Two for the Road

Jet lag can be a persistent little git. It turns out neither Iris nor I are fully over it. While, for me, the waking up at 3am is thankfully a thing of the past, I think I left my body clock behind in New Zealand. When I try to turn in my brain goes ‘Oi! It’s a beautiful midday here in Auckland, which is definitely where we are. You’re not snoozing any time soon!’.

But enough of the moaning. What have we been up to? The day after we last left you, we decided to get to know our temporary home that much better and went on a walking tour of Mendoza. Our host, Agustín, was a charming bloke and incredibly knowledgeable about his home town.

His tour took us – alongside an American couple who kept apologising for the behaviour of their country’s administration, bless them¹ – around several of Mendoza’s plazas. We learned about San Martin, a George Washington-esque figure in the history of Argentina and Peru who called Mendoza his hometown. We knew very little of Argentina’s foundational story, so to find that such a central figure helped directly to shape the town and country in which we were staying was remarkable.

Agustín then took us to the Plaza España and Plaza Italia, two squares decorated and shaped by the generations of Spanish and Italian settlers of Mendoza. Each was decorated in a beautiful homage to its home country. Plaza España showcased tiled benches and pictures showing the origin stories of the Spanish colonists, and Plaza Italia contained a fountain showcasing the story of Dante’s Divine Comedy and a statue of Romulus and Remus suckling their adopted wolf mother.

What was surprising was to learn of the, erm, interesting benefactors who help furnish these squares. Plaza España’s beautiful tiled benches were given as a gift by General Franco, and the Roman statues of Plaza Italia were gifted by Benito Mussolini. We didn’t make it to all the town’s numerous plazas on our tour but let’s hope there’s not a German plaza.

We were told of some of the best restaurants in the city, one of which we’d already booked in advance and, in fact, went to last night. It should be of no surprise to anyone we have exceptional taste in grill restaurants. More on that later.

The following day we headed to the Uco Valley to the south of the town for, yes, you guessed it, more winery visits! As we drove so close to the border with Chile, we had an exceptional view of the Andes.² We’ve been told they’re incredible to hike up but I left my boots at home.

We hit up another three bodegas – Andeluna, Domaine Bousquet, followed by lunch at Giminez Riili. Andeluna was great fun. Our guide, who was learning English, took us around the entire winery and was certainly generous with her pours. Domaine Bousquet was interesting as the first organic winery in the country, but we both felt it was a bit too big and corporate for us to really love.

Lunch was fantastic. We had a four course tasting menu, both of us having steak for main and a delicious cheesecake for dessert. Iris had empanadas and, truth be told, I don’t remember my starter. It must have been that good.

Our plans for the next day consisted of bedding down and recovering. But this was the first of two consecutive days in which we witnessed the biggest, most fascinating thunderstorms in which either of us had been in the midst. The sky lit up and lightning danced almost every other second, as if nature wanted to throw a rave as we tried to turn in for the night. Words can only do it so much justice, so have a butchers yourself.

On a much calmer note, while we were here we wanted to learn about mate (pronounced ‘mat-eh’, in case you were confused and thought we were just desperate to make friends), seemingly the favourite hot drink of every Argentinian. It’s a traditional herbal drink that locals prefer to tea or coffee.

We booked an experience with two locals, Juma and Reni, who were the loveliest people. They took us to a table in Parc San Martin, let us sample the different kinds of mate, and talked us through how to prepare it and its importance in Argentinian culture. It turns out we like the strong stuff, not the weak nonsense they traditionally give to tourists (honest!).

After this relaxing start to the day, each of us full of mate, we rented some e-bikes and cycled around Parc San Martin. It’s sprawling at around 390 hectares, making it bigger than Central Park in New York³. The sun was shining and it was a glorious day to go cycling. Lunch was a picnic by the lake. Turns out cheeses and charcuterie meats are a great fuel.

We’d said to ourselves that we were going to cycle up a steep hill overlooking the park, but since I could tell neither of our hearts were in it, I faked feeling woozy and we cycled back, a perfect excuse. Now, Iris may come in here with some hogwash about how my feeling faint was legitimate, a weakness brought on by my lack of heat acclimatisation and not eating enough at lunch combined with cycling just under 17km, but we’ve all had enough of fake news these days.

Last night we had dinner in Centauro, a Michelin Guide-recommended restaurant.⁴ We enjoyed an eight-course tasting menu with – you guessed it – a wine pairing.⁵ Highlights included the confit pollock, a French-inspired prawn dish, and, of course, a quality Argentinian steak.

And after a late start today, we’ve taken in a couple of art galleries in the city centre. These were all free to enter and had their fair share of interesting and quirky modern art exhibitions, including some art made from wine bottle corks, where Malbec has been used for the shading.

So what’s next? Tomorrow we enjoy our final wine experience in the Dionisias wine fair, a festival showcasing the best of local female-owned wineries. Who knew gender equality could be so delicious? Then on Monday we’re heading off to Lima, Peru. If we spot any of their famous marmalade-eating bears you lovely people will be the first to know.

1. Noting this to see how this compares down the road to other, erm, unprompted political chat we may get when we travel the Deep South of the USA later in our trip. Place your bets now. ↩︎
2. And in case you’re wondering why we call them the Andes… ↩︎
3. This is deliberate. While town planning they made it just a couple of hectares bigger than the NYC gardens, pretty much just to one up them. ↩︎
4. As this one doesn’t have a Star, we therefore remain entirely relatable. ↩︎
5. Hey, this is our last proper wine destination on our trip. Let us live a little! Geez! ↩︎