Mendoza

* First Picture: Parque de San Martin

*Second Picture: Parque Nacional en los Andes

* Third Picture: Tour of Vistantes Vineyard

Just arrived from a long weekend in Mendoza and it was truly a fabulous experience!

My apartment mates and I left with a group of 13 plus our tour guide on Thursday night and went from Buenos Aires to Mendoza on a 'cama bus'. Buses are the preferred means of transportation to various places in Argentina and they are categorized based on their seats- normal (seats don't recline), semi cama (recline into a semi or partial bed) and cama (recline almost all the way back into a bed-like seat, similar to a business class seat on an airplane). The bus ride was a little over 13.5 hours and when we arrived in Mendoza it was already noon on Friday. We went by bus to a hostel (my first hostel experience...) and checked into our rooms.

Friday afternoon we toured 2 vineyards (Vistantes- a vineyard established in 2007 that only produces a little over 1500 bottles a year, and Cecchin Vineyard- an organic winery), an olive oil factory, and a chocolate and liquor factory where they produce over 20 types of homemade liquor (they even let us sample- the dulche de leche liquor is their specialty).

Saturday began (a little too) early when we bundled up and boarded a bus to take us from the hostel on a tour through the Andes. We got out at several points along the 12 hour tour to get different views of the mountains, visit Incan Ruins, a national Park and eat lunch at a ski resort.

Sunday we were able to walk around the city of Mendoza and visit two parks- La Plaza Internacional (similar to Boston Commons) and El Parque de San Martin (a huge park with lakes, vendors, walking trails, restaurants, and monuments). We were able to catch the final match of the Copa Mundial (world cup)....Argentines were split between cheering for Holland and Spain...before we boarded the bus home.

After trekking through the bus station and then multiple subway lines with all our luggage during the morning rush hour we are finally "home" in our apartment-full of good wine and memories :)