Thursday 28 April 2011

Wine country, Argentina

Mendoza is Argentina's most important wine region, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the country's entire wine production. We spent 4 nights in the city, 2 on our way into Chile and 2 on our way out. Our days consisted of visiting wineries and sampling their merchandise. Our evenings were largely spent in alcohol induced comas.

We went on a wine tour with "Trout and Wine Tours" (not sure of the relevance of the "trout") that picked us up at our hotel and looked after us for the whole day. This is what we did:
  • Winery tour of Alta Vista – big, old and fancy winery. Tasted 3 (or was it 5) of their best wines in their tasting room;

Underground cellar where wine ages in barrels

Wine tanks made of stainless steel, where grapes turn into wine

Grey and special XX wine barrels

Tasting room
  • Winery tour of Sontano (remember slightly less of this one). The grapes were in the process of being harvested so the whole vineyard was full of pinkish, purpleish people working the grapes;

Picking out the reject grapes by hand

Putting the old grape skins on a trailer, later to be mixed with other stuff to make fertiliser for the vines

More tanks - these ones are empty, but may be used in the future when the winery has more vines (inflation is unpredictable in Argentina so best buy everything you need asap)

Skins

Entry to vineyard (Andes faintly visible in background)

Easy art idea

Drinking

The best barrel, or so we learnt
  • 4 course lunch at Belasco de Baquedano including steak, cheese, something sweet … and 7 (or was it 8) wines;







  • Tour of another winery and tasting of some other wine. Don’t remember much of this winery except that it had a very cute dog.


We spent another day cabbing around the Lujan de Cuyo (a particularly good region for Malbec grapes). We visited a gorgeous boutique winery called Dolium (which imports to Australia), where we tasted grapes in different stages of the fermentation process (cloudy-sour-grape-juice, warm-sugary-fermenting-grapes, alcoholic-acidic-almost-but-not-quite-wine-tasting-grapes and wine). We also had a tasting session of 6 wines with the owner of the vineyard (and his cute dog called Mia).

Afterwards we pushed our taxi down the street to help it start, then had a beautiful 5 course lunch with 6 wines at Ruca Malen. It included a smoked aubergine croquette, a lomo steak with vegetables, white chocolate panacotta, and many other fancy things.

On our other day in Mendoza, we went white water rafting. Calling the water “white” in the circumstances was a little misleading. It was blue, smooth and freezing cold. Our very average tour guide yelled at us to paddle hard towards rocks and other obstacles to make the boat rock. Halfway through my feet went numb and I couldn’t feel my legs.

Very average contract, for them. We could have easily sued if anything went wrong



We drove from Mendoza to Santiago, Chile, through the Andes. It was a beautiful drive - towering mountains, past the highest point in South America (Aconcagua), through lots of tunnels ... amazing! Mum didn't get her passport stamped upon entry into Argentina so we were held up the border for a couple of hours waiting for bureaucracy to run it's course, and some of the hairpin turns on the edges of deadly cliffs made my stomach turn, but otherwise it was a very pleasant drive.

Puenta del Inca, a natural rock bridge and the remains of an old ski resort swept away in a flood many years ago. The high levels of sulfur in the water here turn everything yellow

You can buy any souvenir you can imagine, covered in a yellow sulfur crust



Channelling Diego, except no Chimmarrao

New country

Monday 25 April 2011

Bariloche - The Lakes District

We arrived in Bariloche expecting that, having ventured some 1000km north of El Calafate, the temperature would increase. Unfortunately, the reality was somewhat different. We were greeted by temperatures ranging between 2-10 degrees, chilling winds blowing off the lake and other such nuisances, which spoilt any ideas we had of fishing or white-water rafting. BUT the setting was nonetheless spectacular, and we had a beautiful time. 

Our accommodation was fantastic - Lirolay suites, 7.5 km’s from the centre of Bariloche. Our 2 bedroom room was decked out with all the creature comforts, including heated bathroom floor tiles, and we were well pleased when we opened the doors at the end of each cold day.

The lake in front of Lirolay at sunrise
Lirolay Suites

Down by the lake

Highlights of Bariloche:
  • Strolling around the freezing city. Apparently Bariloche is famous for its chocolate ... we saw 3 huge chocolate stores which all made their own chocolate. We sampled chocolate at Rapa Nui and Mamushka;


Outside a chocolate shop

Babushka dolls at Mamushka chocolate shop

Kid in a candy store


  • Catching the bus to the magnificent Llao Llao Hotel, perched atop a hill with 260 degree views of Lake Nahuel Huapi Lake. G played golf while the ladies attempted to visit Isla Victoria (there are no photos of Isla Victoria as we did not make it);
Inside the hotel

G tee-ing off

Not a bad course...

Amazing dog at the wharf
  • G driving manual in general and G driving manual on the 7 Lakes Drive – a 400-odd km route with 150km of dirt/rock road. We drove past lakes and cows, up and down treacherous mountains, and met lots of cute animals along the way;
Us


Old bridge

Friendly dog

Crazy road and amazing scenery ... 60km of dirt road behind us, 60km to go ...

Additional obstacles

Kitten at a coffee stop

Beautiful - near Villa La Angostura, ski resort for wealthy Portenos


  • Eating and drinking, pretty much everything and everywhere, including “El Patacon”, an amazing parilla with pictures of Bill Clinton eating there on the walls;


Dinner at Don Molina, thanks to Bev's recommendation. Amazing tuna salad. Later, Mum got stuck in the bathroom and had to crawl under the door

Gnocchi at El Fonda del Tio, a lively local eatery in the backstreets of Bariloche. Cheap and great, but a very cold walk away

Everyone who eats or drinks at Blest Cerveceria writes messages on coasters and sticks them to the walls. Cute idea

Eating something made out of meat, like everything in Argentina

Another night, another steak - Boliche del Alberto. $10AUD buys 3 big, juicy fillets of steak

Grey having a shot of Aguadente thanks to the friendly Columbian waiter. At this beautiful place called I Latina we ate cerviche, seafood stew and vegetables

  • We drove to El Bolson, a hippy town in the hills, to see its famous Saturday artisan market. We ate farm fresh raspberries, drank home-brewed beer and spent money on things we don’t need;

Cool wooden toys. Mum went crazy. We were captivated for many minutes

  • Sunday in Colonia Suiza, a one road town, with a gorgeous market and communal Sunday barbecue.


  • Art at the airport;



  • (Unhighlight) - Grey drew attention to my dislike of flying as we were boarding our flight to Mendoza. The pilot "invited" us to come to the cockpit during the flight - he thought it would help me get over the fear. Then the pilot introduced me to his co-pilot who was in control of the plane and doing a driving test that day! ARRGGH.
Sometimes the best thing to do is just close your eyes and block your ears
Looks difficult to master and easy to mess up!