Cycling, wineries and catcalls

Written at Cordoba on 20-07-14

After our roughest night yet on the bus, due to winding roads through the Andes we arrived in Mendoza, at 6:45, not quite feeling like ourselves. Luckily we found a hostel 100m from the bus terminal. The old man who greeted us was admittedly fully dressed but seemed at least as dazed as us. Probably in sympathy we gave us a room straight away which enabled us to crash and wake up three hours later feeling considerably more human, or at least two of us were. Poor Flora seemed to have contracted a mild Argentinian form of the flu. We left her to recover and went to discover the town. She met us a little later and we crossed a frozen yogurt shop. Those who know our culinary tastes will realise what a discovery this was! 

Meanwhile Capucine indulged in some candy floss (which was made even more exciting by the fact it was purple)!

This triggered a craving for another of our favourites - sushi! As you can see we were a warren of happy bunnies. 

We went to bed full and satisfied.  

We rose bright and early the next morning to tour the famous Maipu vineyards surrounding the town. Capucine felt extremely welcome in the region... 

The traditional way to do it is to rent bikes and cycle from one to the next. If you're raising your eyebrows you're quite right! The concept itself is not the safest as each winery offers a wine tasting session. For the first time since we've arrived in Argentina creepy dudes gave us unwanted attention in Mendoza. Ranging from catcalls and blown kisses to declarations of love .... Maipu was the icing on the cake as a group of guys in a car drove back and forth past us three times in order to be sure we had heard their proclamations of undying love!

We started with an olive oil tasting followed by six liqueurs, Capucine braved each of them by having the first taste. 

Au menu : 

- Chocolate with chocolate chips (a bit like chocolate milk for grown ups)

- Vanilla (similar to custard) 

- Porto (dessert wine that only Flora enjoyed) 

- Rose (depending on who you ask it tastes like washing up liquid, fruit loops or your great grandma's best friend's perfume!) 

- Pineapple (got everyone's approval) 

- Beer (cinnamonny-apple pie type of combo!) 

After that first experience, already considerably jollier, we made our way to a beautiful old vineyard for a guided tour and some wine tasting. The tour was supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. However, it seems our palates aren't yet seasoned to Argentinian wine aromas. 

And we did end up being a bit silly. 

Nevertheless, fear not, we found our way back to The beer garden - who said mixing types of alcohol is a bad idea? We're fearless! 

Drunk on love for eachother (what other cause could there possibly be?!) we made our way back to Mendoza in time for our night bus to Cordoba! However, buses here seem to have a thing for leaving with their doors open before we're fully in them (remember our flailing around in BA), this time Capucine was left one foot on and one foot off! After squealing a few times she was safely on board and we could resume the journey.

Cécile and Capucine