First Impressions of Mendoza
We’ve finally made it to Mendoza, the original inspiration for our trip. While it is a city full of opportunities, it has always been quite an adjustment for us.
After a 24 hour bus ride from Puerto Madryn, we arrived to a pretty bustling city. Mendoza is the fourth largest city in Argentina, with 130,000 in the city, and 850,000 in the greater metropolitan area. That seems like a lot of people, but it doesn’t feel like a lot or people. It’s a drastic change from Buenos Aires and it took us pretty much an entire week to adjust and begin to appreciate all this city has to offer.
A Smaller City
Not as many people take the colectivo (aka – the bus), but they also have a card that you can charge up, unlike Buenso Aires (moneda not needed). However, if you do use moneda to take the bus, please note: you will not get change. Many people have cars and where they park them is called the “Playa,” not to be confused with the “Beach.”
Everybody Eats Ice Cream…All the Time
If you can’t beat ‘em – join ‘em.
Things with Flashing Lights Don’t Move Fast
It’s not uncommon to see a police vehicle or ambulance driving down the street with their lights flashing, after all it is a city. However, we’ve noticed that we can keep a pretty good pace with them… while walking. They just don’t seem to be in a rush and cars generally don’t get out of the way. On a couple of occasions, a police car comes to a stop at the red light and we wonder if we should cross the street or if they’re checking to make sure they can go through the intersection themselves. Needless to say, we sure hope we don’t need any emergency medical attention or police assistance.
Everybody Takes a Siesta
Pretty much everybody takes a siesta from 1-5PM, every day, which means, pretty much everything is closed. The city becomes calm and quiet. At first we didn’t know what to do with this forced quiet time, now we’ve come to embrace it and enjoy the peacefulness of these few hours in the afternoon – we’re at least trying to embrace it. I know you’re wondering what they do during this time; we still haven’t quite figured it all out, other than that we have been told that people really do go home and rest.
Everything is More Expensive
Food is more expensive, language school is more expensive, and clothes are more expensive (not that we’re looking to buy any clothes or anything). We find this to be more of a middle-class city that also happens to be driven strongly by tourism. The drastic change from rich to poor isn’t as obvious here. It you live in city center, it appears as if it’s because you can afford to. A lot of people have cars and a bit of a larger living space. However, I would say that it’s not as trendy here as in Buenos Aires. Coming from BsAs it feels as if they are just a little behind the times (Buenos is to NYC as Mendoza is to Minneapolis).
We Struck Gold in the Colors of Yellow and Red
We’re now in the heart of wine country. Argentina is the largest producer of Malbec in the world and has perhaps one of the best places to produce wine. There are hot days and cool nights, little rain (~10 inches a year), but an unlimited supply of water from the Andes, and very few diseases to affect the vines. The region has a number of old vines, but with recent focus from the international wine community and many new investments, many vines are very young and are still waiting to reach their potential. Also, Argentine’s typically drink their wines young (same year vintage). So you’re buying wines that came of the vines less than 6 months ago. But high quality wine production has caught on like the H1N1 – now, more and more wineries are moving from high quantity/low quality to higher quality/lower quantity, resulting in great value for the buyer!
When tasting wine or ordering in a restaurant, the pour is usually extremely generous and the majority of the people pouring are very knowledgeable on the wine. Also, if you’re planning a trip, you can wine taste by bus, car, horse or bike. We plan to experience all of the above and share the results.
The mountains are enormous.
How beautiful it is to be living in this little town at the base of the foothills of the Andes. In just a few hours you can drive to the top and ski all day to come back home to a beautiful sunny day. The Andes reach 24,000 feet high with Mount Aconcagua as it’s highest peak. Our pictures don’t do it justice
