A Week of Contrasts - The Easy Life in Argentina and Extreme Adventures in Chile!!

The Easy Life in Argentina - Mendoza Wine Tours

After our chill out days on the Estancia and having had a small sample of the wine tasting it was off to Mendoza for more chilling and to visit the vineyards themselves and really taste some wines!! We arrived there late in the evening to our campsite and Tom’s group had to rustle up something quick for everybody. His mother would be proud of him as not only did we all have a great pasta dish, a strawberry & cream sponge cake was produced for dessert. Vanilla essence in the cream, yummy!!!

Mendoza is a laid-back, chilled out town, great for coffees, cakes, terraces and people watching and is obviously most famous for its vast wine production!! The fact that it is a desert town with very little rain is surprisingly the main reason why wine making is so successful in the region. Because there is no natural irrigation most of the water has to be pumped in from the snow melts of the Andes and is completely controlled meaning no surprise big rains before harvests!

Mendoza produces 70% of Argentina’s wine and Malbec is it’s most famous export. About 600 wineries in the region export their products and they say their best is Malbec but they also export good Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc and I tasted a really nice sparkling white wine (their version of Champagne). I sound like I actually know what I’m talking about here!! To be fair Tom appreciated the wine tasting much more than I did as I don’t really like red wines but they had enough sparkling whites to keep me happy and cool in the hot summer sun!! The best was one called ‘New Age’ (only $5/bottle!!) so if anyone sees it at home you know what I want when I get back!! :o) Its got a very cool picture on the inside of the label :o)

So aptly the first winery we visited was called Familia di Tommaso….the vineyard was obviously calling Tom!! It was a small family run vineyard and one of the oldest in the region. The girl taking the tour was really nice and knew so much about the wine industry in Argentina. Her English was fantastic and she had a great sense of humour. She showed us around the vineyard explaining how the wine was processed and how each got its different flavour. We saw the French Oak barrels and she explained that most wineries used them 5 times but that in this winery they only used them 3 times to keep the oak flavour strong and the price of the wine depended on whether the grapes were left in there for ½ yr or a year. She also explained how they added other spirits to the dessert wines to give them their flavours like cognac or whiskey. At the end of the tour came the tasting and we did a lot of glass swirling, looking at dregs, sniffing, describing and finally drinking (no-one seemed interested in the last step of spitting!!). We tasted some Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and some dessert wines. Tom reckoned the best was definitely the Grand Reserve (that means its been 1yr in the barrel) Malbec!!

We went to another vineyard called Vina del Cerno. The staff weren’t as friendly and we didn’t get to taste such a wide selection of wines but this is where I found the really nice sparkling white so I was happy :o) 
 



The gang looking merry after the wine tours and heading out for dinner in town!!


Extreme Adventures Chile - Climbing a Volcano in Pucon

So after so much chilling and wine tasting it was time for some hard work and extreme adventure!!! After another border crossing, a quick skip through Santiago (not much to write home about!!) and another day on the truck we arrived in the Chilean town of Pucon. A small town overlooked by a huge snow capped volcano, Villarraca. We arrived knowing that a group of about 16 of us wanted to climb the volcano but had been told that it was going to cost about $45,000 Chilean Pesos which is about $90 which we felt was way too much money to climb a volcano in Chile especially if we had a group of 16!! So we went bargain hunting!! I managed to get a deal with one company to take us up the volcano, provide all snow gear for climbing, 3 guides, some beers and cookies when we got back, take us on a bus to a 4* hotel with some hot springs and then take us back to town for $38,000 wohoooooooooooo I love bargaining!!! The other truck had a group of around the same size and were paying $45,000 just for the volcano hike, gear and guides!!

View of Mt Villarraca from Pucon town...

So now that we had our bargain it was time for the hard work!! It was an early start as we put on all our snow gear at 6.30am and the weather wasn’t looking fantastic!! But they say that you can never tell with the weather - it can be raining in the town and sunny on the volcano or raining in the morning and sunny 2hrs later!! Bit like Ireland, they can have four seasons in one day!! So we hopped on the bus and hoped for the best!!

When we got to the foot of the volcano Rodriguez gave us a quick guide on how to stop using your ice pick if you fall down the volcano and how to use your ice pick when your walking!! He then gave us the option of taking the chair lift for the first part which was on ash or walking the whole way - obviously we went for the hard core walk all the way option!!! The first part was tough as it was walking on the

volcanic ash so it was 1 step forward 2 steps back and by the time we had walked 10mins we were stopping to take layers off as it was roasting!!! After about 1hr 30mins of walking on the ash we hit the snow which was a bit easier to walk on for a while until we got up over a ridge and the wind (gale force!!) hit!! Anyway to keep a long story short...the winds were fierce, the climbing was hard and both my groins were killing (no clue why they pulled but it hurt!!). A lot of the group was struggling and about 1/3 of the group turned and went back down with one of the guides. I was in pain but I soooooo wanted to get to the top so I kept going but eventually had to give in too and head back down :o( I was totally gutted but couldnt walk another step!!! I was about 1/2hr from the top and I could see it but there was no way I was going to make it up there never mind have the legs to get myself back down!! So I turned, crying!!, gave the camera to Tom and headed back down the volcano with my personal guide, Fernando!!!

The views from about half way up - the sky cleared literally for a few seconds!!

Tom made it to the summit through gale force winds, snow and tough climbing. As you can see from the picture the view wasn't spectacular and apparently the smell of sulphur would have knocked you out but the feeling of getting to the top was great!!! :o)

Anyway as Roosevelt said..."It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed." and so I console myself or as Henry Ford said "Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently." i.e. next time take the advise of the guide and take the lift up the first part!!!


When we got back to base the cookies and beer, beside a burning log fire, were perfect and then off to the hot springs....totally relaxing, totally luxurious and totally deserved!!!