March 17, 2008 - San Juan, Argentina
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I had a leisurely wake up. It was raining. After breakfast, I checked out by 10 AM. I left my bag at the hotel and headed to the bus terminal to book my tickets to Mendoza. I booked myself on the 1:40 PM bus to Mendoza - Cama, of course. It had stopped raining.
I took a bus to the centre and paid 2 pesos for the lift to a Mirador (Viewpoint). The views were OK. I spent around an hour at an Internet cafe and headed to a local cafe for some lunch in the form of toast and juice! I got back to the hotel, picked up by bag and headed to the bus terminal. I had a 35-minute wait there as the Bus had not yet arrived.
The bus arrived at 1:45 PM and I checked in. I was given Seat No. 1. This time around there was 6 people in the 9-seater cama section. I was travelling with a different bus company - TRAMAT. TRAMAT had cloth seats while ANDESMAR (the company that bought me to San Juan) had leather seats. Needless to say, ANDESMAR seats were a lot better.
I dozed a bit on the way and we reached Mendoza a little after 4 PM.
March 17, 2008 - Mendoza, Argentina
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I took a Taxi (thankfully they were not on strike anymore) to Hotel Palace. I chatted up the driver on the possibility of him taking me to some of the wineries on my list in the Lujan de Cuyo and Maipu areas. He was asking for 200 pesos (US$67). I took down his name and number. On reaching Hotel Palace, the Check-in was a breeze. I picked up by large duffel bag from their storage and also my clothes from the nearby laundry.
As I was running low on Argentine Pesos, I exchanged some Dollars for Argentine Pesos. I visited the Trout and Wine Tour agency only to be told that there was a hitch in their programme and that I could not visit all the wineries on my list. I thanked them and walked out. I am sticking to the wineries that I want to visit - not what someone thinks is worth visiting! As I have a few free days in Mendoza, I am sure I will be able to plan something on my own.
I booked myself on a tour to ACONCAGUA for tomorrow (120 Pesos - US$ 40). I received a call from Amor and agreed to meet her at her hostel. I took a trolley to her hostel. We visited one more travel agency and Amor (being a native Spanish speaker) inquired about tours to the wineries I wanted to see. They said they would get back to me.
We met up with friends of Amor (whom she had befriended on a day tour in Mendoza) for dinner. The Lasagne with No Meat came with Meat! We tried a Sandwich with no Ham that came with Ham! I finally got lucky and had a chocolate alamendrado with Banana split ice cream!
Amor and I may meet again tomorrow as we are both doing day trips to ACONCAGUA - albeit with different tour companies.
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