{"id":1230,"date":"2018-05-06T22:02:59","date_gmt":"2018-05-06T22:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/excrcl.com\/?p=1230"},"modified":"2018-05-06T22:02:59","modified_gmt":"2018-05-06T22:02:59","slug":"mendoza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/?p=1230","title":{"rendered":"Mendoza"},"content":{"rendered":"

This weekend was so luxurious that we\u2019re still a little in disbelief. I mean, the fact that we just popped over to Argentina, and its wine country at that, is just nuts. We feel so privileged and grateful.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We had another early flight, meeting at the airport at 7 a.m. Isa picked my professor, Andreea, and me up. It wasn\u2019t clear to me who was driving; it wasn\u2019t a taxi or an Uber, so I think it might have been her son driving the family car? It was a guy probably mid-20s, and at 6:15 a.m., he was blasting Spanish death metal full of expletives in the car. Isa seemed to be oblivious, calling Andreea and my classmates to make sure everyone was up and ready. It was definitely not a relaxing drive to the airport.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the airport, I finally succumbed to trying Chilean Dunkin Donuts. I really wanted to avoid US chains here in Chile, but this was a cultural experiment – I had to see the similarities and differences. For the most part, the drinks are the same, except they are fewer options and there aren\u2019t like 10 flavor shots, only mocha and caramel. The donuts were different. The usual sprinkled, glazed, and frosted donuts were there, but they also employ \u201cmanjar,\u201d which is basically dulce de leche spread, on and in lots of donuts. (Manjar is also just a very popular flavoring all over Chile and Argentina). They also had strawberry jelly-filled, strawberry frosted donuts. So a double strawberry, with sprinkles! Really, a worthwhile study. I got a powdered sugar, manjar-filled donut plus an iced latte, and I felt right at home.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The flight was less than an hour, since Mendoza is right on the border of Argentina and Chile, just over the mountains. Apparently the views were great, but I passed out for all of it. We arrived in Argentina and had virtually no trouble making it through border control and customs. I accidentally smuggled an apple into the country…whoops.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The hotel wasn\u2019t far from the airport, thankfully. It was cloudy and low 60s when we arrived, which is very common for Mendoza this time of year. It\u2019s very cloudy all the time, but supposedly never rains. The altitude is a little higher than that of Santiago, 746 meters to Santiago\u2019s 570.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Our hotel, El Portal Suites, was quite classy and was ironically right outside of Plaza Chile. Mendoza actually owes its strong economy to Chile, since its only 6-7 hours by bus to Santiago and an hour by plane. Mendozans rely on their own wine, olive oil, and tourism industries economically, but also just hop over to Chile to purchase items for much less. In 2010-2011, Argentina\u2019s economy was hit pretty hard, but Mendoza stayed strong due to its ties to its western neighbor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We had time to explore before lunch, so we took a walk along the green streets. Mendoza has just tons of beautiful, long boulevards lined with tall trees forming canopies. My classmate Caroline (who was in Argentina with CC for 2 months before Chile) says you can really see the European influence in Argentina through its trees. Because Europeans wanted to recreate their own parks, they planted trees immediately upon arrival, so now all the trees in Argentina have grown huge. This influence is also evident in its parks – not only are parks abundant, they have massive, lush trees and plants and impressive fountains. Some of the fountains even have pink water since it\u2019s the month of Malbec, to make it seem like the vino tinto has been added to the water.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Plaza Chile<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Plaza Chile is also just the southeast corner of a grouping of 5 plazas. With Chile, Plazas Italia, San Mart\u00edn, and Espa\u00f1a form a quadrant around the city\u2019s main plaza, Plaza Independencia. Independencia is naturally the biggest and has a city museum. The fancy Plaza Hotel is located right to its east. Along the way there, you of course pass lots of wine bars, but also many high-end chocolate shops. The buildings are generally short, two stories, without much to their facades.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Big, beautiful tree in Plaza Chile<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After our walk, we had a ridiculous lunch at the hotel. To start, lots of bread with basil and rosemary olive oils and parmesan. Most of us ordered beet gnocchi, which was served in a thick, cheesy, creamy sauce. We were already stuffed, but then proceeded to dessert: either passion fruit mousse with manjar, served in a large bowl made of chocolate, flan with manjar, ice cream, and chocolate, or an ice cream bar with manjar, chocolate, and nuts. You could say we were stuffed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We took another walk to digest and found a park that was being set up for some big wine fest. The decor was really classy and we wanted to return for the actual festival…never made it. Still a cool sight to see.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Lightbulb tree aesthetic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Back at the hotel, Isa took us out walking. In our plaza, there was a large statue of Bernardo O\u2019Higgins and San Mart\u00edn, the revolutionary war heroes of Chile and Argentina, respectively. They actually fought together for the independence of both countries, another tie between the two.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Water is life, wine is smart.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At Plaza Independencia, we boarded an open-air tour bus to see the city. It was a little chilly and the guide was difficult to understand with the poor sound system, so we didn\u2019t get a ton out of the tour. We basically did a loop around the plazas that we could have done walking.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Still stuffed, David, Austin, and I went for a run in Mendoza\u2019s version of Parque Met, Parque San Mart\u00edn. The park is enormous and has a large black and gold gate entryway. From there, you can walk down long boulevards, explore lots of trails, visit the zoo, or trek to the statues on the hills. We ran up to a huge war statue that we\u2019d later visit the next day, and got an excellent panorama of the city.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Running nerds at the top of the cerro.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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After running, we showered up and went out in search of Malbec. The three of us plus our classmates Anna and Noah found a really hip wine bar called Bowie, named after the legendary rock star. We tried their Malbec and a lighter red, called \u201cTintillo.\u201d The Malbec was better, but we liked both. We sat on the plush couches drinking and playing cards with my new Yellow Submarine deck (thanks, Dad!), feeling so lucky and once again, in disbelief.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At last we felt like we could at least survive dinner. Of course, Isa took us to a \u201ctenedor libre,\u201d or a typical Argentinian buffet. We tried so hard to restrain ourselves. But restraint is very difficult when they had crepes with manjar and ice cream. I had already decided at lunch that it was a \u201clove yourself\u201d kind of weekend.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The next day we rose to more luxury. A breakfast buffet with cereal, fruit, yogurt, eggs, pastries, lots of toasts and spreads, and croissants (media\u00a0 <\/span>lunas, \u201chalf moons,\u201d very typical of Argentina). Coffee with warm milk and juice. Love yourself kind of weekend, indeed. I took a walk after to just get some more digestion going.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The luxury continued that morning. We visited the Zuccardi family vineyard, a highly reputable vineyard known for its Santa Julia wines. After exploring the shop and tasting room, our guide David, a young, handsome, hipster Argentine, welcomed us. He gave us a brief history of the vineyard and the plan for the day: see the distilling process, ride bikes through the vineyard, try some wines, then eat lunch at the restaurant to \u201crecuperar energ\u00edas.\u201d We were ready.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Zucchardi vineyard produces 3 million liters of wine per year – that\u2019s two Olympic swimming pools. Plus 5,000 liters of olive oil. David said that in the olden days, Argentines drank tons of wine – basically a bottle every two days, individually. Now, Argentines drink about half a bottle a week, each. There\u2019s more interest in quality than quantity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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David took us out to the machine where the grapes are first pressed, saying the durability of the grapes will dictate how they\u2019re transported to the distillery. A \u201cmountain\u201d of grapes are piled into the machine and pressed, then processed along intestine-like tubes. There, they can play with the temperature of the juice, since it has no alcohol yet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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David then directed us to the different processing tanks. I can\u2019t say I remember or understand how it all works, but how the grapes are processed depends on how durable they are and how strong their flavor is. To make sweet wines, the grapes are fermented longer, making the wine less alcoholic. So, if you want a stronger wine that is still sweet, you\u2019ll have to add alcohol once you\u2019ve fermented it to the desired sweetness. There\u2019s been a movement to process the juice in barrels that don\u2019t absorb any of the flavor, less emphasis on wooden barrels and the supposed \u201cnotes\u201d they create. Vineyards are also getting into making more organic wines, but it means every step of the process must be organic…whatever that means.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Following the distillery tour, we hopped on bikes and cruised along the rows of grapes, even stopping to pull grapes off the vines to taste them. The vines all were protected with nets, simply for the very rare occasion when it hails (but like I said, it doesn\u2019t rain). David directed us to a section for organic wine grapes, then out of his adorable bike basket, took out wine glasses and three wines for us to try. Our group of 13 plus 4 Brazilians tried their tintillo (coincidentally, the same from Bowie), as well as two other reds. The difference between them was what they were distilled in. The tintillo, wooden barrels, the second (a name I\u2019ve forgotten, but a drier red) a mixture of wood and steel, and Concreto, a very full-bodied red distilled in only concrete. All wines were very solid, but I can\u2019t say I love wine in general. I\u2019ll stick to my stouts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Back at the vineyard, David offered us one more taste, a red that costs around $45. It was exquisite, possibly the best red I\u2019ve had. Just so fine.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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At this point, we were all pretty hungry for lunch, but were totally unprepared for what came. We entered the bourgie restaurant and were served a gigantic cheese, meat, nut, and dried fruit platter, with bowls of hummus, tapenade, tomatoes, marmalade, and eggplant. Plus plates of bread that didn\u2019t stop coming and bottles of both white and red wine. We found ourselves in yet another food coma, and Andreea cancelled the class she had planned for the afternoon. Love yourself, love yourself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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We returned to Mendoza city center and went back to Parque San Mart\u00edn. On the way up to the same statue we had run to, our driver stopped in front of a plaque with the Argentine state seal, a condor. There, all the battles from the independence wars are listed and there is actual dirt from where each took place within the display. Super cool.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the top of the hill, our driver explained that the statue is one you have to circumnavigate. San Mart\u00edn is in the front, on horseback with his arms crossed. You travel around and see soldiers from various armies that he encountered on the way. I liked the powerful woman on the top, arms outstretched, looking badass.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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There was a group of runners hanging out by the statue, stretching, and I was dared to go join them. So I did. I walked over, said I had run to the statue the day before and hadn\u2019t stretched, could I join them? The Argentines didn\u2019t mind at all. We began asking each other questions, and I learned that they\u2019re a running group that started in October. They have about 50 members right now, but will reach 80, they think. There are four guys who are the \u201cprofessors,\u201d and they lead all the runs, stretching, and exercises. This run was a recreational run for anyone interested, but normally they split into groups based on ability level. They asked me what brought me there, what I was studying in Chile, etc. I took a photo of the group for them and went on my way. It was pleasant.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Isa let us hop off the bus at the bottom of the park to check out a sweet farmer\u2019s market. We wanted to try all the samples, but were just so stuffed. We eventually made it back to the hotel and rested before another glorious run. We finished the evening off with Chinese takeout (we were all craving something WITHOUT cheese) and a relatively early bedtime.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Weird fruit we found on our second run.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now we\u2019re back in Santiago for only a week and a half! Time has really flown here. Class will be a lot more critical discussion and writing, exhausting and engaging. I think we\u2019re all excited to go home, but we\u2019re cherishing our final days here as well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This weekend was so luxurious that we\u2019re still a little in disbelief. I mean, the fact that we just popped over to Argentina, and its wine country at that, is just nuts. We feel so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chile"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1230"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1256,"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1230\/revisions\/1256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}