Mendoza was not a big thing in my initial planning of the trip. It is close to Santiago de Chile, so I thought it to be too far away from the destinations I wanted to visit (I hate long bus rides). But 2 things changed that. The first one is that Mendoza is a wine region, and I love wine! A close German friend of mine, who shares with me that wine enthusiasm, told me at some point that he can see me cycling and enjoying wine there. I guess I had no option but to indulge in those activities and live up to the expectations! The second reason was that Sarah, Isabelle and Zack would be all coming to Mendoza around the same time. Those guys were fun to travel with, and after 2 weeks of travelling together and a break (Neuquen, where I went alone), I wanted to see them again.

An oasis in the desert

Mendoza is a beautiful city, I have to say that first! It is situated in an arid, desert-like environment just beside the highest peaks of the Andes (mount Aconcagua), relatively close to Santiago de Chile from which it’s separated by mountains.
Despite this environment, the city is so green! Indigenous Huarpes tribes developed a system of dense irrigation canals, that was later expanded through Spanish rule, following every street on both sides of the street. These canals pass everywhere apparently, and oak trees were planted giving shadow everywhere around the city!

Irrigation canals

These acequias were further expanded outside of the city, where the wine growing started. Though I love it all how it is now, the history is unfortunately dark, indigenous who made the canals were massacred, enslaved, and more slave labour was brough in to expand the system.

Mendoza is one of the richest regions of Argentina, and the region produces something like 90% of all Argentinian wine. The main grape is Malbec (red grape), and to me personally, the wine tastes similar to Chilean wine which is a few 100s of km to the west. Not unusual, as the terrain is similar. Wines are strong, rich in tannin and therefore dry in taste. They must go great with the famous Argentinian Parilla (grill), but I guess I’m a wuss used to easier European wines so I did not enjoy many of the red wines here. There were some delicious ones, mostly white, but honestly – I don’t trust my own opinions after 3 glasses of wine either. All wines are great then!

Antonela

While the guys stayed in hostels, I stayed at a place of Antonela, a Mendosian (or Mendosan?) girl I got contacted by over Couchsurfing. For those who don’t know, couchsurfing is a social network connecting travellers with locals who want to hang out and even offer a place to stay. I used Couchsurfing from Iran to the US, with like 99% great experiences. Antonela didn’t disappoint either! She is so kind, accommodating, cheerful, funny and easygoing, that staying with her felt like being with my own family.

She took me out with her friends to a club on a hill overlooking Mendoza for some Argentinian Cumbia and Reggaeton. I’m not a big fan of those types of music, but I experienced many times in my life that when people from some culture enjoy something, If I like those people, then I somehow get to enjoy it too. Antonela has a nickname given by her friends – Antoxica. That is because she is so caring and nice, that it is simply toxic! Just amazing haha. She invited Isabella and Sarah to stay over at her place too, which Sarah did 1-2 days later. Isabella and Zack were leaving a bit earlier so they did not join.

Vineyards

After exploring the city and having some downtime, we spent two days cycling vineyards. Cycling vineyards is a popular tourist activity, and I imagined it being like Bordeaux or Provence tours. Unfortunately, big parts of the way were on dusty roads besides cars and big trucks. Hardly an idyllic experience. But vineyards and bodegas themselves were a beautiful oasis of calm. From traditional and charming houses to modern architectural marvels. Our favourite one came by accident – we were delayed for a bigger tour in a big winery, so we had to improvise and came to it by accident. It’s called Bodega Catapano, and though they are small, they have a beautiful garden, chill background music, and the best of all – great staff. They are only 5 people running the vinery, and they were just amazingly nice. We went there two days in a row, as we liked it very much. Different chateaux were really different! Here are some photos of that.

Departure

After spending some 5 days, it was time to depart. Sarah, Isabelle, Zack and I were all going in different directions (Peru, Iguazu, Chile, and Buenos Aires). Leaving Sarah felt especially sad as I spent the longest time travelling with her, and she was likely the most uncomplicated/comfortable travel companion I ever had. We’ll see where we reconnect again. But Mendoza will always stay a wonderful place, with good weather, nice people, great wine…
Something tells me I’ll be back, and I hope that something is not lying!