Wine tasting with drag queens

I know, I know, this post is REALLY late. I don't have any excuse except that I'm at home now and I just got lazy. Eating Korean food, catching up on TV and hanging out with friends just takes up so much of my time! But I didn't want to leave my trip to Mendoza out since it was such a crazy weekend. I thought it would be a relaxing couple of days filled with uppity wine tours and lots of happy hour drinks. And it was but also so much more...

My friend Hunter and I took another super-luxurious overnight bus to Mendoza, which took about 13 hours. Seriously, why don't we have buses like that in the States? With what we pay for Greyhound, you would think we could step it up a bit. Anyway, we got in just fine and checked into the Hostel Independencia, a great homey hostel right next to the main plaza. Fortunately, we got to Mendoza in time for their big annual event, La Festival de Vendimia, their big wine festival. Mendoza is Argentina's main source of its wine, producing over 75% of the country's production. And wine is big in Argentina. What else do you drink with all that steak? The main wine produced in Argentina is the malbec, a very strong fruity wine. Its similar to cabernet sauvignon, which is the second largest type of wine produced here.

The main plaza in Mendoza. Its a bustling city with tons of restaurants and things to do and see. There are also these huge sycamore trees shading the trees, giving it this warm, small town feel.

Yes, that's a man on a bike with a duck. And yes, the duck is wearing an Argentinean flag around its neck.

There are many rules at the internet cafes though their signs are pretty imaginative.

We decided to start our trip off with some asado and since it was my last weekend in Argentina, it was my last chance to try some other parts of a traditional asado. An asado doesn't just include juicy, thick steaks. It also includes many other parts of the cow like the kidneys, intestines, liver and, my personal favorite, blood sausage, which is actually ends up looking like blood goo. Kind of gross. Btw, did anyone see the Amazing Race 7 with Boston Rob? They went to South America and one of the challenges was to eat 4 lbs of asado. And then all the contestants started to throw up?? Anyway, I was told that molleja, translated mysteriously as "sweetbread," was pretty good. So I decided to try them but even though they're called sweetbread, they're actually glands (pituitary) and they tasted just like garbage. But the waiter had made a big deal of me ordering them so I couldn't just leave the plate full! So I tried to eat them, one bite at a time, but then Hunter would say "glands" and I would start to laugh. It got to a point where I couldn't even look at them without almost keeling over. So I finally gave up and ordered an itty-bitty chorizo instead. Small yet satisfying. No more garbagy glands for me!

Anyway, the Festival celebrates wine with a very elaborate pageant, where the candidates from each provenance within Mendoza compete. There's a large parade to showcase all the candidates and a huge pageant like show where the Reina de Vendimia is announced. The president even shows up for this event. We unfortunately couldn't get tickets to the big show but at least we got to see the parade. And what a parade it was! The floats are so elaborately decorated for each candidate with mechanical moving parts, dancers and crazy costumes. Its also tradition to throw candy and little trinkets to the audience. That in itself sounds a bit dangerous but they even through things like melons! You could seriously injure someone with those!

Very fancy float designs for each candidate.

Even dancers! With a gigantic fan.

That's not actually a real man. Its a mechanical gaucho drinking wine out of a huge vat. How they even got these things on the floats is a mystery.

Hmm, I'm sure its a fire hazard to have a live fire and a huge asado on a moving vehicle. They were passing out choripans (chorizo in bread) to the people.

We also found out that there was an alternate festival going on at the same time, Vendimia Gay. In general, the people of South America are much more homophobic than the States because of its Catholic culture and machismo. (I took a samba class in Buenos Aires and the guys in the class made a big deal over having to hold hands with the other guys. In a samba class, for godssake.) But apparently wine tasting and beauty pageants are a magnet for the gay Argentinean crowd. So they throw their own parties and hold their own pageant. A drag queen one, actually. We were definitely intrigued and thought we would check it out and it was a total trip. Hunter informed me that Latin men did make the best drag queens and these ladies were in top form. If I could only have legs like they did! And walk in those ginormous heels! Anyway, we were pretty tired from our all-night bus trip the night before so we called it an early night (which is about 3:30am in Argentina).

And the contestants for Reina de Vendimia Gay! If you can believe it, this was the 11th year of this pageant!

Crowd favorite! We didn't ge to see who won but I'm pretty sure it was her.

The next day, we got up bright and early to go tour some wineries. We had gotten a recommendation from some random people for a guy who rented bikes so we thought that would be a great way to see the wineries. A lot of the wineries are close together so we were able to see a bunch very easily. Good thing considering the wine we were drinking at each tasting! We ended spending more time at each place than we expected so we only got to see a few places but they were very good. We saw a super-modern winery with these huge metal vats and fancy machines as well as the one of the oldest artesian wineries in Mendoza. It was great to see the differences in each place. Though the ride back at the end of the day was a bit wobbly after all that wine!

Wine grapes! We even got to taste them. They tasted just like grapes to me!

Grape vines.

The machinery at one of the biggest wineries in Mendoza. Very modern.

If I knew anything about wine, I would give away the secret sauce recipe but I wouldn't be able to tell even if I learned anything.

We tasted wine. Lots and lots of wine. I wouldn't really recommend it with bike-riding, as fun as it was.

The artesian winery. So different from the big, modern, fancy one!

We took a wine tasting course at the artesian winery. She would tell us to taste the oak, plum, hint of chocolate and vanilla and lactic acid (??). All I tasted was alcohol.

How could you not bike through scenery like this?

Mendoza is famous for it wine and also as the gateway to Acongagua, the highest peak outside of the Himalayas at almost 21,000 ft! Though we were only in Acongagua for the weekend, we knew we had to at least try and see the peak. We talked to like 500 travel agents to see if there was a tour that we could take out into the mountains but our bus the next night cut our time pretty short. So we took a late bus to a little town (well, actually it was like 5 buildings crowded together) that's popular with climbers in order to get an early start the next day. Each of the sites we wanted to see were about 4-6 km (3-6 mi) apart from each other but we only had a couple of hours before we had to catch the 3 hr bus back into town. So we tried to hitchhike. I know, not the smartest move but I was with Hunter and it was a pretty remote, small town area. At first we were passed left and right, leaving us cursing at passing cars. We were finally picked up by some truckers and it was fine. We were only going a few miles and I promise never to do it again! But it’s so classic backpacker.

La Puenta de Inca. It actually used to be a spa with baths. We were on a mission to see all the sites so we spent about 15 minutes here, snapping pictures furiously.

We finally made it to the big kahuna! Acongagua. I still can't believe we actually made it on such a tight time schedule and with trying to catch a ride.

We had about 30 minutes so we walked into the park as much as we could in order to get that perfect shot of the peak. It was a been there, done that type of excursion but I would love to come back and climb it. 21,000ft!

Well, we did make our bus back into town and onto our bus back to Buenos Aires. We even got to play bingo on the bus! Our bus attendant was really nice and would try to call out the numbers in English as well as Spanish but he kept messing them up. Fiveteen! Thirty six (instead of fifty six)! It’s so mean to laugh considering my own Spanish but we couldn't help it. Is that bad? Mendoza was so fun and Hunter and I really packed a TON into just a few days. I definitely would not have had to motivation to get it all done if it weren't for him. Thanks, Hunter! You're definitely one of the best people I've met in BA and I really hope all the best for you!

Hunter was the consolation winner! The actual winner got a full bottle of wine but still, it was very exciting. Yeah for Hunter!

My last few days in Buenos Aires were pretty uneventful. I packed my bags (I even had to buy an extra bag for all my new clothes! Oops.) and had my last cafe con leche and medialunas and came home! I was very sad to leave Argentina and South America but I was happy to see my family. I can't believe my travels are already half over!

Argentinean small town life

I've just spent one of the most relaxing weeks of my trip, traveling through the little pueblitos in Argentina. Though Matias, Mariela and I have basically been jumping from town to town everyday, they are all very close to each other and the vibes are just so chill here, I don't mind all the travel.

All these towns are very very small with probably less than a 1,000 people each. We went through Humahuaca, Iruya, Tilcara and Purmamarca. The people are all very friendly and willing to sit and chat if you want. We've been staying at very small hospedajes, which are basically rooms in people's houses. The food here is also very distinct and super-delicious! The regional specialities include empanadas, tamales and some really amazing stews. Much better than the food in Bolivia, which basically consists of rice, french fries and some sort of stewed or fried meat. I didn't think the food in Argentina was all the great either (basically steak, pasta, pizza and more steak) but the regional stuff has been great.

We were lucky enough to get to Humahuaca in time to see a saint and be blessed. That's "him" in the window. The mechanical saint came out, raised in arm in a very solemn manner and went back in.

For such a small town, it had a very impressive plaza that was probably bigger than the town itself.

We saw wonderful landscapes like this all throughout these towns.

Taking in the sites at Iruya, a small town nestled in the mountains.

We climbed (literally) up this huge hill to get these panoramic shots near Tilcara. The mound the the left are some indigeous ruins and a whole bunch of cactus.

Cactus like these! HUGE.

Town of Purmamarca. The ridges behind it are called the Painter's Palette, since it has 7 colors. Notice the helado sign? It was very hot so I ate lots of ice cream.

The Painter's Palette!

Its also been nice to travel with Argentinos because I'm getting a very upclose view of Argentinean culture. Right now, its summer here and its prime travel time for Argentinos. There's the "Gringo Trail" which includes the Inca Trail and the parts of Bolivia that I've been through but there's also a trail for Argentinean backpackers (called mochileros) and all these little pueblos are on it. Its especially nice since I probably would not have even thought about visiting them with out Matias and Mariela since there isn't much about these towns in the Lonely Planet book (the gringo travel bible). I've drunken so much mate and learned so much slang in these last couple of weeks and its great! A lot of our conversations have centered around the differences of Argentina and the States and its interesting to see what conceptions they have about American culture.

We went to a lot of traditional peñas where you can eat regional foods and enjoy folk music.

I now know what part of the world we can blame for Zanfir. But Zanfir doesn't have anything on this guy!

The winds made picture-taking ridiculous.

One last group shot. I had a great time, guys!

We did spend 2 nights in this place called Malka Hostel in Tilcara and it was unbelievable! The dorms were in cabins and for each set of 6 beds, there was a sitting area, a bathroom and a very well-stocked kitchen. It was like staying at a house! I know it doesn't sound like much but when you're traveling any bit of personal space you can get is very precious. We were able to cook a little, enjoy big breakfasts and actually spread our stuff around a bit. The hostel was also set up in the hills on a large bit of land so there were trees and beautiful settings everywhere. Definitely the best place I've stayed at so far!

Each group of dorm rooms were in these cabins, which included a bathroom, living room and kitchen. And yes, those are hammocks!

Sigh, I could have stayed for a week!

And now I'm in Salta and back on the Gringo Trail. I've met some English-speakers here and I have to say that its really nice to speak English again! I love practicing my Spanish but I just feel like a boring, unfunny idiot all the time. I stutter and screw up my grammar and its also very hard to get across sarcastic, funny comments in a foreign language. Salta is also a very lovely city with beautiful colonial architecture. I've spent the last couple of days just wandering around, not doing much.

Colonial architecture in Salta.

The main church in the plaza.

The rest of the city looks like any other busy city except these crazy ornate building just seem to pop up out of nowhere.

What's a return trip to Argentina without an asado? Bring on the beef!

I head back to Buenos Aires on Friday. I will be very happy to be back in BA but I have so much stuff to take care of when I get there. So I need to enjoy the rest of my time here before the "real world" encroaches once again!

San antonio de areco

I'm cheating a little bit by fudging the date on this post but hey! I've been sick! And I definitely wanted to get a post in on my trip to San Antonio de Areco. Its this small town about 2 hours outside of Buenos Aires and it in the Pampas, gaucho (Argentinean cowboy) territory. There are a lot of estancias (ranches) and farm land out here and its a great escape from the hustle of Buenos Aires. A lot of the estancias are also hotel of sorts where you can stay, ride horses, shear sheep and eat asado (BBQ!). They tend to be pretty pricy but a lot of the guide books recommend it.

I've been wanting to go but was balking a little at the price. But then my friend Hunter found a quasi-estancia that was much much cheaper than the other estancias and we were off! We were a little skeptical at first but it turned out to be fantastic. We stayed at the Casa Bellavista in Villa Lia, a little pueblo of less than 1,000 people about 15km (I've stopped trying to do the conversions). It used to be an estancia a few decades ago but the owners sold the land off so now it only consists of the house and maybe a couple of acres of land in the middle of this tiny town. The best part was, including breakfast and lunch, it came out to USD$20 a night!

The house itself is gorgeous. All the rooms, including the dining room the kitchen and all the rooms open up to this gorgeous courtyard. Right of a villa in Italy. Shady trees, old crumbling sheds and best of all, a hammock in the back corner. The rooms were also beautiful. Incredibly high ceilings, brightly painted walls and doors. All really old but with tons of charm. And the owners were the nicest people imaginable. Picked us up from the bus terminal and also when one of us got food poisoning, made sure he had medicine and everything. If you are ever looking for an estancia experience in BA, look no further than the Casa Bellavista!

All the rooms opened up onto the courtyard

Our room had 3 beds (for the 3 girls). Beautiful wrought-iron frames.

There was also this super-cute puppy at the estancia. Some neighborhood kids came by to play with "Odie".

They served us lunch and breakfast and it was amazing. The spinach raviolis we had at lunch were probably the freshest I've ever had. It was a 3 course meal with salame and bread to start and ice cream to end. All with wine, of course. It was so relaxing to have lunch outside, under the trees and just hanging out.

Lunch al fresco! (Hunter, Wes, Thalia and Robin - friends through the language program)

We spent some time wandering around Villa Lia on some bikes. We saw a bunch of horses, sheep, farms and the beautiful countryside. Some of the others also rode horses but after my experience in Costa Rica (well, it was really the pain afterwards that killed me) I decided that as cute as horses are, I don't need to really ride them. Plus, I was starting to come down with the flu so I thought it would be better for me to just rest instead.

Bike riding around the pueblo of Villa Lia.

Look at all that Pampa grass!

Lots of horses and sheep. Actually, at the restaurant for dinner, I wanted to order the lamb but I didn't know the word in Spanish. I tried to describe it to the waitress and she finally went, "Si! Sheep!" She then called it "sheep" all night. "Your sheep will be right out." "How was your sheep?" Hilarious.

Lots of cute horses! To pet, not to ride.

We also spent some time in San Antonio de Areco, shopping and walking around. They had some really cool gaucho themed shops where you could get gaucho wear and quality leather and silver goods. On Saturday night, we also went to this folk music thing. It wasn't quite a concert because it felt like a neighborhood party in someone's backyard. There was a grill in the back and with beer and ice cream. The patio was covered with picnic tables filled with Argentinean families and people of all ages. The music was also really awesome. The music was really traditional and there were also a bunch of people dancing. Really pretty and definitely not touristy. Actually, when we first walked in, everyone just stopped for a second to stare at us. But that's what I'm here to do, to really experience the culture, not just the touristy things.

Listening to folk music and watching the people dancing with scarves. The place was pretty packed but it was a really nice night to be sitting outside.

Anyway, overall a really great weekend. The town was interesting and the estancia was just beautiful. So far, I haven't really been disappointed with anything I've done here so I feel pretty lucky. I just want to say thanks again to the owners of the Casa Bellavista! Our weekend would not have been half as nice if it wasn't for their help and kindness.

Very happy estancia visitors

Las cataratas de iguazu

What a trip! Last weekend a couple of friends and I went to see the Iguazu waterfalls at the border of Argentina and Brazil. They were absolutely amazing. I really haven't seen anything like that in my entire life -- just truly breathtaking. The waterfalls are actually a group of around 250 waterfalls clustered together over a span of 2.5 miles. They are so many that you really can't get a sense of how big they are by looking at them. Right now its spring here and you would not imagine the amount of water tumbling over the cliff. The water was a bit of a brown color because of the spring rainfall but during the summer and fall, the water is blue.

Me at the waterfalls!

We went to both the Argentinean and Brazilian sides. The water basically flows from Argentina to Brazil so from the Argentinean side, you can get right next to the falls (actually, they constructed these walkways so you can stand at the top of the falls and look over. Very freaky) and on the Brazilian side, you can get a better view of all the falls at once. It was huge enough from the Brazilian side but the crazy part was that we were only looking at one part. The rest of the falls curved out of view and with all the mist, you really couldn't see them. Unbelievable!

A ton of waterfalls right in a row but these are just some of them!

Really amazing. These are the main ones that you can see from the Argentinean side. When the water is a little lower, you can actually go to the island on the left.

A coati. It like of looks like a cross between a raccoon and an anteater. They are everywhere and have no fear of humans (and will steal your cookies!).

So much water! These walkways were closed.

The trip really came at a good time. I love being in Buenos Aires but its a huge city with tons of people, traffic, pollution and noise. So getting away for a short weekend was really perfect. It was so nice to see trees and open spaces and smell clear air (or at least not smell other things in the air). It was the perfect break to mark my first month here!

Fresh air and beautiful scenery. The Pampas, where the farms and cows are. They say the meat is so good because of the quality of the Pampa grass.

We passed through a lot of small towns on the way. Very different from BA!

We booked the trip through STA and it included the bus, hotel and all transportation when we got to Iguazu. Though I appreciated how the package made traveling much easier to plan and handle, we were stuck with those huge tour groups that I would normally try to avoid like the plague. And, seriously, we were ripped off for everything that wasn't already included in the package. At first, we were really self-conscious of being Americans and easy targets until we realized that everyone else was also getting ripped off.

Drinking mate! Its all they do here. We were waiting at yet another gift shop our tour company dropped us off at. Argh!

The trip almost didn’t happen though. We missed the bus on Friday because our travel agent told us the bus would leave at 8 when in fact it left at 7. It was so stupid and we should have double-checked the tickets but there you go. We were frantic at the bus terminal and couldn’t get another bus out that day. We all went home, had a drink to decompress and then came back on Saturday and got on the first bus out. It turned out to be okay though since we found out that the park was closed on Saturday anyway so we wouldn’t have been able to do anything had we actually made our bus. The bus-trip was pretty good. The cama buses have these big seats that almost fully recline and we they even served us dinner and drinks on the bus. Pretty swanky except when the bus ran out of gas in the middle of the night. We were stuck for a couple of hours until the driver came back with some gas but after that, it was smooth sailing!

Luxury bus at a pit stop. We were on the top and had an incredible view out the front windows. Really made those 18 hours fly by (no joke, 18 hours!).

We also committed our first illegal acts in Argentina. We were told by many people that we had to see the falls from both countries so we were pretty excited to go. But we weren’t really excited about paying US$100 for the Brazil visa especially since we were just popping over to see the falls for an afternoon. Luckily, our hostel was able to direct us to this dude who would be able to drive us across the border and bribe the border patrol to let us through. We called the guy and for half the price, he drove us to the Brazil side, snuck us across the border and waited for us to drive us back. It definitely seemed a little shady, especially when he made us all roll-up our tinted windows as we drove into Brazil, but we got in and out just fine. And the Brazil side was definitely not to be missed!

So despite being ripped-off by our travel agency with all their little tack-ons and missing our bus, the weekend was incredible. Sorry, I would have updated the blog a little earlier but I got a little lazy when I got back. I had to deal with new classes and trying to find a homestay and so didn’t really have time to write. But now I have loads to write about so stay tuned! More posts coming your way. I also have more pictures from Iguazu that I will post but they are on my friend’s camera and I still have to download them. Hope everyone had a great Halloween (I spent it on the all-night bus)!