Puerto Iguazu -> Mendoza

Flight 1 was slightly delayed and took off around 11:40pm. We landed in Buenos Aires EZE airport around 1:15am and had to take an uber to AEP airport where our next flight was taking off from (about an hour away). Thankfully, we met a couple other solo travelers who wanted to split the uber, so it ended up working out nicely. It was crazy to see how many people at 2am were sitting at the airport cafe’s enjoying a coffee like it was 10am. At AEP, we had to try the local McDonalds cuisine (it was the only thing open). Surprisingly, American fast-food chains and snacks are decently pricey compared to other local options.

We boarded our next flight at 5am and landed in Mendoza around 8am on the 23rd. Although we were very disoriented, the sunrise was a pretty sight. The weather was moderately warm and dry and sunny, a welcome change from the jungle of Iguazu. We killed a little more time in the airport, then took an uber to the city center. We found a breakfast place and I got very happy eating breakfast foods again. It had been a while. I looked at some of the menu pictures of the restaurant from September of 2022 and it was crazy to see how fast inflation worsened here. The official conversion rate was 1 USD to 130 pesos in Sept 2022 and now its nearly 195.

The Airbnb was ready for check-in around noon after nearly 24 hours of travel. By that point, the drowsiness and irritability was definitely showing. The apartment is located perfectly in the heart of the city just off one of the main streets filled with restaurants. It is on the 8th floor with a cool city view as well. I think Mendoza may be one of those underrated cities we visit and many tourists sometimes skip over.

We used today to get a few errands done. We got more cash, got our bus ticket for Santiago, booked a wine tour for Friday, and booked a rental car for Saturday and Sunday. We are planning to drive to the base of a mountain and hike it instead of taking a tour bus. For dinner, we tried a Thai restaurant located literally 50ft from the door of the apartment complex. With dinner, we also tried the famous “Fernets with Cola” mixed drink that is widespread across Argentina. Overall, not our favorite (more of a chugg drink in my opinion), but fun to finally try.

We woke up this morning around 9am after a nice 12 hour sleep. The car rental place texted us details of the rental, and it turns out, for major damages or theft of the car, we would only have to pay 600 USD. The cost for two days of rental was only 60 USD total. The premium fee in the US for just being under 25 years old would have costed that much. We got brunch on the main street and Hunter accidently smacked a bee into his coffee, which was funny. It was also interesting to people-watch. Some people would come by and leave items on the table and would come back to recollect them if you didn’t want to purchase them.

The wine tour guide, Elisa, picked us up from a nearby Sheraton around 2:30pm. Mendoza is renowned for its Wineries and several wine regions, and for this tour, we visited the Maipu region. Overall, over 1200 “bodegas” or wineries exist around the city of Mendoza that use over 30 different types of grapes.

The first bodega was an organic one which didn’t employ fertilizers or pesticides or artificial sulfates throughout their process. It was interesting to learn about the history of wineries, their different sizes and specialties, and about the types of grapes. We chose the Spanish tour options for each bodega because it was clear that the guides could deliver more depth of information in Spanish instead of English, plus it was good practice. We learned how to inspect the wines using first our eyes, then nose, then tongue. It was a whole operation and we were clearly newbies, but glad we got to learn something new. I wish I had more room in my bag to bring back a bottle or two.

In total, we visited 3 bodegas. The first was the organic one, the second a larger industrial one, and the third an older more traditional one (over 150 years in business). There were three tastings at each varying from younger reds, to older reds, to sparkling whites. It was cool to see the contrast between the massive modern tanks and the older brick ones.

In between the bodegas, we stopped at a olive oil producer. We learned about the process of making the oil and the different levels of quality. According to the guide, it takes about 7kg of olives to make one liter of oil. Elisa also informed us that the oil helps with protecting your stomach lining when drinking a lot of wine and helps with the hangover. Always nice. We got to try about 8 different flavor of oil too.

After the tour ended about 8pm, we got dinner at another Indian place. 3rd Indian restaurant of the trip and still so good. We walked back to the apartment through the massive Plaza Independencia and found a water fountain show with music and lights. There were plenty of people out and shops and everything. We called it a relatively early night as tomorrow is a big day. I am excited to drive again and the manual car on the curvy mountain roads is going to be an adventure.