Wine and Snow

One can´t write about Argentina for too long without mentioning the Argentinians obsession with maté. Maté is a particular blend of tea brewed strong and sipped from small cups through a straw with a strainer fitted at the end. The cup is stuffed full of leaves and a small amount of hot water is added. Everywhere you go you see people sipping on their straws, any outing to the park or beach isn´t complete without a thermos of hot water and a couple of maté cups. Che Guevara would sip maté while playing chess as it would "lubricate the mind".

Anyway back to the action....

One thing we had missed out on doing in Cafayate, surrounded my all those vineyards, was to go on a wine tour and we were quite determined to remedy that in Mendoza, the heart of Argentine wine country. We hired some bikes and set off along the Ruta del Vino on a sunny spring day with another NZer, a scot and an irish girl we had met at our hostel. As it turned out, most of the wineries charged for tastings so it was much cheaper for the five of us to go shares in a bottle so this is precisely what we did. By the 3rd winery we became tired of the gruelling cycling part of the day and set up camp on some bean bags in the sun surrounded by vines and almond trees. Over the course of the rest of the afternoon we moved only to avoid the shade cast by the setting sun and we polished off another four bottles, mostly malbecs and a rather nice aged syrah.

Mendoza itself was a bustly town which was all geared up for outdoor adventures. There were streets lined with outdoor stores, ski gear hire shops and tour agencies as well as huge bare deciduous trees which served to remind you of the countryside surrounding the city.

Our other big adventure in Mendoza was going skiing in the Andes. We hired our gear and took off for three days at Los Penitentes, a small field nestled between towering cliffs near the Chilean border. We were at the field mid week so, apart from queues of trucks thundering their way past towards the border and a squad of army guys training on the slopes, the place was very quiet. At times we had the place to ourselves and there was certainly nothing resembling a lift queue but equally things were pretty boring off the field at night.

The highlight of our days on the slopes was on the last day, following some rubbish weather the previous day, we woke up to find a decent covering of fresh powder on the field. We had planned to ski only half the day and go and see a natural bridge in the area but that plan was quickly flagged as we rushed up the mountain to gouge our tracks in the fresh snow. Great time all in all and it was awesome to finally get in some skiing this year.