Capital of the province responsible for over two-thirds of Argentina’s wine production, Mendoza itself was largely uninteresting. Still, the city will be forever special because I loved my hostel so much.

 

 

Getting There

Luckily the borders were open and I bussed eight hours from Santiago, Chile, $26.

That would be my last decently-priced bus for months. In Argentina and Brazil, bussing between major cities can easily cost triple digits. Flights are often cheaper, better options.

Accomodation

My beloved Banana Hostel had everything I wanted. I loved the staff, the guests became my friends. The building is across the street from a school and is clearly a rennovated house. They have pets sleeping and fighting in the living room. For only $7 for a dorm room when reserving with booking.com (more expensive for walk-ins), everyone commented how nice the breakfast was. Eggs, tomatoes, a variety of cheap pastries and cookies, toast, smoothie, fruit, pancakes. Oh, and if they forget to mention it, a glass of wine is included. Nights were cold and the place was far from being my cleanest stay, somehow Banana became my favorite hostel of my trip.

 

See and Do

Mendoza province = wine tours.

Bodegas, or wineries, can be visited on a budget by bussing to the nearby town of Maipu, obtaining a map in the centrally located tourism office, and walking or taking more busses to the surrounding vineyards. Mendoza city to Maipu was about 40 minutes via RedBus, you must have a rechargable card, $.50.

Some bodegas, like Lopez, offer free tours and tastings. Others, which I never toured but are obviously a better experience, charge $7-15. My friends enjoyed Trapiche, $7.20. Be sure to check when the English tours are given.

 

Day 30

I hung out with two other solo female backpackers, Saki from Japan and Christine from England. The day involved far too much refined sugar for breakfast, and semi-poisoness, unripened olives straight from the trees.

We bussed to Maipu easy enough, but has the most awful experience switching busses. Half the stops within Maipu wouldn’t allow us to board the bus you want even if they let people off.

All the bodegas were too expensive or closed and the walking had exhausted us. We settled for Bodega Lopez back in Maipu because we knew it was free. Throughout rooms of barrels holding up to 35,000L of wine, destemmers, and fermentation casks, we were quite confused only tour left was in Spanish.

What we cared about were the samples. A guy in a suit had us release the aromas and smell for familiar flavors in the Malbec. I love the Dulce Natural, more apple juice than wine.

Supermarkets sold inexpensive meat. Saki and I combined groceries and made a giant pot of ravioli, chorizo, steak, spinach, onions, and feasted with our cups of free hostel wine. Definitely Argentina.

Unfortunately Tommy, the English dude who punched people mugging him in Buenos Aires, and his friends were back. It was bad not because I don’t like his company (he has great stories!) but because the roads to Chile, open for me just the day before, were were blocked until at least Saturday. The group had showed up at the terminal with front-row, non-refundable tickets. He ended up paying $400 for the one-hour one-way to “meet a friend.” Well-played Tommy, I later found he had never met this “friend” before—she was a Tinder match.

 

Day 31

Breakfast of the Broke Backpacker II: two crepes, banana, orange, dulce de leche, three slices of bread and butter, cup of smoothie, cup of coffee, two pieces of cake, two croissants, two cookies, tomatoes, two scrambled eggs.

Parque San Martin, Mendoza’s nicest attraction, was perfect for my cardio cravings. It was nice and big, giving me plenty of trails to shake off some of that refined sugar.

Walking up Cerro de la Gloria to the Army of the Andes monument at the top was made possible when I approached three men in activewear headed that way and asked to tag along. They weren’t running so I tried to mask that I was going crazy from the cold.

But my favorite Mendozan was Gonzalo, the hostel guy who had to split his time between working reception, bar-tending, cleaning, and talking to me.

 

Day 32

I didn’t want to leave, but three Swiss girls had showed up and announced they were taking the night bus to Salta. I had been toying with either that destination, or Córdoba and Buenos Aires, but decided I didn’t want to rush the latter.

An office in town sold us tickets, I got the last discounted seat at $62 while the others each paid $103 to sit together.

They smoke so much. We had to go collecting everyone’s preferred brand of cigarettes and tobacco, and also stopped to buy a single empanada because Julia hated smoking on an empty stomach. Luana is the youngest, and smiles more than she talks. June was the craziest and the leader. Super excited all the time, she got a spontaneous tattoo from another guest at her hostel in Valparaiso.

I hugged Christine and Saki before my favorite receptionist let me out the door.