Day 12: Baires – Mendoza
I woke up late and enjoy the hotel until check out time, to chill a bit after the crazy day we had yesterday.
It was a little complicated to go to the airport because police are stricter around there and Ubers are illegal, so two Ubers cancelled my trip before finding a brave guy that took me to the airport, with the only condition that I have to seat in front and wave goodbye at him once in the airport, so that the police think we are related. A fair condition that I took since I didn’t have much cash and I wanted to save it for an emergency.
Argentina is famous for its leather, among others, and I love the Argentinian brand called Prune. They have a store in the national airport (not in the international), so I bought a bag for me and another for my mom, and they offered the option to leave them in a locker and pick them up on your way back to the airport. Very convenient.
My flight was at 2:00pm and I landed in Mendoza at 3:55pm. My cousin and uncles were waiting for me at the airport and we had a nice Argentinian asado at their house while catching up after 9 years without seen each other.
The main reason why I came to Mendoza is because my mom’s family is from Argentina, both of my grandparents were born and raised here and they basically moved to Venezuela for love (my grandpa was married and divorce wasn’t legal in Argentina, so the only way for them to be together was in another country…what a love story).
My grandma still has family in Mendoza, and my mom and I are still in contact with my uncle, his wife and my cousin. So, this visit was pretty much to see my relatives.
Day 13: Mendoza
Today, my cousin took me to Bodegas (cellar) Chandon to do the guided visit. There are dozens of wine cellars you can visit in Mendoza to taste and buy their amazing wines. I chose Chandon because I’m a big fan of sparkling wines and this brand drive me crazy. The guided visit was beautiful, and I then bought 6 bottles that I’m planning to drink with my family during Christmas (25% discount if you buy more than 3 bottles).
If you are planning on visiting Chandon, call first to book. I paid around 7 € for the tour, where you taste 4 types of sparkling wine, and I spend 41 € for the 6 bottles I bought (excellent price).
We then had lunch in Casa Campo. I tried the traditional “carne a la masa” and it was delicious, super soft. We also had empanadas and meat soup…everything delicious even though I am a little fed up of meat.
At 5:00pm we went to Bodegas Lopez to do the free guided tour and try their nice wine.
Of course, after our big lunch and the wine, we didn’t have anything for dinner.
Day 14: Mendoza – Baires – Houston (home)
My original plan was to go to Mendoza straight from Iguazu to spend 5 days there. But we came out with the idea of going to Puerto Madryn last minute and I had to reduce my days in Mendoza because I couldn’t change my flight back home. So, there are lots of activities that I missed while in Mendoza but I’m sure I’ll go back.
The biggest fear today was travelling with a box with 6 sparkling wine bottles. But I didn’t have any problem during my flight from Mendoza to Buenos Aires, I just packed at the airport (they put a handle on it) and I carried it has a “carry on” during my flight together with my backpack.
While in Buenos Aires, I took a remis to go from the national to the international airport (Ezeiza) and I paid almost 28 € (1500 ARS, card) for it. I think it was totally overpriced but they told me it’s due to the tolls and also it took me around 1 hour to get to Ezeiza because of the traffic, so maybe that’s the price.
Anyway, I was happy that I was perfectly on time to take my flight back home at 8:00pm with American Airlines (Baires – Atlanta – Houston), where I didn’t have any problem to checked my box of sparkling wine as a bag (so happy I had 2 bags included in my ticket), that also arrived perfectly in Houston.
By the way, the bags I bought in Prune were in the locker of the national airport, just as the store told me they would be. The lockers have a scan to scan your barcode and it opens automatically, super easy.
I arrived in Houston next day in the morning and once again I’m so happy that I was able to do this trip and also very happy that my friends always invite me to travel with them.
Much more to come!
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Bella Ispirazione 