Andes and Malbec

At the bus station in Buenos Aires, I met two British dudes who had plans to buy a horse to trek Argentina like a real gaucho. Unfortunately, they couldn't find a horse to buy. I asked if they were horse people, but they shared they had never been on one. Mad respect for their creativity and ambition! 

The 16 hour bus ride on Andesmar to Argentinian wine country was pleasant. I got a reclining chair, we watched a movie, I bought a ticket con servicio, meaning they fed me dinner and breakfast, and we played bingo. I thinkkkk I won bingo, but my numbers are rusty (sesenta? setenta?) so I didn't shout out bingo. I had flashbacks to the time I won bingo and cried. Ask me about it, but trigger warning me first plz.

As soon as I got to my hostel, I booked a half day wine tour, where they bussed us to three wineries, an olive oil tasting, and a chocolate and liqueur tasting. I wanted to send wine to Ryan and Lealah, but multiple people told me the Argentinian postal service is unrealiable, resulting in stolen packages that never arrive or packages that do arrive but were opened and empty. The wineries I visited wouldn't ship them out for you. The one that did I didn't like very much. 

The next day I did a bike tour to another three wineries and a craft beer place. It reminded me of the fun time Ryan and I had biking between wineries in Sonoma County. I learned about family bodegas versus industrial wineries and about how each winemaker caters the wine they export to the country's palate where they send it. Americans tend to like smokier flavors, whereas the wine they send to France has sweeter notes. I bought a bottle from the only bodega with a female winemaker. 

The liqueur lady was my favorite. She didn't speak English, but made great jokes. She said that what the Argentinians would call spicy, the Mexicans would say is dulce de leche. I tried absinthe (gross/why) after the lady heated up some sugar for me like a science experiment.

Kiwis Matt and Scotty and I went in on BBQ and salad, and I was thankful they cooked. We shared wine from the tour, which paired perfectly with our meat.

All I wanted to do in Mendoza (besides drink Malbec) was hike. Everyone told me no. Tour companies only did the journey by van, the city bus wasn't running, uber was inoperable, and I couldn't find anyone locally to pay to drive me. Aconcagua is the highest mountain outside of Asia and is visible 100 miles off the coast of the Pacific Ocean. There is a hike to Aconcagua base camp that I was itching to do but it didn't look like it was possible this trip.

Matt and Scotty said they were driving to the Chilean border through the Andes on Sunday. I was nervous, but decided to follow my own mantra (Eat, Drink, Be Joyful, Ask, and Celebrate) and so I asked if I could join. Thankfully they said yes! We drove two hours through the mountains towards Chile, stopping along the way to take stunning photos of the mountains. 

We then hiked the Andes to the Chilean border! We were nervous about running out of daylight, so we started scaling the mountain instead of doing the switchbacks (against my wishes). Scotty said to keep space between us in case of an avalanche! 

Nevertheless, I felt tremendous joy hiking against such a beautiful backdrop. It was a v cool experience. It started to snow, so we hustled down the mountain. I felt like my eyeball goo was freezing. I celebrated the hike with a tasty steak, eggs, and french fries, followed by flan (in honor of Noor) with dulce de leche.

Now onto Salta to drink white wine!