Mendoza, Argentina: Who Needs Stoplights?

On Thursday I took a bus through the Andes on what is considered the 15th most dangerous road in all of the world! Thought you would be happy to hear that Mom :) I could describe in depth the windy turns and sheer cliff views but instead you should just look at the picture on the left. It definitely does the ride justice.

The views were spectacular-being in the shadows of the enormous snowcapped Andes is indescribable. 28 turns and three hours later after our departure from Universidad de Santiago, we arrived at the Chile/Argentinean border. It was snowing, and naively, no one had thought to take out a coat from their backpack that was now being sniffed and searched by police and dogs. (Actually our "sniff" dog was a really adorable puppy who did literally no sniffing. I'm pretty sure the guard just had him to pick up ladies.) Fortunately we were given steaming hot coffee so our bodies only partially froze. The border control is situated right at the base of "Ojos de Salado" (I think) the highest point in all of the Western Hemisphere. During the whole bag-checking/passport stamping I was incredibly overwhelmed with happiness. It seemed unreal that I, Hennessy Miller from good ol' Walnut Creek, California, was 1) In the Andes. 2) At the base of such a huge mountain. and 3) On my way from "home" (Chile) to Argentina. But happen it did-I got the passport stamp to prove it!

Though we were all a little nervous about our Peanut Butter clearing customs, there were no hang-ups (probably thanks to our sniff puppy-in-training) and we were deemed suitable to enter beautiful, wonderful, amazing, beautiful, beautiful Argentina.

I love Argentina. Everything about it- the accent that I can understand, the cobblestone sidewalks lined with trees, the Central Park. Ahh just thinking about this weekend makes me want to brave the road-of-death once again. On Friday we explored the city of Mendoza, talked to some locals, had some of the famous Argentinean meat, drank some of the famous Argentinean wine, ate probably a little too much not-famous bread and cheese, and hung out roof-top at our hostel. It was quite a fun introduction to Argentina.

However the real highlight of the trip was on Saturday, when all fifteen of us (yeah we always roll in large crowds) embarked on a wine tasting tour...ON BIKES! I'm pretty sure this would be 100% illegal in the United States since BUIs very much exist, but in Argentina, everything seems to fly. (And really I mean everything. As I alluded to in my title, Argentineans think the use of the stopsign/stoplight is ridiculous. Who needs them? It is much easier to just speed through an intersection and hope that nobody is coming the other way. I am not kidding.. there were large, i'm talking ygnacio and oak grove large intersections that didn't have a single stop sign or stoplight. I guess whoever gets their first gets to go? Crossing the street was quite a task since there was no way for us to tell when a car might zip around the corner. Nobody but the Americans seemed puzzled by this, and I gotta say I saw no accidents while in Mendoza. I maintain, however, that it is absolutely insane.)
Now, to get back to the bike'n'wine. We took a shuttle to Chacras, a little town maybe 20 minutes outside of Mendoza. There we were dropped at a restaurant that also worked as the bike distribution center, were told to follow our guide in his car (no waivers, no helmets, no maps, no nothing) and off we went. The bikeride to the first vineyard was beautiful- the always present Andes in the background as we passed vineyard after vineyard, flanked on both sides by shady trees and dirt roads. We took a tour of the first "bodega" which was quite impressive and large, then got to the part everyone was really looking forward to: the wine. Argentina isn't as famous for its wine as neigboring Chile, however it does produce a pretty damn tasty Malbec. We tried three or four different delicious wines before remounting the bikes and heading to winery #2.

The second vineyard was much smaller and rustic looking. The company is family owned, and one of the brothers (muy guapo) in charge talked to us about the process of wine production. We then again drank some more delicious wine. At this point our stomachs were growling so we opted to skip winery#3 and head back to the restaurant base for an asado.

I thought Chile had good meat. I knew nothing. Plates and plates of chorpian, salchichas, and carne kept coming from the grill. And, as if we hadn't drank enough wine already that day, our pitchers of wine (so classy) were bottomless. It was tons of fun hanging out with our tour guide who, by the way, has the life. He drives in a car about 5 miles, gets to drink wine, then drive back to the restaurant, count to make sure that everyone arrived safely, then drink and eat. Not a bad profession.

By the time we made it back to our hostel, most of us were un poquito curado (I'll let you look that one up) and very exhausted. A little night exploration, some more bread and cheese, and finally we threw in the towel.

Stupidly we didn't buy return tickets until Saturday night, so our only options were either a 6:30 AM (or 5:30 our time) or 10:30 PM. Since it's at least a seven hour trip, the night bus would have returned to Santiago the following morning, only an hour or two before class, so we opted for the first option. This meant waking up at 5:15, walking 40 minutes to the bus station, and making sure we were at the right stop. (We were extremely close to making this blunder on our trip over) Though I was unable to sleep, the bus did play Sister Act (a great movie) so I didn't mind the earliness.

Argentina was the best- way different than Santiago- and I am making sure I make it back before this semester is over!

Besos,

Hennessy