The Adventures of the Morrisons

The good thing about leaving Valparaiso early was that our arrival in Mendoza was brought forward. Mendoza in Argentina is home to the very best wine the country has to offer so it was always going to be an enjoyable visit. Additionally we were due to meet a friend, David, whom we had met earlier in our trip whilst in Uruguay.

On the Friday night I mailed Dave to say we'd be arriving on Saturday afternoon. Just maybe we might make the Boca Juniors vs River Plate "friendly" game that evening which kicks the season off. I knew Dave would be going as he is here in Argentina to visit every football ground, attend matches etc for charity. I also knew which hostel he intended staying at so that would surely help.

As we only just decided to go to Mendoza the evening before we made no arrangements for accommodation. This backfired slightly when the bus pulled into town 4 hours late. We headed straight to hostel Lao where we were met by Dave. There was still an outside chance of a ticket to the game. However, there was no space there to stay so we had to set off in search of another hostel for the night. The hostel we eventually found was ideal and after a quick settle in we headed to the ground to get a ticket for the game. Alas they were sold out by then but we had a good walk about soaking up some atmosphere and checking with some touts. I had taken the precaution of examining a real ticket which proved well worth the time as sadly every ticket being touted was a fake. Generally the standard of tickets here is not high but the fake's are still noticable and I wasn't parting with 200 peso's for 2 dodgy ticket's what ever the game.

As it turned out it is just as well we missed the game. It sounded rubbish. River won 3-2, there were 4 sendings off and 2 penalties and this was only a pre season friendly. Definately glad we missed this one!! As luck had it when we headed back to the hostel from the stadium we were invited to an asado for the evening so there was some consolation after all.

On Sunday we moved to hostel Lao, our original choice. Soon after moving in we discovered it was just voted Latin America's second best hostel and it was easy to see why. Great pool and garden, superb communal area's, nice dorm's and first class staff. All too often the staff let some of these place's down but the owner's worked here daily. As usual in South America Sunday proved to be a somewhat lazy day but we met a number of very nice people whom we would spend the next 4 days hanging out with. It also gave us a chance to read up and plan some activities in and around the town.

First up I decided I would try my hand at hydro speed. Two points of note here. I was told you had to be either mental or clinically insane to try this activity. Every activity in the brochure had been tried out by staff bar this one. So Monday morning came and I turned up for the adventure. I was the only person there. Not unusual said Christian the instructor. He would go on to tell me only 10% of people who start the course finish it. Never one to be put off I assured him I would give it my best shot.

The basic premise of hydro speed is that you get a small sledge like float, a 10mm wetsuit, a helmet and a pair of flippers and you go down a gushing river through rapids head first. Kind of like rafting without the raft really. I was pretty nervous as I was told by the hostel staff that I would need saved at least once. We started out with a lot of safety drills. The bottom line sounded like so long as I held on to the sledge little could go wrong. They are a good deal more buoyant than a life jacket after all. As a side note I then discovered that the instructor does not do the hydro speed himself but merely follows you in a kayak shouting instructions. Following instructions, like in anything else, was imperitive and if I reacted as little as 2 seconds late I could be as much as 20 meters downstream in that time.

The time had come and I dived in. Before I knew it I was hurtling down the river and I had survived the first few rapids, but not without going under for what felt like an eternity. Still, I held on. By now the adrenaline was pumping and that was enough to keep me warm. Unusually it had rained for almost 2 weeks in the area so the water was much higher and faster than normal. As we progressed Christian would keep checking that I was ok, and despite hitting quite a few rocks en route I was fine. The rapids reached grade 4 and although I had rafted higher it really was quite different. After an hour or so we came to the end and it was high 5's all round. What a rush ti was and hopefully I will get the chance to go again. Apparently you can try it at the river Tummel in Scotland although I am not sure of the difficulty level there. Here's hoping it's high.

After a good cool down the instructor took myself and 2 French guys I met out kayaking on the lake. It was a far cry from the mornings experience but amazing all the same. As the water level was so high a small forest had been put under quite a bit of water so we kayaked through there. Quite an unusual experience. The sun beat down all afternoon and we swam for a bit in the end to cool off. This was definately the best way to finish the day, my body needed a rest!!

The next few days were spent in town with friends we had met in Mendoza; Dave, Ger, Janey, Andy, Sven, Kirsten, Adrian, Diane to name a few aka I can't remember the rest of the names!! We undertook some serious wine tasting. As usual it would have been unfair to discriminate so we tried as many as possible. Bottles coming in at between 1 and 3 quid. Can't be bad. Still, I was curious as to what an expensive (by Argentine standards) bottle would cost so Ali, Dave and I agreed to go and stay near a few bodega's (winery) for a few days in the name of research.

On Thursday morning we rocked up at Lares de Chacras. It was a small boutique hotel in the midst of about 10 bodega's 30 minutes from Mendoza. Heaven. It cost us a packet by backpacking standards but it was worth every penny. First up we visited a small family run winery called Clos de Chacras. They took the 3 of us on a tour telling us about the history of the place and showing us all the distilling processes. Quite interesting, but not as interesting as the sampling of course. Aided with plates of cheese, crackers and raisens we went on to try a few different types; Melbec, Sauvingnon and Syrah.

On the Friday we prepared ourselves for more of the same but first the hotel sent us to a small restaurant called Cava de Cano for lunch. Wow, the place was amazing. We thought we were going for a small snack, but on the contrary it was literally a meal fit for a king. We had a small room set up for the 3 of us. The room was decorated with pictures and artifacts of the owner and his various animal "kills" such as boar heads, animal skins and antlers. The table looked like it had enough food to feed 6 with ease and apparently there was more to come. In good honoured tradition we decided to start with the best wine they had after all there is no point in trying he cheap crap to start with. More and more food was brought to the table and after almost 2 hours we had to give in missing out on dessert, champagne, whiskey and cuban cigars. I reckon the latter would have wrecked the taste buds for the afternoon winery visits any how.

By now we were running a little late so the owner kindly gave us a lift on to Alta Vista, a mid sized bodega and it was more of the same as the previous day. Again the tour was conducted with just the 3 of us which was fantastic. They had a way of making you feel quite special and there was no hard sell at the end which was nice. A brief taxi ride later and we were at our 3rd and final bodega. It was called Luigi Bosco and was the largest of the 3 we visited. Straight away you could see it was aimed more at the tourist as we were trundled round in a group of 20 or so. It wasn't that it was no good, just not as good. The wine we had sampled to date was definately the best I have ever tried so it was a shame we finished here on a comparative low.

Still, we had a fix. There was one more meal at our hotel so we ordered up some top notch wine once again to end our stay on a high note. If anyone out there ever finds themselves in Mendoza I can't recommend this place enough. Pure luxury at a good price for a holiday maker.

For the record I would place the following three wines (all red) at the top:

Vo Lunix Syrah Oak 2005
O Fournier, Crux B 2003 (Blend - 60% Tempranillo; 20% Malbec, 10% Merlot, 10% Syrah)
Clos de Chacras, Gran Estirpe 2005 Malbec