Mendoza (Part II)

I went back to Mendoza to see family.

One thing I've learned repeatedly on my journey is that money and titles don't bring you happiness.  (If you've ever visited an impoverished country, you've seen it too.)  It the relationships in your life that matter and I made great friends while I was in Mendoza.  Plus, my new friend Mouna also wanted to visit Mendoza on her way to Buenos Aires!  So we agreed to meet up in Mendoza and have one last hurrah there.  Besides, my friends had recommended some wineries that I had yet been able to taste.  The original plan was to hit up AltaVista, then Pulenta, then MonteViejo and maybe squeeze in Vistalba.  

Sadly, Carin, Eric, Maria and Facundo would all be out of town the weekend I returned.  Carin and her family are actually in the middle of a 2-week tour of Patagonia right now and I've enjoyed feeding her scouting reports.  Sylvia accepted Mouna and I back into her home with open arms.  It was so great reconnecting with her and Juan and meeting Sylvia's mother.  They really have a great family.  Sylvia joked about the fact she could travel the world for over a year, just staying with former students who had lived with her.  Sylvia currently is hosting a new student from the United States: David is a college student who just arrived from Illinois to study Spanish and viticulture in Mendoza for a semester.  Sylvia said her travels will have to wait until Geranimo is grown, so I probably won’t see her in Texas until 2021.

I arrived in Mendoza Friday afternoon and enjoyed a couple of hours of quiet time with my computer for the first time in a while.  Mouna was scheduled to arrive at 6AM by bus from Valparaiso Saturday morning.  David volunteered to join in the wine tour.  Juan and I picked up the car for the next day's tour and we were all set.  After enjoying a very pleasant dinner with the family, I turned in early so I could pick up Mouna the next morning.

Mouna never showed.  After a very worried few hours, Juan woke up and announced the mountain pass was closed.   Apparently this happens a lot!  This is the 3^rd time in 3 weeks I’ve heard of people getting trapped in the mountains because rockslides or mudslides have blocked the road between Santiago and Mendoza.  My friend Carin and her family had to spend the night at an army barracks and Julia also slept on the floor somewhere.  The locals blame all the rain from El Nino  and the army usually is very prompt in clearing the road but it’s still disruptive!

So we left voicemails and emails for Mouna because we had no clue when she would finally make it.  Juan, David and I set out to the first winery: AltaVista.  AltaVista was gorgeous and I enjoyed all their wines, even buying a couple of bottles to take home and a sparkling rose for Sylvia :)  Thanks to David for taking his camera job seriously!

Julie and David
in AltaVista's cellar

Wineries really are beautiful
and peaceful settings

Our view during lunch

Julie, Mouna, David and Juan
at MonteViejo

Mouna called as we were finishing up at AltaVista, so we high-tailed it back to Mendoza, picked her up at the apartment, skipped Pulenta and headed straight to MonteViejo.  We were just in time to enjoy a 4-course meal with wine pairing, overlooking the stunning vinyards of the Clos de los Siete from MonteViejo’s beautifully designed winery.  It’s an interesting project – 7 wineries going in together on one project.  Juan said only 5 of them are actually up and running right today.  Another is under construction.  I liked this winemaker too – there wasn’t one wine that wasn’t good.  Rather than try to cram in another winery on top of bus and mountain pass adventures, we just enjoyed the view of the Andes from the terrace.  They gave us a private tour to boot.  It was a thoroughly enjoyable day.

Uco Valley is stunning.  We had the place all to ourselves.

Juan, the social animal, got us into a party in the park that night.  They had set up a huge tent with live DJ.  People started dancing an hour after we arrived, but the music was weird . . . great for listening, but horrible for dancing.  Mouna and I finally requested to change venues after an hour of trying and we relocated to a Reggeaton/Salsa club where we happily closed out the night.  We all slept well that night/morning because we all moved our beds into the AC and slept like babies.  You need your sleep in Mendoza because there is always something to do there, usually involving alcohol.  It was a fun way to close out a trip.

Final Stop:  Buenos Aires