argentina: mendoza and maipu

we took a looong bus ride from salta to mendoza...18 hours...we'd chosen seats at the front of the bus, so we had great views of the scenery the entire time, but it was still a very long ride...we were fed three times during this ride, all three meals were the same...not very tasty...each box had three ham and cheese sandwiches...i know this is a common food in argentina, but really? argh...
we walked from the bus station in mendoza to the city centre, then found places listed in the guidebook...we chose a cute place, it seemed quiet...wifi didn't reach to our room, but that was okay...this place had a couple nice sitting rooms, i'm guessing they would've been lovely if we were visiting during warmer weather...

since we arrived fairly late in the day, there wasn't much daylight in which to explore, or get to know the city...even though we hadn't burned any calories during the day, we still wanted a proper meal...after a bunch of walking we found a local diner type of place...
before walking out of our hotel, we looked at the map of mendoza, and saw that it was built around 5 plazas...one in the middle, four situated in square positions...after dinner, we decided to walk around the outline of the squares...
it wasn't super cold, but i had a hard time warming up and sleeping that night...i have no idea why...

breakfast was included in the price of our hotel, it was nice...a typical spread of cereal, rolls, tea, milk, etc...i ate too much, as i always do in a breakfast buffet included in my hotel price...
we asked our hotel lady where we could get laundry done, she gave us an idea...when we found the laundromat, we discovered the prices weren't great, and neither one of us was super keen to deal with it...we walked to the plazas again, to see how they were different in daylight...there were statues or memorials in the middle of each, bo decided to climb on one of the statues and have me take the photo...i did the same, but on a much smaller statue :)...

of the four plazas, my favourite was plaza espana, as everything in the plaza was decorated with tiles...we had heaps of fun taking photos...there were plenty of other people in the plaza, we had to wait a while to get the views we wanted, without anyone else in the picture...
we found a giant supermarket called carrefour, and decided to check the wine and olive oil sections...bo already knew he wanted to bring wine with him back to the states, i knew i wanted to buy olive oil...we didn't think we would buy at the supermarket, but we were keen to get an idea on prices...

from the market we headed up the street toward a park...a big park...i stopped to get ice cream on the way, then almost dropped the ice cream...the street we were walking is supposed to be a really nice area of mendoza...it was okay, but i didn't feel super impressed, at least, not the way the guidebook made it sound i should be impressed...
the entrance gate to the park was being renovated, and was surrounded by green plastic fencing...boooo...bo climbed another statue for another picture, i skipped my turn...there is a 'lake' in the middle of the park, which was empty while we visited...not only was it empty, there were vehicles in the bottom, digging around...the temperatures were still chilly, and had clearly been cold for a while, as there was still snow on the ground in shady areas...

dinner that night was in another steak house...my steak was overcooked, boooo...
the next morning we checked out after breakfast...we walked to the bus station, dropped our bags at the left luggage office, then caught a bus to the nearby town of maipu...
maipu is basically a wine town...tourists and visitors to mendoza often organize tours of maipu, it's an easy way to see several vineyards...we rented bikes and got maps of maipu and started peddling...
our first stop was an olive plantation...well, not really a plantation, but a place that dealt with olives and products made from them...

our entry fee included tasting several products, an explanation of how olives are grown, and olive oil is made...we got to see the machine that is used to press the olives, and got an explanation about the different types of olive oil...(extra virgin, virgin, etc)
our next stop was a biergarden for lunch...i don't know why bo wanted bier, but i went with it...
our next stop was a french winery...it was the furthest away on the map, and my legs were tired by the time we got there...bo used to be a competitive rider, so he was fine, while i was huffing and puffing...we got a quick tour, then bo decided to do a tasting...since i can't have alcohol, i could only smell and look...even though i can't taste, the smell is usually indicatvie of the taste to some degree...

across the street from the french winery was another olive plantation...i did a tasting of 5 different olive oils...they didn't have a lot of flavour, as olive oil never does, but i was able to taste small differences...i ended up buying a small bottle, i knew i wouldn't be able to get it back in buenos aires...
we pedaled back to the bike rental place, arriving just after we were supposed to return the bikes...at first we were afraid we wouldn't be able to return the bikes at all (the gate was closed) but the wife came out and took the bikes...she also served us juice...my legs were tired, so i was thrilled to have sugar...

we caught the next bus back to mendoza, then walked around trying to find dinner...we found a sushi shop that looked interesting, but it turned out they only did delivery...we asked if we could just wait as they made our order, but that would've taken over an hour (despite them not having any orders coming in at the moment)...we weren't seeing any logic in that, so we walked away...our dinner ended up being at a small place near the bus station...
our bus to cordoba left on time :)