One, Two, Skip a Few, 99.. Mendoza!

Heading into Argentina

Colourful rocks - reds greens, yellows; Salta-  meeting with Argentinian friends made in Ecuador, huge gigantic pieces of meat, wine, architecture, cool rock formations; Cafayete - peaceful wine country, slow pace, small town, long siestas, riots, strikes... Long buses - 6 hr rides followed by 10 hour layovers, 40 degree heat, another 15 hour bus ride... And hey, we're in Mendoza!

Colourful rocks near Salta, Argentina

This steak does NOT meet dietitian standards.

Wine with friends

Its hot up here in Northern Argentina, desert actually, and that makes it perfect for - you guessed it - wine. We're in wine country! Unfortunately for the sweet white wine lover, malbec is king here. Most wine here is red. That's ok though, we're in Mendoza, and a wine tour is a must. And hey, lucky us, our tour is private! On the agenda: 4 wineries. A classic tour and tasting at stop one. We become the chemists at stop two as we learn how to produce our own blend and compete for the best blend! (Andrea must have cheated...) At stop 3 you will stagger into the winery for a 5 course dinner with a wine to pair for each course. (how many glasses have we had so far?) Delicious! And the fourth stop we taste the progression from the unfinished in the tanks, to the finished products out of the barrels. I need to sit down.

A Bodega in Mendoza, Argentina

Andrea's special blend.

Seriously, who drinks this much wine at lunch?

Another spin (I know y'all love a good pun now and then) on wine tours is the bicycle. Pretty much everyone who goes through a hostel ends up at Mr. Hugo's to rent a bike. How much wine can YOU drink without falling off your bike?

A self serve biking wine tour.

Seriously though, Argentina is nuts. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's the nicest, cleanest and least poor country we've been to in South America. We love it. But the government is just crazy! Heres the deal: Inflation here is running rampant, and the value of their peso is sinking like a rock. Everyone wants USD, because it's way more stable. The crazy part? The government has actually banned foreign currency! Other then buying it on the street (and it's expensive) you can't get it. Period. (Believe me we have tried) Travelers will go to Uraguay or Chile if they are running out of cash to pull out more USD. An illegal market has developed to supply it. They call it the blue dollar. Legally the exchange rate is 6.3 pesos to 1 USD (right now anyway, its constantly going up though), which is the rate your bank will charge an American using their credit card. But on the blue market (it's blue not black because EVERYONE knows about it) you will get 9.3 to 1. It's crazy, it's illegal but the rate will actually get printed in the newspaper! The government just pretends it doesn't exist!

I gotta say, it felt pretty sketch the first time we went it the jewellery store to get out money changed:

The money changers were lined up on the street. Contact was made, the rate was negotiated. It pays to come equipped with knowledge of the actual rate. You won't get it here in Mendoza, but not knowing is a sure way to be taken advantage of. We're escorted into the shops, downstairs into a tiny hole in the wall jewellery store. The store clears out and the door is closed. Jewellery is not the main business here. A knock on the wall and a small hidden windows slides open. Wads of cash are exchanged. A black light is pulled out for our use if we desire, to check the money for fakes. The changers are more reliable then the banks, their reputation is on the line. Still, to not check would be foolish. The money is good. The exchange complete.

By the way - we're off to Chile. We need some more USD!

Country quirk: In many parts of Argentina they believe strongly in siestas. Everything shuts down from 1-5, often restaurants will be closed from 1 to 8 or 8:30. How annoying.

Argentinian empanadas are where it's at.

Travelers notes: we stayed at hostel Lagares. Good price and fairly close to the main square. It was clean, had a kitchen, and had breakfast (just toast and homemade sweet bread, coffee and tea). Tons of movies available if you wish. Javier the owner will help you with anything, even give you help planning your trip as he's traveled within Argentina himself.

Changing money really isn't sketchy... It really does help stretch your money. Everyone does it, you'll have no issues. You get better value in Buenos Aries.

We did our wine tour with Mendoza Wine Camp, I recommend it.

Riots in Cafayete

Biking with Mr Hugo.