Apparently Mud is Good for You

Our side-trip to Mendoza was our Christmas gift to each other this year, and we decided that no Christmas trip is complete without a spa treatment (cause everyone knows that). With the help of our friendly hotel concierge, and on the sixth try (we will definitely have a post dedicated to the laissez faire style of service in Argentina) we booked a trip to the Termes Cacheuta - a hotel spa at the foothills of the Andes.  We had a full day of access to the natural hot springs pools, ranging in temperature from 82 to 104 degrees, a gourmet lunch, and um ... a "mud treatment".  The visuals:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And of course we had to participate in the mud treatment.  It's less of a treatment than a self-service cauldron of hot mud that you slather all over yourself ...



 

... then dry out in the sun ...

 

 

... and end up looking like a character from Lord of the Flies.

 

It's also a great way to bond with the other patrons; in our case with Don Jorge ("Don" being the honorific, not part of his name), pictured here.  What a sweet man!  He went to school in California about 40 years ago for rose gardening techniques, and was so excited to dust off his out-of-practice English with us.  After about 5 minutes, Jax was referring to him as her second "novio" (boyfriend).  Don Jorge wanted to make sure we sent his respect and love to everyone in the US ... done!

 

Once you rinse off, your skin feels silky smooth and you're ready for a decadent buffet of roasted meats, grilled and marinated veggies, casseroles, stews, and other unidentifiable yums.

 

After that ... a nap in the sun, one more dip in the springs, and you're recharged.  Mastercharged, too, but hey ... it was Christmas!

 

This ain't Greyhound...

We'd read tales about the cushy buses that traverse Argentina so opted for 2 seats in "primera clase" on Andesmar for the overnight ride to Mendoza. 

The bus business is thriving; the station has over 200 ticket counters and more than 50 bays for departing buses.  The whole place is rather nuts.

The trek started with a bus-wide game of bingo; the winner bagged a bottle of Chardonnay.

In addition to seats that recline to 180 degrees to form a comfy little bed, we were told the food improves with each increase in seat class.  While not exactly delicious, it was plentiful.  On the way, there was a cold appetizer platter (?) followed by a warm course of milanesa (fried cutlet) and rice. 

 Note the bib they provide.

Same schtick on the ride home...

Individual TVs with English-language movies and interesting views made the 12-hour ride pass rather quickly.

The Argentines love their sweets which populated the breakfast box on both trips. 

Oh, and did I mention...all the wine and champagne you can drink!



Christmas Eve dinner

After a day of winery hopping, we scoured the downtown of Mendoza for something to take back to the hotel.  We literally found only 1 restaurant and 1 mini-market open so we settled for this as our celebratory dinner:

Really tasty South American Bugle like treats and apple juice! 

the vines of Mendoza

Wine tasting in Mendoza vineyards nesteld at the foothills of the Andes was even better than it sounds.  Without being there, it's difficult to conjur up the smells of the grapes and fermentation, the heat of the Argentine sun and the chill of the cellars, the spectrum of tastes concocted by both young, inventive and aged, traditional wine makers.  We learned that, with the help of melting snow for irrigation, the dry "land of malbecs" yields much more - cabernet sauvignon, cab franc (an amazing outlier), bonarda, syrah petit verdot, and chardonnay.  Our Christmas Eve adventure in the Lujon de Cuyo region with Ampora Tours, who we highly recommend...

Bodega Alta Vista:

The old concrete fermenting tanks used for their premium lines, as they are ideal for maintaining temperatures.

 Very professional tasting room.  No one made use of the spit sinks...

 Our lineup included a sparkling atemporal, premium bonarda and torrontes (we bought a bottle of both of these), a single vineyard malbec, and their top-end alto malbec.

 Olive trees in the forground that produce an oil that we also tasted.  Due to the similar growing conditions, many of the vineyards cultivate both.

Bodega Kaiken:

 Tupungato, one of the highest peaks in South America, and an active volcano, in the background.

 Our adorable hostess informed us of many vineyard secrets like how to clone vines and identify sick plants.

We were treated to a tank tasting of a malbec that still had 2 years to go before reaching market.  Really fruity and much less complex than their 2010 malbec ultra that we tasted it against. The show was stolen by their Corte blend of cab sauv, malbec and petit verdot however.

Bodega Caelum:

This winery, named for a constellation of a chisel, is rather young but is turning out really delicious juice (my fave) and pistachios, which are apparently a real money maker in this region.



Aged only in French oak (except their chardonnay which was super crisp), we tasted kick butt rosado, malbec and dolce. 

Bodega Ruca Malen:

A medium sized winery partially owned by the owner of Quilmes, Argentina's de facto national beer.

We enjoyed a gorgeous view and a killer lunch.  Honestly, by this point, I was making so few notes on the wine I'd be hard pressed to differentiate what was served with the 5 courses.  So very American of me... :-)

We enjoyed ourselves so thoroughly we left with a half-filled wine shipping box and the notion to do it all again before departing Mendoza.

     

Jardin Japones

We walked over to the Japanese Garden yesterday, about a 20 minute walk.

 

Apart from the decidedly un-Japanese trance music playing over a series of loudspeakers, it was well-maintained and very nice.  Jax even confirmed the pedigry of the ticket-taker - they had a quick conversation in Japanese.



 

 

The main element of the garden is la puente roja (the red bridge).  But we were also lucky to stumble into the garden on the last day of a sort of "Japanese Culture" celebration.  We sat in on several martial arts displays.

I thought Jax was going to try and take this kid home with us.  He was about half the size of the other karate kids, and super cute.

 

And on the way home at the convenience store, buying some necessaries ... we had a good laugh at this sign.  Loosely translated: "If you pay more, it's because you want to."  Very succinct!

Nightlife Amateurs

It turns out Americans don't really know how to party.  We have been going out most nights for dinner and drinks, and thanks to the time change we have found the late nights a bit easier to handle, but even our 3-hour advantage is not enough to keep up with the Argentines.

On Monday night after dinner, we stopped at a micro brewery for a beer.  [Interesting note: the Argentines don't really have a beer culture, and their local beer Quilmes, while not offensive, is not something you would go out of your way to buy.  But there are a few small, American-esque brew pubs that have some legitimate micro brews.]  While there, we were encouraged to drink another pint, since it was "happy hour" ... duh! midnight! ... and after our bottle of wine at dinner we were feeling very friendly.  So friendly that our waitress (as a joke, we think) brought a gentleman over to introduce to us, Ernesto.  Turns out Ernesto, in addition to being completely hammered, was Venezuelan and in BA visiting his son, a TV sports-caster whom we also met.  It's amazing what you can accomplish with a limited vocabulary and gestures.  We "talked" about politics, religion, and Buenos Aires culture.  And then he bought us a glass of wine.

The pub shut down at 2 am, and on our way out the door we met a couple on a first date who invited us to another bar for a drink.  She was an English translator (score!), and he was a geologist.  2 more beers and a dance lesson later, Jax and I were thoroughly and unintentionally blitzed.  We finally decided to stumble home at 3:30.  And don't forget this was a MONDAY NIGHT!

We may try to rest up today and try our luck at a Friday night on the town.  Details will follow.

the home and the 'hood

Our home away from home...

Around the 'hood...