Priorities in Mendoza
Our last stop in South America was Mendoza. This is where we were actually going to START our trip, right - kick off 4 months of travel in wine country??!! It didn't work out though, so it was our finisher!
After a relaxing morning in Iguazu (thank you infinity pool, and fancy brunch with actual honey comb dripping honey for you to put on toast), we settled in for a long travel day. Our flight itinerary showed that we only had 30 minutes for a layover. But turns out we were actually on a bus-plane - we had a layover where about half the people got off (we stayed on) and then some new people joined us. It was all very strange.
We got to the airport and there was a bus, but it would come in 40 minutes, there were Ubers but they would take about 20 minutes so we hopped in line for a taxi. Which took, just as long as all the other options. Seemed our best bet for the next few days was to walk!
So we got settled in and we had four things to accomplish in the next 3 days:
1. Do laundry
2. Ship our lovely artwork home
3. Get bus tickets to Santiago (our NZ flight leaves from there)
4. DRINK WINE!
After the long travel day, we decided we only had time to check off one of these items - #4. We found a patio, shared a bottle of bubbles and dessert and decided we'll try to be more productive the next day.
We were not really any more productive the next day. We slept in too late to drop off our laundry (which will result in a very stinky Leeah the following day) and shipping our artwork just totally slipped our mind. Instead, we went for a free walking tour and learned the history of Mendoza and the region. Along with why the city planners were so forward thinking. Well, they were only forward thinking after the entire city was demolished by a horrible horrible earthquake. So, unlike the US - when there are devastating events that impact huge amounts of the population, they took charge and made changes!
This resulted in a delightful city center with 4 smaller plazas, telling the history of Mendoza, laid perfectly around a much larger plaza - Plaza Independencia. The tour was excellent and she told us about a pizza place and her favorite wine tasting place in the city and we spent our afternoon checking both of those places out. 5/5 to each! (Pizzeria Capri and Mala Boca, respectively)
We were now in an urgent situation - laundry! We realized we only had about an hour to gather our clothes and drop it off. So, after a quick nap we took care of that.
That night we went for a nice long walk, where I was dehydrated and hungry and hand a little bit of a meltdown about not shipping our art or buying tickets to Santiago yet. Erik fed and watered me and then we made a plan! We returned for more bubbles and dessert and decided we'd start the plan the next day.
We did in fact look up tickets the next morning (booked!) as well as Erik went to DHL to ship our items in where we learned you cannot ship artists product out of Argentina without a legal document from the government with the artists signature (!!). So, it'll live in New Zealand with us until we can figure out how to ship it from there.
That afternoon we had a wine and olive oil tasting planned. Erik had mentioned it to Mischa and he and Lisa decided to join us too (yay!). There was some extreme confusion on the companies side of where to pick us up and they were about 50 minutes late, But, we continued on - with our new friends and other people in tow!
This thing presses olives INTO OIL!!!
Everything was picturesque and delightful. Except it was still 852,397,589*F and we continued to melt. With our sips of wines and some delicious sampling of olive oil (#1 in the world, proof here - Laur) and balsamic vinegar, the day was turning out wonderful. With great conversation with our friends Mischa and Lisa - the day really ended up a smash hit!
When we got back to town we decided to grab dinner with them as well. Some steaks and wine for our Argentina send off! We ended up with a bottle of bubbles to, because it's us, and we talked and talked like old friends. Our priorities in Mendoza ended up being: wine, relaxing and spending time with great people. In the long run, who cares about laundry and bus tickets. :)
