was great seeing familiar faces and being able to discuss exciting things like traveling, US politics and Yosemite Institute politics!
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| Delaney, Tamara and Dan at Hot Springs |
We took a day trip to some hot springs in the foothills of the Andes. I guess we should have gone when it was warmer because there was a whole water park attached (closed due to cold weather), with lazy river and all! However, it turned out to be a misty fall day, so it was nice hanging around in the warmth.
We took another day trip to a mountain town called Uspallata. Turns out, they filmed part of Seven Years in Tibet in this town. We all wondered why they just didn’t film in Tibet, but hey, we got to sit in a Café that Brad Pitt probably sat in. We rented bikes and explored a pre-Colombian smelting site, and then a little further, some Inca carvings. Uspallata also has poplar trees lining all the roads, and they were all turning yellow, along with the multicolored hills, it was a beautiful day.
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| Poplar trees |
Next, we ventured out to Maipu, one of the wine regions surrounding Mendoza to rent bikes and tour some of the wineries. It all sounds so peaceful; riding bikes in the wine country, but it is actually an amusing adventure. First, you arrive at the bus stop that is crowded with gringos. To ride Mendoza’s public buses you need either exact change or you need a rechargeable card. For some reason the hostels do not tell the gringos this. Dan and I are always doing our best to blend in and keep a low profile, and the obnoxious gringos on the bus make us cringe a little. When the bus arrives, everyone piles in, and the clueless tourist looks at the change machine confusedly, while the bus driver rolls his eyes. This must happen every day. Both times we have been on this bus, Dan has swiped our card for several people as they hand him the pesos. We actually make a little profit on this because they never have exact change.
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| Andes view from Maipu bodegas |
Then the bus full of loud English speakers rattles down to Maipu, and the driver signals everyone (Gringos and other English speakers) to get off at Mr. Hugo Bikes. This is not an actual bus stop. We don’t know if the driver gets a kick-back from Mr. Hugo, or if he’s just eager to get the loud gringos off his bus. Mr. Hugo’s is always busy. As soon as you arrive, they pour you a plastic cup full of horrible jug wine while you wait for them to bring out bikes. The bikes cost $8 to rent for the day, but the funny thing is, they don’t take down your name, they don’t keep your ID, nothing. Dan and I were debating just riding off back to city center to have an $8 bike for three months. I mean, we would give it back…
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| Bike Parking |
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| Delaney, Dan, Tamara and Jenny at bodega Carinae |
There is a beautiful sectioned off bike lane…which ends about 200 feet from Mr. Hugo's. Then you are on the shoulder of the narrow road with cars and semi-trucks whizzing by. It gets even more interesting after you have had a few glasses of wine. This does make the wineries accessible for people without their own transportation, and on a budget, and you get a workout at the same time. One of our favorite wineries was a good 45-minute pedal, each way. What a buzz-kill! Literally!
As you arrive back at Mr. Hugo’s at the end of the day they take your bike and hand you another plastic cup of the same awful grape juice. Waiting for the bus to take us back to city center, you can see abandoned plastic cups all along the sidewalk.
It was sad to see our friends leave Mendoza but we will no doubt see them when we return to the states.
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| Tamara |
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| Historic smelting site |
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| Pictographs |
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| Us with some grape vines |
