A Year In Motion

Time was running out for us, but we could not leave without visiting the UNESCO World Heritage Iguazu Falls shared by Argentina and Brazil. Both parks, on both countries received the UNESCO status due not only to the natural beauty, but to the great amount of rare and endangered fauna and flora. The falls are now a finalist for the “Natural Wonders of the World” Competition. Unfortunately we could spare only one day for the visit. Normally that would be ok for visiting one side, but we wanted to do both the Argentinian and Brazilian sides. We had to take our luggage with us and go through immigration at the border in between the visit as that was the end of Argentina for us and Iguazu was our entry point into Brazil. It was one hell of an exhausting marathonic day, but well worth the trouble for the impressive sight the falls are.

Our visit took place during the last days of rainy season so we ended quite wet, both from the constant rainfall and the powerful mist of the cascades on the Brazilian side; but they say this is the perfect time to visit the falls as you get to see them at their mightiest. Iguazu Falls consist of 275 falls over a course of 2.7 km on the Iguazu River, with 80% of the falls being on the Argentinian side. The falls separate the Iguazu river into upper and lower river. In the Argentinian sides there are walking trails where you can opt to see the falls from the middle or from the top. The biggest concentration of water is at the U shaped falls called the Devil’s Throat (Garganta del Diablo), the actual border between the two nations. This is where the cataracts are at their mightiest and tallest, at an altitude of 80 meters high. An eco-train takes you close to the Argentina’s Devil’s Throat and from there you walk 1 km along the walkway over the Iguazu River to reach it. The amount of water falling at the site, its power and speed is a delight to watch, nature at its wildest. From there you are just a a few steps from Brazil, and you can even see the spectators at Brazil’s side and version of the Devil’s Throat.

Water is the main player at Iguazu but the fauna and flora are also part of the show. Plentiful bright green diverse vegetation gives Iguazu its beauty. A large variety of over 400 butterflies inhabit the area, some with an unbelievably beautiful combination of bright design on its body; as well almost 500 birds call Iguazu home, one of the largest concentrations on earth. We saw an amazing species of small birds that actually live inside the falls. You can watch as these birds fly directly at a high speed into the falls with no hesitation and find a resting spot behind the water. And the resident pet of the falls is the coati, a mischievous raccoon – opossum type mammal that will steal your food if it has its way, if unsuccessful you will find them digging the ground with their elongated noses to get aliments. They look cute and are very accustomed to visitors, they will let you touch them; but that would be a bad move as some of them carry rabies. We also got a glimpse of a mountain rat, which looked very cute with freckles and all, but a rat nonetheless. While we were there the rainy foggy day and the dark clouds gave the setting an ominous feeling, which to me went perfectly well with the site it is. The Guarani indigenous tribe was the original inhabitant of the region, but sadly Portuguese and Spanish conquerors destroyed their habitat, enslaved or killed them.

Because of our deadline and our reluctance to take group tours we opted to take a costly taxi ride from the Argentinian Falls to the Brazilian Falls stopping at immigration. Now we know it was unnecessary. We saw everything on both sides without getting up so early and still had time to spare at the end of the day, the cheap public bus option would have suited us fine. The border crossing was really fast and easy, first time we didn’t even have to get out of the car.

The Brazilian side was a different story: very modern and efficient administration, plenty of transportation options, credit card facilities, and better personal service. Certainly they only own a small portion of the falls, but it’s the best. You have a picture perfect view of the multiple falls on the Argentinian side on the trail that leads you to the grand finale, Brazil’s Devil’s Throat. You can walk to it and get soaked by all the heavy mist. There is also an elevator which takes you to a viewing point on top of it all, from where you can watch the magic being created.

On the Brazilian side there are also plenty of adventure activities to do. Rapelling, Rafting, Kayaking are part of it, but most people do the boat ride which brings you upclose to the base of the Devil’s Throat. On The Argentinian side all adventure activities had been canceled for the moment due to a recent mortal accident. We had a fabulous time and if we had a choice to go back to one side it would definitely be Brazil. To learn more about the history of the falls and the doomed fate of its original inhabitants watch the excellent award winning film “The Mission”.

All our pictures on the Argentinian side can be found here, and the Brazilian ones here.

Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, commonly known as Fin del Mundo (the End of the World) is the administrative capital of Tierra del Fuego and the Malvinas, known in English as the Falkland Islands. It’s easy to forget about the short Falklands War in the 1980s which began with an Argentine invasion to reclaim the Malvinas, only for the British to more firmly than ever reclaim them as the Falklands. Open wounds are still sore, and one of the taxi drivers told me that it is an issue close to the hearts of the Argentinians, and in particular the people of Ushuaia. But much as we enjoy contentious political issues, we were here on a mission, one that also required precise military planning. The southernmost city in the world was not far enough south for us, we wanted more, we wanted Antarctica.

Our experience in Quito, Ecuador, in booking a last-minute trip to the Galapagos Islands, had taught us that big discounts were available for those that were willing to wait, and risk not having a seat at all. We had done our research and for the specific reason of having the rare possibility of crossing the polar circle (which can only be done late in the season once the ice has melted), we decided to run the gauntlet. We knew that there were two boats leaving in the next three days from Ushuaia on a cruise to Antarctica. These were the last two boats of the season; next departure was in 7 months time. We knew which one we wanted and why, and we arrived in town two days before departure to haggle, and play the travel agents against each war in what we hoped would be a bidding war of who would blink first in the hope of cascading last minute prices.

We had arrived on a Sunday morning and nothing was open in town, not even a travel agency. We walked and walked the hilly streets on a chilly March morning, finally finding a reasonably priced hotel for our two nights. Ushuaia is expensive – for starters you’re lucky to get there for anything less than $400 return from Buenos Aires, and hotel nights average around the US$80 for a double room in the mid-season. So if you’re coming here, you’re budgeting accordingly.

After our hotel trek, we had pretty much cased out all of Ushuaia, which is probably the smallest city we’ve ever visited. It’s not particularly hard to find a last minute deal in Ushuaia as they’re well advertised in the shop windows. The going rate in most places was about 50% of the advance-booking full price. We were hoping for better though, as I had been talking by Skype to a US travel agent more than a month earlier who was already offering half-price. Our instincts told us not to book that far in advance, but we gathered a lot of “intelligence” from this helpful agent and I kind of felt bad for not giving him the business. No matter how hard we looked on the streets of Ushuaia, travel agency after travel agency was offering us the same rate but also charging us a credit card surcharge of between 3-5%. With a last minute price of around US$4,000 per person, 5% is a big deal.

Into day 2, and we had still not booked, and our preferred boat was leaving the next day. I called the boat operator directly, a Dutch company, but they were also insisting on the credit card fee; we’ve become used to paying credit card fees on top of published price during our travels, but from a European company we were annoyed. How many people pay US$4,000 in cash? We were thinking it would have been cheaper (and less stressful) if we had just booked with the US travel agent a month ago, but in the end our bargaining paid off. Running out of options, we visited Rumbo Sur travel agency on the main street, and finally got the deal we were looking for – a half-price deal with clothing rental included for free and no credit card fee. So what exactly did that equate to:

The Boat: The Plancius – not the cheapest, but better class of boat and a better itinerary – across the Polar Circle
Cabin: 1 x Superior Cabin with double bed
Extras: No credit card fee, exchange rate of US$1 = AR$4.08, free rental of coat, ski-pants and gloves, free kayaking (this was a long-advertised offer which had expired, but after much insistence from our part and help from our agent we got the final space confirmed by the operator due to a late cancellation – if you don’t ask, you don’t get)
Itinerary: 12 days, 11 nights Antarctic cruise beyond the polar circle including a continental landing
Total Price: $4,395 each (yikes!)

We opted at the last minute to take a superior cabin at an extra cost of US$400 each, but relative to the total cost of the cruise, it was money well spent as the superior cabin turned out around twice as big as a standard cabin, and was available with a double bed instead of two singles. We became the 97th and 98th (out of 98) passengers booked on the Plancius. Our work was done, so all we had left to do was be giddily excited about our upcoming adventure, and celebrate it by feasting our remaining 24 hours on some of Argentina’s best fish and seafood.

Ushuaia’s main industry is tourism, and there’s no shortage of restaurants, although separating the good from the bad is a tricky task. You can’t visit Ushuaia without sampling the Centella (King Crab), and we tried the Parmesan Gratin of King Crab and a seafood paella in a homely little restaurant called the Casa de los Mariscos which had been recommended to us. We had also heard some great reviews about a restaurant called Kaupe with great food and great views over Ushuaia, and seeing as it was on the next street from our hotel and the only restaurant that was not including a long uphill promenade as an obligatory digestif, we put it to the test. Food and service were exceptional, giving us an opportunity to savour the local black merluza which is generally excellent, but even more so in Kaupe. Overall, a fitting send-off from South America, and proof that there’s more than red meat in Argentina.

Ushuaia is the end of the human world, and tomorrow we set sail to leave that far behind as we begin our most adventurous voyage yet to the white continent of Antarctica, the true end of the world. We don’t really know what to expect, but we expect that to be unlike anything else on Earth.

For travel tips, see below the photo.

Travel Tips

1. Crossing the Polar Circle is an option only available at the end of the season when the ice on some of the Antarctic seas has melted enough.

2. Do research in advance to get an understanding of prices before you go to Ushuaia. We used US travel agency website www.polarcruises.com which was by far the best source of info and prices.

3. Two days in Ushuaia is enough to visit all the agencies and get quotes etc. If you want to explore Tierra del Fuego National Park, add more days.

4. Some boat operators are based in Europe and require your booking by close of business European time, the day before the cruise departs. Don’t leave it too late!

5. Make sure you have enough credit available on your credit card.

6. Have a back-up plan. We had two options of boats leaving in the same week in case one was sold out, and had booked our plane tickets to suit both options.

Buenos Aires was one of the most anticipated destinations on our South American leg of our year in motion. We were to spend around ten days there in all, and visited the city on three separate occasions during our time in and around Argentina. So did it live up to expectations? Well, there’s a story that says that Argentinians have the most psychologists per person in the whole continent, and with a city as large and diverse as Buenos Aires, the answer to our own question becomes a little complicated.

Our first visit to Buenos Aires came after an overnight bus trip in Royal Class and brought us to the bohemian heart of the city, San Telmo, where Ninfa’s brother Salva studies, and where Martin, an old friend of Ninfa’s from Honduras, lives and owns a small Middle-Eastern restaurant. Our first impressions of Buenos Aires were not therefore distinctly Argentinian, but distinctly positive with a free dinner of Ninfa’s favourite cuisine, plenty of red wine, and good company. We would get to know San Telmo very well in the next three days that we stayed in the area as we spent the time helping Salva look for an apartment in the area, and just aimlessly wandering the cobblestoned streets and atmospheric cafes of a bygone Buenos Aires. Sunday is the day in San Telmo when the market comes to town, and all sorts of antique bric a brac are on display, an authentic milonga takes place in the main San Telmo square and hot empanadas are never more than a few steps away (almost as common as dogpoo on the ground – watch your step in San Telmo).

Tango was invented in Buenos Aires, and San Telmo is the bastion of tango in the city. A milonga is basically a time and a place where people come together to dance tango, and there is no shortage in San Telmo. We attended one on a Saturday evening on the second floor of a terraced block which reputedly belonged to Che Guevara’s grandmother (not verified) and it was a little like a scene from a David Lynch film. We watched from the dim lamplight of our small table on the edge of the dancefloor as the small group of smartly dressed elderly patrons skilfully performed steps which were so rehearsed as to appear effortlessly natural. On the far side of the large, almost empty ballroom, single ladies were were in turn invited to dance by the resident “taxi dancer”, a pot-bellied Casanova dressed head to toe in black, shirt open almost to his waist, his receding hair sleaked back in a ponytail. Casanova turned out to be a surprisingly affable man and indulged us in a little of the history of tango and failed to convince us to embarrass ourselves in front of the assembled regulars.

During our first few days in San Telmo, we stayed in nearby Puerto Madero, the former docklands area of the city which has been stylishly redeveloped into a modern shiny waterfront district retaining some tasteful touches of its former purpose. Nearby is a nature reserve on the banks of the Rio Plata, and what I really liked was seeing the brightly coloured chirping parakeets from the park sitting in the cranes of the urban-industrial setting of Puerto Madero. We dined on two occasions in Puerto Madero, each time in one of Argentina’s famous “Tenedor Libre” restaurants. Tenedor Libre literally means “free fork”, but is better interpreted as “all you can eat … meat”. We tried the hugely popular Siga La Vaca, and the more locally popular “La Bistecca”. Of the two, we both preferred the latter, which offered a better quality of meat, lower prices and the option of pastas, pizzas and salads. In fact, we ate so much in La Bistecca that we had to go straight back to the hotel afterwards and take a long siesta, even after my two espressos!

To call Buenos Aires a huge city doesn’t even begin to convey the size of this South American urban sprawl. So together with a copy of Time Out Buenos Aires, and armed with a map and very informative advice from the Buenos Aires tourist office in Puerto Madero, we set off to explore some of the other parts of the city. First stop was Boca. The tourist officer had marked a big X, no-go area on our map, and we had found a highly recommended restaurant right in the middle of it. The restaurant, El Obrero (The Worker), is in the heart of downtrodden Boca, the non-redeveloped working class port area and home to Argentina’s most famous football club, Boca Juniors. The homage paid to Boca Juniors is by no means subtle and the walls are decked with scarves, photos, and flags of the glory years of Boca, and their most famous son, Diego Maradona. El Obrero does a great homage to Argentina’s parrilla (grill) tradition too, and after a hearty lunch we made our way the short distance (by taxi) to the Bombonera, Boca’s stadium, which literally translates as the Sweet Factory. The surrounding streets on the walk to El Caminito are almost entirely blue and yellow, with murals of Diego and his famous Hand of God goal taking pride of place. The Caminito itself boasts every colour under the rainbow but is very touristy, although the tango dancing could probably even teach a taxi dancer a thing or two.

I’ve often heard of Buenos Aires referred to as the Paris of South America, but to find Paris, you have to leave Boca and San Telmo and find instead the wide boulevards of Centro, Recoleta and Palermo. And there’s no boulevard wider than the Avenida 9 de Julio, the world’s widest with over 20 lanes of traffic at some points, and crowned in its centre by the towering Obelisco. The Centro district is full of monumental buildings, avenues and squares, none less so than the National Congress building with its dome, fountains and statues. We took the subway the length of the Avenida de Mayo from here to the Presidential Palace, the Casa Rosada, at the opposite end. This metro line, Line A, is Buenos Aires’ oldest, which still carries the original wagons with old lamp lighting and wooden seats which was a real journey back in time. The Casa Rosada is another journey back in time. Christina Kirchner is the current president of Argentina and our tour of the Casa brought us for a brief glimpse at her office, and it was interesting to see the personal photographs against the backdrop of the grand formality of the presidential office. The Casa Rosada is most famous perhaps for the address of Eva (Evita) Peron to the working classes from the balcony facing the Plaza de Mayo. We got to step out onto the balcony on our tour and I couldn’t resist singing a few lines of Don’t Cry For Me Argentina to honour the occasion.

Another day of our extensive roaming in the Argentine capital brought us to Evita’s final resting place in the Cemetery of Recoleta. The cemetery is well worth a visit, and is more like a museum of the Buenos Aires’ past, with its classical sculptures and stories of former prestigious residents. Some people, it seems, didn’t even find peace in death, such as the couple who were buried together but had their statues sculpted with their backs to each other. I was quite proud on the other hand to find a few Irish names among the ghosts of the noble classes, and even found a mausoleum to the Byrne family of Buenos Aires.

In close proximity (in Buenos Aires terms) to Recoleta is the fancy neighbourhood of Palermo which is where we stayed on our final trip to BA with Doug, a friend we made on our Antarctican cruise. I took a few jogs through the statued parks around Avenida del Libertador and got a taste of what urban living can be like in BA for the well off – it’s nice! To get a better and more relaxing taste, we made a trip by bus out to the Calle Honduras, which much to the satisfaction of Ninfa, turns out to be one of Buenos Aires’ hippest areas with all the flashy boutiques, classy cafes and fashionable people, and a trip here on a weekend seems to be a must for the in-crowd in BA. After the grimy and gritty introduction we got to Buenos Aires in San Telmo, we had finally found the glitz and the glam.

Buenos Aires by day is one thing – generally that one thing is hot! – but by night it’s another. Although we lacked the energy to rival the partygoers who last until dawn (we generally saw them coming home when we were going to airports for morning flights), we did pack in a pretty impressive porteno nightlife. An evening game at one of Buenos Aires numerous football clubs was a must on my to-do list, and although Boca weren’t in town, we did get to a game at River Plate. No goals, pricey tickets, sitting on the steps because all the seats were full are the price to pay to witness an amazing atmosphere that even made the nil nil draw against Argentina Juniors an exciting experience, although a comfier seat might have been nice. We also coincided our trip with a Shakira concert. In Latin America, there is no bigger star and she really knows how to put on a show. And finally, a blast from Ninfa’s past, her high school favourite band, local band Vilma Palma had reformed for their 25th birthday and were giving a one-night concert in Buenos Aires. The place was rocking and Ninfa transported herself back to that age of screaming adoring public as Vilma strutted his stuff and belted out his hits.

Alas, it’s the end of Buenos Aires, so what’s the verdict. We did have a great time but it didn’t really live up to our expectations. In general, the people had us questioning if we were still in Latin America as they were not as friendly as we hoped, although there were some notable exceptions including Mariella (thanks for all the great tips!) and some others like friendly old people and taxi drivers who offer cigarettes to their passengers. BA has just about everything a big city should have but the place is so big that it can be exhausting, and we found it quite dirty, well until we got to Palermo. Verdict then, Buenos Aires has a lot to be admired, but also leaves a lot to be desired. Next stop is guaranteed to be something different – the white continent of Antarctica!

More photos below and in our Argentina album here.

Mendoza, Mendoza, the heart of Argentina’s wine country. Yeah, we were looking forward to this – a degustation in the heart of Argentinian wine country. We’re no strangers to wine country, our previous visits reading like an expensive wine list – Champagne, Bourgogne and Alsace to name a few. Mendoza however was to prove a little more challenging to get to grips with.

Mendoza itself is a quiet provincial town in the foothills of the Andes in the west of Argentina. As cities go, there’s nothing much to impress, other than the long lines of leafy trees along its pleasant boulevards which provide a welcome shade from the hot Andean summer sun. We had arrived in the run-up to the annual Vendimia festival which celebrates the wine harvest, and stages were being built in the plazas and the majority of the Mendoza wine community had come in from the countryside to set up stall in the pedestrian centre for an evening degustation al fresco. It turned out we didn’t have to travel far to get started.

In fact we started in the excellent Vines of Mendoza Tasting Room a short walk away from our hotel in the centre of Mendoza. We had read about this place in other travel blogs prior to arriving and it’s certainly worth a visit. There are different tasting options available with prices varying on whether you want to exclusively taste Malbec, or sample a selection of Mendozan wines of different grades of quality. The staff are very professional and clearly know their stuff on wine. We opted to go straight for a glass of wine and asked the barman/sommelier for a recommendation. What followed was in fact a mini degustation during which we sampled no less than 5 wines ranging from Malbec roses to Malbec reds and ended up with a healthy sized glass of our favourites, before moving into the town centre for dinner. By the time we had finished our first parrilla (grilled meats) dinner in the popular if old-fashioned Florencia restaurant, we were just about up to our limit of wine. So instead of opting for an extensive degustation at the open-air event, we walked through the crowds asking different vineyard representatives for their opening hours so that we could organise a wine-tasting itinerary in the vineyards rather than the streets.

We were in Mendoza on the weekend, and a number of Argentinian traditions are alive and well in Mendoza which can make life difficult for a tourist, specifically lengthy siestas in the afternoon, and almost everything closing on weekends. When we asked in the tourist offices, the car-rental company, hotel, we were invariably told – all vineyards are closed on weekends. It wasn’t looking good. Fortunately, the vineyard representatives at the street degustation were able to provide better information, but even then some of their details were a little vague.

The Basics on Mendoza

The Mendoza wine country is split into three separate terroirs – Maipu which is closest to the city, Valle de Uco, the highest land which is also the furthest from the city, and Lujan de Cuyo which is somewhere in between the two. Based on our preliminary research, we had deduced that Maipu was the most accessible although was generally characterised by high output, medium quality wines, Lujan de Cuyo was the most established and generally had the best-reputed wines, and Valle de Uco was the youngest terroir which was the domain of adventurous, pioneering bodega owners who were producing excellent new wines thanks to the elevation, soil and temperature. In planning our degustation, we considered three options: self-drive, organised tour, or bus and bike. Bus and bike is a very popular option but only extends into Maipu and we felt it was going to be too hot for a lot of cycling. Tours, although they seem professionally organised and visit quality vineyards, are very expensive at over $150 per person including gourmet lunch. When we finally found a car-rental office open (who’ be open on a Saturday after all?!), we opted for the designated driver option which was also likely to save us some money. I lost my driver’s license earlier during the trip which made the independent chauffeur-driven wine tour option even more attractive for me. Another option that I haven’t mentioned is to hire a “remise”, a chauffeur-driven car for the day, but this is also very expensive, and I was in effect doing the same anyway thanks to my wonderful chauffeuse Ninfa.

On The Wine Road

On our consultations with the well-informed wine tourism agencies in Mendoza, we had taken mental note of the prestigious wineries on their itineraries, and followed up by making a reservation independently for a gourmet lunch at the Belasco de Baquedano winery in Lujan de Cuyo. For lunch or degustation, Belasco de Baquedano has to be on your itinerary. A unique and really helpful attraction to the amateur wine enthusiast is the Aromas Room. After a short tour through the workings of the modern winery, we were shown into the Aromas Room. Around the room are 50 clear containers with a wheel lid. We walked around the room turning wheels which wafted the scents to our nose and played a game guessing the correct aroma ranging from grass to lemon to musk to chocolate to pepper. The room is extensive but covers less than half of the aromas that can be found in wines, but it’s more than enough for the amateur and really helped us appreciate, evaluate and describe wines in our degustations thereafter.

Lunch at Belasco de Baquedano used all local Argentinian ingredients heavily influenced by Spanish cuisine which represented the owner’s origins. The food was delicious! and was accompanied by 5 different wines from the Belasco cellars, all Malbecs, the first a rose, the middle three of improving grades of Malbec, and the final wine was their late harvest of sweet red Malbec they call Anthracite. The wines were fantastic, with their headline aged Malbec accompanying our steak absolutely fantastic. All this in a wonderful restaurant setting with full-length windows overlooking the olive trees and vineyards against a backdrop of the snow-peaked Andes in the distance. Lunch cost $65 per person at Belasco including the tour and as much wine as you wanted to drink, as well as a copy of the menu and the wines we sampled.

From their we wandered according to our map, passing by Chandon (subsidiary of Champagne’s Moet & Chandon) which was closed, before making an unannounced stop at Norton, one of Argentina’s largest wine producers. Wine tourism in Mendoza is still in its infancy compared to its European counterparts, and here most vineyards require reservations as they generally include a tour of the vineyard and cellars. Spontaneous visits can be troublesome especially if you don’t speak Spanish, but Ninfa explained that we were there to purchase and not tour, Norton security guard radioed inside and eventually agreed to let us pass. The wines had less character than Belasco and it was quite obvious that the low and middle grades of wines were created for mass production. Tastings are arranged by quality grade, although the staff allowed us to mix and match from various wines of the same grade to create our own bespoke tasting. We appreciated the flexibility and opted for one of the lower priced options and purchased a couple of bottles of bubbly.

It was already 5pm so we continued south to the town of Tunuyán in Valle de Uco. Here, in a small country town seemingly trapped in the past, the tourist services far outperformed those in Mendoza and we received lots of information from the friendly Martin. He even gave us a bottle of the locally produced cider, Cortesia, courtesy of Tunuyan tourist office. Having said that, there is little of interest in Tunuyan other than some old pick-up trucks and shopfronts and its convenient location close to the Valle de Uco bodegas.

The following morning we rang around a few wineries in the area which gave proof to our suspicions that Valle de Uco’s Mondays are its Sundays. Everything was closed. We eventually found one (Andeluna) that was open, and drove out to it. Along the way we stopped at one of numerous small memorials that are a central part of Argentinian rural culture. The locals in Mendoza have great devotion to a legendary figure, Gauchito Gil, who seems to have been something of a Robin Hood figure, and people build little red-painted shelters along the roadside and deck them with their wishes, small figurines and red flags.

Valle de Uco is Mendoza’s youngest terroir and Andeluna’s suitably sleek modern exterior hides a classically decorated interior – an architectural metaphor of old meets new. The tour includes a description of the architecture and its trappings before bringing us into the cellars, the tank rooms and even a quick view of the laboratory – the modern age of wine. The tastings at Andeluna are organised by grade, the lowest grade priced at $11. Although the entry level grade was not spectacular, we wanted to at least buy one bottle of Valle de Uco so took one, and had one of our tour fees waived as a result.

Valle de Uco was closed, so we headed back over the ridge to Lujan de Cuyo. We were a little tight for time to get to Mendoza Champagne heaven at Chandon, but made a quick stop at Pulenta a few kilometres up the road and although unscheduled we had no problem getting in for a tasting. Although this was a rapid visit, for me it was the best. Pulenta has won the prize for best Sauvignon Blanc in Argentina for the past three years running and I enthusiastically endorse that judgement. Their entry level Malbec was very good, and the headline aged Malbec was outstanding, and I guess that’s why it costs $65 a bottle. The tasting at Pulenta cost $11 and includes one of their best wines as well as the entry level award-winning Sauvignon Blanc. It’s excellent value and a very well-reputed winery – include it on your list. We left with a bottle of headline Sauvignon Blanc.

Last stop was the icing on the cake, and as with all the best celebrations, it was champagne time. Well not literally champagne, as only Champagne has the right to that, so vino espumante. The Chandon visitor centre is all vogue and definitely lives up to the brand’s chic and stylish reputation. We had a quick tour of the production, before getting down to the fun bit – the tasting. We tasted the aged wine which is produced prior to the addition of sugar and all the modern method of making champagne, which was an interesting insight into the production process of sparkling wines. We also tasted the excellent Chandon Rose, a demi-sec, and an Extra Brut, which is the most popular of sparkling wines in Argentina. And because we were early, we even got a glass of their best of the best, Baron B, which is their best harvest elaborated by the traditional methode champenoise. Needless to say, we did make a purchase at Chandon, and with a bottle of rose costing only $12, we weren’t the only ones.

And so ended our wine tour in Mendoza. We literally had barrels of fun. Next stop Buenos Aires, but blame it on the booze or whatever you like, we’ll be writing about Uruguay first, as we’ll be visiting Buenos Aires a few times in the coming weeks. From Mendoza, bottoms up!

Travel Tips

Mendoza still upholds the fine tradition of the siesta, so most businesses will be closed between 12pm and 4pm.

Accurate information on vineyard opening times is hard to come by in Mendoza. Vineyards operate on office hours, or sometimes Mendoza office hours (long midday siesta). Try to avoid weekends as a lot of vineyards are closed, but the folllowing general rule applies: Valle de Uco (the furthest from Mendoza) is closed on Mondays, and Lujan de Cuyo is closed on Sundays.

Wine tourism is surprisingly in its infancy in Mendoza. Reserving ahead will make your life a lot easier. Otherwise, speak some Spanish in order to negotiate with security for a spontaneous degustation. Maipu, which we didn’t visit, is probably more flexible given the prevalence of bike tours there, but Lujan de Cuyo and Valle de Uco are better reputed for their wines.

The border crossing between Chile and Argentina is incredibly slow. On our overnight bus trip from Valparaiso to Mendoza, we spent more than 4 hours at the border crossing and this is standard. Immigration and bag checks collectively took around 15 minutes, but seemingly another 3h45min is also necessary. The weather conditions can be below freezing during the night so bring warm clothing even though you’re allowed wait on the bus.

Searching out hotels on foot is difficult in Mendoza as the hotels are quite spread out. Try to do some mapping and price-checking before you go, or be prepared for a few hours lugging around your luggage.

It seems all city-centre car rental offices are located on Avenida Rivadavia just near the Sheraton hotel. Only one was open on a Saturday afternoon (and that sporadically), so best bet on weekends is to go to airport to rent a car. Car rental prices are cheaper on-site than on internet.

For another point of view on Mendoza wine tours, we also recommend checking out this post.