December 22, 2009
Mendoza, Argentina is a city that is quite well known around the world for having some of the best wines..mainly Malbecs from the region. One of the most popular things to do among travelers is to do a bike tour of the vineyards and taste some wines. The most known bike tour amonst travelers is Mr. Hugo´s bike tours..basically you take a bus from town and go to his place, rent a bike, and are given a little map with all the vineyards and wineries of the region and given some advice on what route to take to taste some wines and food. The cool thing was that the night before I went, at about 2 am from returning from the bar, me and another girl, Kata from Germany, met and were chatting in the hostel about how we both wanted to do the bike tour, so we decided to do it together the next day. That´s the beauty of traveling..you meet someone for a few minutes and make some fun plans for the next day!
So anyways, first, we went to the wine museum which was cool becuase it had huge oak wine barrels, old winery machines, and finished with a tasting of a red wine that they only serve in the winery. From there, we started visiting some of the vineyards a bit further out by bike. The roads were so pretty-so quiet and framed by trees..breezy, perfect weather, sunny, little brooks running on the edges of the roads. We then went to a really nice winery, Tempus Alba, which turned into the highlight of the day. We toured the winery, and then sat on their outdoor balcony for some wine tasting and lunch. It was perfect because Kata was the perfect company-we agreed on all the wines we wanted to try, all the cheeses, the food...it really was perfect. We tried a flight of 6 wines,1 rose and 5 reds. Then we had an AMAZING cheese platter with sun dried tomatoes, onions, roquefort cheese, an herbed cheese, a smoked cheese...fantastic. We were overlooking a beautiful vineyard, nice breeze, wine and cheese, great company...what more could a gal ask for?! Anyways, later on we continues on to an olive factory where we got to sample olives, olive oil, breads..and later to a Chocolate and Liquor fac
tory which was amazing as well. The guy manufactures all his own liquors, chocolates, jams, spreads, olive oil...got to same different spreads, garlic spread, chocolate liquors..it was an AWESOME place!Later on our way home, we chose to walk from the bus stop and see some of the city of Mendoza, and I fell more and more in love with the city around each turn. I really found myself thinking about living there and whether I could find a job...thinking, "Could I really do this?" Anyways, that was the end to an amazing day.
Overall, Mendoza was an awesome city. I also spent a few hours one day visiting Mendoza´s huge park which was so nice, I laid out a towel and wrote in my journal and listened to my music, all while laying by the lake and soaking in the sunshine...loved that park and needed some peace some days because it was kind of a crazy few days because I had met an Argentinian guy, Agustin, in Cordoba and he came with me to Mendoza...things didnt exactly go as I had envisioned...anyways, Mendoza was a bit crazy too with partying and Agustin and then Irit splitting from us since she had to go through Argentina faster than we did... (but I´d be seeing her again!)
But the overall feeling...let´s just say I might take a look into Mendoza jobs in the future, I loved it that much. :)
I hope you are able to find something in your field. Of course, if the economy is right, I guess it doesn't much matter. As long as you can live the life you want, it doesn't matter what you do.
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