Mendoza

What an unpleasant way to wake up -- there was an earthquake this morning, or at least I think there was. Nothing major, no infrastructure damage or anything like that, but the room definitely felt like it was shaking, and the effects of the wine tour had worn off hours before, so that didn´t have anything to do with it. Mendoza has been leveled by earthquakes in the past, which I guess isn´t surprising when you consider how close it is to the Andes, and it seems like these folks are used to it, because no one said or did anything. I do know my roomate woke up as well, and he started snoring when he finally went back to sleep. When I went upstairs the computer upstairs had a recent google search for ¨mendoza seismic activity¨, so I guess I wasn´t the only unsettled gringo.

You can just chalk that up as a little more excitement at the end of a really good day. I woke up early and went to the bikesandwines office. They said the wineries aren´t within biking distance of the main office, but that wouldn´t be a problem because I could catch a ride with the Argentine hippy bad asses waiting outside -- apparently taxi drivers aren´t the only people who drive crazy down here. Judging from the way the way they were driving, these guys had confused their reggae-painted VW van with a Porsche. It made the ride a lot more exciting, although the smashed-up windshield was a slightly unsettling testament to the dangers of their sketchy driving.

Upon arriving they gave everyone a map, a bright yellow bike, and an indication of where our first stop was (which was pretty cool because it was a wine museum as well as a winery). There was also a stop along the way that was an artesanal chocolate and liquore factory, but the rest of the places I visited were wineries, 4 in total. They were all unique for different reasons, but my favorite two were Caranie and Tempus Albus. Caranie was a small ¨boutique winery¨where the owner gave the tour ... she and her husband wanted to buy land in Argentina after the economic collapse and they got a great deal on more land than they really wanted. The land already had grapes growing on it, and they were French, so they spent a year studying the vinting process and then upgraded all the machinery and started creating and bottling their own wine. Cool lady.

Tempus Albus was a really nice bodega, everything was new and shiny, and they had a wine bar upstairs where you could get 3 generous pours of the wines of your choice for 7 bucks. I picked the Syrah, Malbec, and their premium blend, which was by far the best. There were about 6 or 7 other folks, English and Australian, on the beautiful deck upstairs, and we spent about an hour talking about travelling, soccer, accents, and the Argentine lifestyle.

The bike route itself was pretty long, and I was wiped out at the end of the day. The roads varied from paved to gravel to dust, but tall trees lined most of them and the mountains were clearly visible on the right said of the road. The sun and the countryside was as enjoyable as the wineries themselves.

My bus leaves in 8 hours and I don´t have much to do except hang around the city and try to get a little bit of reading done. I went to the modern art museum earlier today, and I might check out the aquarium later, if it isn´t too expensive to get in. I will upload pictures eventually, but the computers here are terrible. I have spent 50 minutes trying to upload 5 pictures without any success.

RJ is in Brazil playing soccer for 5 days right now. Must be nice..