Mendoza

Through the Andes

The Mendoza area is Argentina’s most important district for wine, but I had primarily put Mendoza on my itinerary because I wanted to experience the trip across the Andes mountains between Santiago and Mendoza, and then I could continue by bus to Salta. However, I chose to stay for a few days in the town and take the opportunity to visit a vineyard. In addition, I wanted to have a vaccine for yellow fever.

I had read that a Dane had become ill with yellow fever in Bolivia, and as I had now bought my ticket home and would be leaving from Santa Cruz, I did not want to go there without the vaccination. When I left home, I had only planned my trip to Bolivia to be at the heights where there the risk to get the fever is very small.

It was easy to find my morning bus from Santiago to Mendoza. After a little search around in the streets, I found a small information boot. From here I was sent in the right direction to the company where I had bought the ticket. After my check in, they guided me to the actual bus stop where I could also buy something for breakfast and get some supplies for the about 8 hours bustour. I did also get coffee, a cake and later lunch on the bus.

After a couple of stops we ended up on some smaller roads before we reached the rise over the mountains. The road up here is special. All the way up or down a number of hairpin turns are all visible. It is a quite impressive construction.

We passed a large ski area and could also got a short glimpse of Aconcagua, the highest point in the Andes mountains. It is 6,960.8 meters (22,837 ft) and actually placed 100% in Argentina. There was only one border control as we were checked out of Chile and into Argentina at the same place, but it took about 2 hours, which I later heard was quick. In Chile they are strict and there are many rules for what you can’t bring in. There are no restrictions in Argentina, and the first time I passed the border to Argentina at Iguazu, they checked absolutely nothing beyond my passport, but here they do like in Chile. I.e. all our luggage must be investigated and it takes time. As far as I could see, they did not really check anything. It seemed like total waste of time, but well then we had some time to stretch our legs !!.

Back in the bus, we now went down. This time without hairpin turns, but through a beautifully beautiful landscape. Although the weather had changed to a little drizzle and no sun, it was still an amazing landscape. There are only 100 km from Mendoza to the border, so it is a highly recommended worthwhile trip, even if you are not going to Chile.

Mendoza was rebuilt after an earthquake in 1861, so there is no old town. It is build around a park with all roads strait diagonally around and with some smaller parks in the corners two blogs from the center. It is nice with the green areas, but otherwise I did not particularly like the city and certainly not their service at the outdoor cafes where service was almost non existent.

I had booked a hotel in the center where there was an outdoor area next to the swimming pool. Besides organizing my pictures, I also had to organize my trip to Salta and San Pedro de Atacama so I wanted to be somewhere, where I could sit outside. Unfortunately, this was not exactly where I should have been. As described in aprevious post, my camera bag and camera was stolen sitting in that area. It was really really sad.

I was very happy with the camera I had bought in Chile, and it is impossible to buy a decent camera in this part of Argentina. I had already once realized that I could not travel without a camera and going to Salta, Atacama and Bolivia without a camera, was an unbearable thought. I also lost my pictures from my wine tour the day before and almost all the pictures from the city.

It is really sad that you can not relax even when you are inside the hotel, and unfortunately I later heard many stories from others, who had been robbed in Mendoza.

Hop off On Winetour

I was as mentioned on a wine tour. A trip where you could visit several different vineyards of your choice. I selected 4 visits including a nice lunch, but after first champagne, twice a taste of different wines and wine to my lunch, I was done for that day. The last place I simply could not do more wine tasting. The vineyards are reasonably close on the “Argentine Wine Route” in Mendoza’s surrounding area. They all had a nice view of the Andes Mountains and beautiful gardens and terraces where we could relax before going to the next place. A lovely day with a lot of different and fun people.

Summary

Mendoza also have hop on & of buses going through the city and where you can reach a couple of larger parks in the outskirts of the city and get up on a hill with a nice view of the city.

If you are into wine you must of course stay in Mendoza and taste their Malbeck wines, otherwise it may well be omitted in my opinion

Link to Mendoza Photos