Feeling great after a good nights sleep, we packed up our bags and got a cab across to our new digs. We saw Dale and Alicia chilling out in the garden next to the pool, so we quickly checked into the hotel and dropped our bags into the luggage room. Dale ordered a cab, and we travelled a few miles away to a bike rental shop.
The first vineyard we entered felt very casual; No big signs and no showboating. It was a long gravel lined road which finished by a big oak barrel with a doorbell upon it. We rang the bell and waited to be greeted by a member of staff. It didn’t take long to have a gate opened up, and we were walked into the garden of a beautiful looking house. The person who showed us in told us that they did a wine tasting session of three wines for 400 paseos each (or 4 pounds)! What a bargain. We sat in the garden and were joined by the vineyards dogs fo our tasting session.
We had finished our third glass of wine when our server of wine made us an offer we couldn’t refuse. She asked if we would like to tour the vineyard and wine vats. We were not going to turn down this opportunity, so took our glasses in our hands and embarked on the tour.
We were shown the grapes, told how they were harvested and how Mendoza uses cloud seeing technology to combat vine, destroying hailstones. Suddenly it seemed that the region of Mendoza might be more about playing god than having an organically sourced area of wine production.
Time was passing by as quick as the wine was going down, so we had to make a move. Thankfully, we didn’t have far to go to enjoy vineyard number 2. Just over the road from our first stop, a very fancy gate and roadway greeted us. We
We were getting peckish, especially as time was moving far faster than we had noticed. We pronely paid our dues at the reception and jumped back on the bikes to make our way to vineyard 3. This trip on the bikes took us a little longer and we (perhaps a little ungracefully by this point in the day) peddled our way across the town. We arrived towards the end of the lunch serving but still managed to place an order, accompanied with Malbec, of course.
Pan! 
Cycle time! 
Hello Malbec! 
Classy, slightly pissed, lunch!
Our final stop of the day was a smaller wine production place on the north side of the town. When we entered, we were greeted again with the low-cost tasting option alongside a tour of the facility. They showed us all their production methods, and we even bumped into a lovely couple we had met the day before on the bus trip into the Andes!
Checking our watches, we realised that time had well and truly shot past us unnoticed, and we had a mere 20 minutes to cycle across the town we were in and return the bikes before closing time. Several great wines into our day we got back in the saddle and started the near Olympian pace required to achieve this feat. After much shortness of breath and nearly missed turnings on roads we Mae it back to the shop, 5 minutes late! Whoops! We were nothing but apologetic to the shopkeeper who thankfully was in a very jolly mood and wanted to hear about our day. During this catch up she told us how normally people only managed two or three vineyards in an entire day, so we felt like absolute champions having done four! We took an obligatory team photo next to our bikes and headed to the nearest bar for a wind-down drink.
We found a small off-license which came complete with an outdoor seating area to enjoy a beverage in. A slight translation error left us accidentally calling the shop a toilet, rather than asking for the bathroom. Our accents granted us a chuckle and a gesture of forgiveness as we sat down to enjoy our relaxing beverage. Times arrow marched on, and we had to get back to have some dinner. Our first group dinner, we enjoyed the food at the Villa Maria, accompanied by plenty more Malbec. The night concluded with a few more cheeky glasses of vino and games of pool and ping pong before we were all shattered and trollied.
Our last day in Mendoza arrived far too quickly for my liking. Both Katy and I had a pretty rubbish sleep as our room stayed too hot during the night. However, we were up early enough to ensure we would have either the green or red light on the final Birthday surprise Katy had lined up for me. Unfortunately, I am fated not to know what it is (as it may be arranged for late in the trip if possible) as the morning message confirmed the activity could not happen due to bad weather.
Instead, we chilled out and had a leisurely breakfast. When Alicia and Dale also joined us, we mentioned our plan didn’t work and so talked about what we would do for the day. Katy and Dale had identified some thermal baths and spas in the nearby area, towards the Andes. We booked a cab from reception who informed us that the beautiful luxury spa requires pre-booking typically months in advance. We decided to give it a go anyway and see if we could blag a last-minute entry.
This place was a fair bit away from town, and when we finally pulled in, Dale and Katy went to reception to determine if we could get in, while Alicia and I stayed in the cab and attempted some small talk with the cab driver. This didn’t get very far, and instead, Alicia and I just chatted away until the others returned. A mixture of good and bad news came, in that the spa was exclusive, and all entries for lunch and spa had been sold. However, if we came back later in the day, we could enjoy an afternoon to closing time entry spot; Result! To fill our day, we decided to head down the road to more publicly opened, child-friendly, aqua park.
This place instantly had another aura about it altogether. If you have seen it’s always sunny in Philadelphia, then you may be aware of an episode where the gang tries to get into a country club but ends up at the local municipal pool. Well, this is synonymous to our day. This place was filled with loud families, people lugging around their cool boxes and bbq equipment alongside the familiar sight of mate making parafalania.
This was fine and gave the place some character; it just meant that it didn’t fall into the relaxing spa category, which is what we were after. We managed to get a locker by paying for a key at the park shop. Now the shop contained many things I would expect at a water park but also managed to sell items which seemed to be really out of place. The most unusual item being condoms, as it seemed somewhat odd to want to get your freak on in this place, but I guess there must be a demand to cater for.
The park did have some water slides which were operating at potentially questionable health and safety standards which were fantastic fun to throw ourselves down (the added risk of potential injury is always a good adrenaline boost). We enjoyed a few eps in the lazy river and some chill time in one of the many hot pools. The one we were in came complete with a couple of women who were obsessed with nailing the perfect “sexy selfie” and were taking bikini picture after bikini picture. We never did work out if they managed to take a photo they liked, but we did spot them moving around the park in an attempt to get the perfect backdrop for their Instagram followers.
Eventually, the park did get a bit too much for us, and we decided to head out the door and go grab some lunch. We picked up some BBQ and salad just outside the park for a very reasonable price. Time had nearly arrived for us to have a class upgrade, so we headed down the road, picked up daiquiris to go and walked down to the road back towards the fancy spa.
Arriving at the new venue, we were greeted by a much calmer, and very much more expensive, atmosphere. People were here to do some serious relaxing, and we wanted in. We were given a tour of the spa and shown where to drop our bags off. First thing on our list, have a relaxing soak.
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We had spotted on the way to the thermal pools was a small stand set up for mud baths. We had noticed a few other people plunge their hands in and coat themselves in mud as part of the spa experience. This brought out the inner children in us, and we thought why not! Let’s cover ourselves in muck!
We coated ourselves head to toe in the clay-like mud and stood out in the sun to dry the mud out. It was really weird seeing all of us covered in this brown/greyish compound. Added to that was the unusual sensation of racing once the mud had dried. Moving limbs and hands became noticeably hindered by the dry clay. I wasn’t really sure what this treatment was meant to achieve, but I didn’t feel in ay way different, and I was ready to get back into a pool. So I headed back in and showered all the mud away using what most be the most powerful shower of all time. Eight jets of intense hot water blasting you in every way (and in some cases, unwelcome areas) possible.
After this treatment, we also spotted a massage room that allowed you to massage another person using water jets. We entered this place and gave it a go. I don’t think we achieved the intended use of this facility as we instead took great joy in making each other uncomfortable with the high-pressure agua. Fun over with we headed back to the main pools and chilled away the rest of the time we had available in the spa.
Kick out time came, and we asked reception if they were able to book a taxi for us to get back to our hotel. This seemed to be an alien request to them (this wasn’t a misunderstanding, they genuinely seemed baffled as to why we were booking a taxi). We were unhelpfully told we would have to wait 40 or so minutes and were left to it. So we played some pool and talked for what transpired to be an hour and 20 minutes before the taxi finally showed up. The staff didn’t even acknowledge our goodbyes as we left. Clearly, we had somehow caused them a level of grief beyond their normal function as a reception desk; strange.
Anyway, we made it back to our hotel in good time, decided we would allow us all 45 minutes to get showered, ready and drink a bottle of wine (if you notice from reading about this day, so far we have had ZERO wine intake!) before heading out!
Our final night in Mendoza, we headed out of the hotel in search of something different in the nearby town. We pulled over in what looked to be a lively part of town. Right in front of us was a massive outdoor bar where we had our dinner pre-drinks. Lightning illuminated the faraway sky as we were spared any bad weather.
We popped to the restaurant next door and, on looking at the sky, some more decided that an indoor table would be a better option for our evening meal; We made the right choice! Within moments the heavens opened, and the rain thundered downwards with ferocious intensity. All the packed tables from outside hurried into tables inside, but we had already got the best spot and were feeling pretty darn smug at our correct decision.
During the dinner, I made arrangements with the restaurant to bring a cake out for Alicia. It was sad that we weren’t able to join Dale and Alicia for her birthday so I thought I would arrange a pre-birthday cake and traditional, cheesy, restaurant sing along. The dinner concluded, and we headed back for our last sleep in Mendoza.
In the morning, we parted ways from Dale and Alicia and got into the cab to head back to inner Mendoza, and the bus terminal. We decided we would pop back into the hotel so that Katy could hopefully get her bank card back. This was an activity which took far longer than what we had hoped for. As a result, we were running out of time to get to our bus! We had 15 minutes to get across town and find our bus at the terminal!
After a very tense cab ride, we arrived at the bus terminal with 4 minutes to departure. We grabbed our bags and ran into the bus terminal. As confusing as any South American bus terminal, we had no idea where our bus would be parked in this 60 plus gate structure. Katy ran to the first bus to ask if they knew where our bus might be parked. In a very calm response, the bus driver responded that his bus was the bus we were booked on. Joy oh joy, panic over we there our bags into the back of the bus and boarded. Sat down and settled, we calmed down and put our feet up in anticipation of the stunning views that were going to greet us as we crossed the Ones to Santiago!
In summary, my 30th celebration was phenomenal, and I have Alicia and Dale to thank for having awesome company to wish my new decade in, but Katy to be indebted to for making such a memorable event in the middle of a trip of a lifetime!
