So we made a move to our next destination, crossing the boarder of Chile into Argentina by bus. This gets a mention of its very own because it was an adventure in itself. The buses in Argentina are really good and the seats recline so that you are basically lying down. We left Chile at 8am and after a bit of a nap on the bus we woke up to the ridiculously beautiful mountainous backdrop. It was a awesome, if not a little bit scary winding up and down through the mountains of Chile and Argentina.
We arrived in Mendoza, Argentina which is wine country and produces 70% of the country’s wine. The city is stunning, really clean with wide tree lined streets and loads of parks and plazas.
We only had 3 nights in there as we had to be in Buenos Aires by the 30th so we crammed as much as we could into the days we had.
One really popular thing to do in Mendoza is to do a bike tour of the vineyards in Maipu, about an hour outside of Mendoza. On recommendation, we took the bus out there and hired bicycles from a lovely family run business called Mr. Hugo’s. After a wobbly start we cycled off with our maps to spend the day tasting some of the best wine in the country. It was an amazing day and we were totally pooped and more than a bit tipsy by the time we got home.
Had many a conversation about who from home would enjoy stunning Mendoza the most, and had many a vino for everyone at home!
Highlights
Our first Argentinean steak experience. We had heard many good things about the meat in Argentina being some of the best in the world, but it is actually just ridiculous. We had a massive steak lunch for AUS$11 and the steak was sooo big it nearly took up the whole plate!
Lowlights
The lack of coins and change in Argentina! Coins are a real rarity because of the economic crash in Argentina and it’s an odd situation because the buses only take coins. So we had to stop at more than 5 shops on our way to the bus buying lollies just so we would have enough change.
