I recently came back from another "long weekend" vacation (when Pepperdine manufactures a 5-day weekend so that we can travel outside of the city). This time, I traveled to Mendoza, the wine country of Argentina. It was stunning, and my first trip-planning adventure. Pictures of what my group of five students (including myself) did are below!
We started out the trip on Wednesday with a 15 hour bus ride from Buenos Aires to Mendoza. Thankfully, it was overnight so we could sleep, and the seats reclined to 145° (which, despite how close it is 180°, it is absolutely not the same).
Fun fact: Tipping the person who checks your bags is not only expected, but also requested! This was a total shock, considering that in the States you don't tip the person who checks your bags at the airport, right? Additionally, they probably wouldn't ask for a tip, if one was expected.
Also, they play movies on these buses, and the volume is loud regardless of the hour. Note to self: bring earplugs!
The night that we arrived, we went for a sunset horseback ride overlooking beautiful winery fields. It also rained and hailed on us, making it a whole new kind of "unique" experience.
The next day, we hiked the St. Virgin Mary's trail and got to see some beautiful views of Mendoza, Maipu, and Godoy Cruz (surrounding areas).
Then, we rappelled down 10, 20, and 40 meter cliff faces! This picture is of me after killing it on the 10 meter cliff.
Of course, we were obligated to take a winery tour since we were in the wine coutnry of Argentina. We took a tour that went to two wineries and an olive oil factory.
The picture on the left is of a French Oak barrel used at Bodegas Lopez, the first winery on our tour. The picture on the right is just a sample of what we saw in the manufacturing portion of the winery. Good luck finding their products outside of Argentina: only 1% of their wine is exported!
The next stop on the tour was an olive oil factory. Their olive oils, infused with spices and flavors such as garlic, rosemary, basil, and oregano, were delicious! They also had an assortment of olive oil beauty products for us to sample.
This is the vineyard of Domiciana, the final winery on our tour.
The next day, I spent all day at a thermals spa. The water was from the Andes, and I'm pretty sure that some of the pools were sourced from natural hot springs! It was so nice to escape from school and stress, chill out in the sun, and relax.
Our final day in Mendoza was spent rafting along an Andean river. We had such a blast, and got some killer photos and video of the event.
(I'm the one in the red helmet with the sunglasses.)
Overall, this experience was a blast! It was a total success, and Mendoza is a must-see place if you are in Argentina! (It's also super close to Santiago, Chile, if you are near there!) Until next time...
Besos,
Tina the Exploradora
Malbec from Mendoza is where it's at, man! Great with beef (at a good Argentinian parrillada, that is - don't waste it on just any ol' carne latina!) or a gourmet burger back here in the States. I really regret not having gone there when I lived in Santiago in the late '90s, but thank heavens for www distribution channels! (www - world wide WINE! ;-) )
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