Spur of the moment trips provide chaos, excitement and fun. Last week I decided to celebrate classes ending by traveling to the gateway to Argentina’s wine – Mendoza!
Mendoza is a city located in the Andes Mountains in the Western region of Argentina. It is located in the desert, but most people never realize they are there due to the outstanding aggregation system. There are canals lining all of the streets in the city that fill with water from the rain and snow run off from the mountains. It is a modern day system that has been adapted from ancient Inca inhabitants.
I traveled to Maipu, a 20-minute bus ride from Mendoza, on my first day to rent a bike from Mr. Hugo Bike Rentals. I took off on a biking tour of the vineyards and olive oil gardens. Naturally, Mr. Hugo had Malbec wine straight from his own backyard for my housemates and I before we took off for our tour. He then provided us with a map of the wine vineyards, olive gardens and chocolate and liquor factories in the area. We began pedaling and were on our way!
Touring the wine vineyards was an unforgettable experience. Not only did I learn the different ways wine has been processed throughout the years, I learned about it at some of the most popular vineyards in the Americas. If you enjoy wine you are most certainly in for a treat – wine tastings were offered on balconies overlooking the vineyards and the Andes. I watched the sunset over the vineyard while trying Malbec, Cabernet, Bonarda and Chardonnay.
Traveling a little further out of Mendoza there is a series of quaint little towns tucked between the switchbacks of the Andes Mountains. The tour is traditionally called the “High Mountain Tour.” I had a wonderful tour guide, Martin, who took my housemates and I to three extra locations just because we were enjoying ourselves so much together!
After winding down the Pan-American Highway for three hours we arrived in Las Cuevas, a small town filled with skiers in the winter, located a few kilometers from the Chilean border. Unexpectedly, a snowstorm hit leaving a beautiful fresh layer of snow covering all of the mountains. To warm up we drank homemade hot chocolate in a small café in the living room of a woman’s home.
As we wound our way back down the mountain our first of many stops on the way back to Mendoza was Parque Aconcagua – a national park, home to the tallest mountain in the Americas. We hiked up the mountain for about an hour, but to say the least we were all a bit chilly – we were not prepared for the snow storm or fierce wind and only had jeans and sweatshirts on.
After the hike we sat in the warm pickup truck for a while and continued onto our next destination – Puente del Inca, a natural rock bridge formed over Río de Las Vacas, along the Inca Trail. The puente (bridge) is one of the last stops on the Inca Trail and is famous for its hot springs. According to the legend, these waters had healing powers. The Incan Commander’s son was very sick and it was his goal to bring his son to these healing waters. To make their commander’s dream a reality, the soldiers hugged one another, creating a human bridge. The commander carried his son across his soldiers’ shoulders and when he turned back to thank them, they had turned into stone.
In the 1900s a hotel was built in the mountain allowing people to sit in the hot springs in their rooms or in a common area of the hotel. Martin went there every week with his friends to have a beer and sit in the hot springs until 2005 when the bridge was closed because it had grown too weak as a result of all of the traffic that crossed it. Although the hotel has been closed, the yellow tint from sulfur crystals remains.
Continuing down the highway, we stopped in a small town called Uspallata – with a number of hostels and hotels it is a place where a lot of tourists stay if they are looking to get out of the city. From Uspallata, we stopped at Incan Ruins – Tambillo and Cerro Tunduqueral. My housemate, Heather, is an anthropology major and learned that the site has not been excavated since the Incas left it so only outlines of the rectangular houses can be seen in the never-ending desert. Cerro Tunduqueral was used for rituals and is covered in massive rocks that were engraved with humans, animals and Incan traditions.
After seeing the Inca Trail, bridge and ruins we decided that there would not be a better place than the hot springs to spend our last day in Mendoza. We went to Termas Cacheuta early the next morning and spent the day in the sun, sitting in the natural hot springs in the middle of the mountains. The view was like looking at a postcard – it was unreal!
After meeting hundreds of people at hostels who are also traveling through Argentina I know it is safe to say that Mendoza is by far one of people’s favorite destinations. I met a couple that was planning to skip Mendoza and after tasting a bottle of Mendoza’s wine, it was added to their agenda!
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