Mendoza

BUS TO MENDOZA

A call to the taxi companies the night before indicated that I was out of luck and would need to brave the subway with my backpack during rush hour.  Not a good idea. So I got up an hour early and walked out onto the streets hoping to flag down a taxi on my own.  I was in luck.  Got him to go back to the hostel so I could pick up my pack and go. 

I felt pretty safe on this bus as there were about a half dozen National Guardsmen on board. I sat next to a nice Chilean girl who proceeded to vomit on my backpack and shoes 3 times during our ride over the Andes.  Wonderful!  All the while I was in misery.  I had been noticing some loose dentalwork and a dull pain on that side of my mouth for a few days.

  The high altitude might have accentuated the pain. I was miserable.  I blackberried Steph who arrived before me to Mendoza and asked her to look into finding a dentist to see upon my arrival.  Within an hour she responded that I had an appointment that night at 8:30 pm with an English speaking dentist.  What a great travel partner she is!

The ride over the Andes was nice.  It took about 6 hours.  We saw snow, rivers, bridges, traintracks, villages, and vineyards along the way.  We also saw 2 movies.  One I found to be a very interesting choice.  It was called BorderTown with J-Lo, Antonio, and Papa Sheen.  It is based on a true story about women in Juarez, Mexico who were raped and murdered by a bus driver.

  A creepy choice as we were riding in a bus.  It was kinda like showing any highjack, airline crash, or snakes on a plane type movie on an airplane. 

I think it was the highest point of the mountain when we reached the border.  We got off the bus and presented our passports to the Chilean exit people and then were supposed to go to the Argentine entry people next.  I spotted a bathroom though and was anxious to wipe the vomit off my backpack and put on my hot chili as it ws very cold there.  When I came out, everyone was opening their carry on bags for the inspectors.  So, I did that.  Then they made a announcement.  I thought they said in Spanish that they needed to know which one of us had an Argentine passport.

  Everyone said "No."  I thought that was odd as surely someone was taking the bus back home.  They got annoyed and made everyone show their passports again one by one.  As they got to me, they said "Ah ha!"  Apparently, they had asked which one of us had bypassed showing our passport at the Argentine entrance window.  Great!  All disapproving eyes were on me.  "No comprendo Espanol" didn`t sound so cute this time.

It was apparent that they were still holding a grudge when we finally got to Mendoza as everyone filed off the bus without letting me out of my seat.  That common courtesy of getting out row by row just wasn`t going to be extended on this bus.  Then the same deal when we were getting our bags out from under the bus.

  They just kept ignoring me.  I finally crawled in and got my own bag.  The baggage guy got a little mad at me for doing that.  I put my tip money back into my pocket and struggled away with my big bag for the 5 block walk to the hostel.

ROOT CANAL TOURISM

Steph and Sebastian (hostel clerk) were there to greet me at Hostel Lao www.laohostel.com.  This is another top 10 in the world hostels which was recommended to me by a friend.  The staff is great.  Hammocks everywhere.  Pool. Free internet.  Good breakfast.  yadda yadda.  Ramina had arrranged for the dentist for me that was supposedly the best in town.  I was also pleased to learn from a few other travellers at the hostel that they had gotten some dental work done in Argentina and that they are supposedly the best dentists in the world.

  Suddenly I was feeling that my usual luck was still with me as this was the right country to have gum pain.

I really couldn't stand the thought of waiting until 8:30pm to see the dentist, so I set off on finding him at 5pm.  After an hour of walking and getting a little lost, I found the office on the other side of Independencia Plaza.  I was overcome with joy when this Andrew Ridgely look-a-like (the better half of Wham) came out and said "You must be the women who came from Santiago in lots of pain."  "Yes, and you speak English!"  "Yes, and I am able to see you now."  "I`m in love."  I don't think I said that outloud.

Anyway, a few x-rays and a drill and I am having part one of a root canal.  All the while, Dr.

Wake Me Up Before You Go Go is giving me advice on what to do while I am in town.  The usual stuff like his friend's restaurant and his friend Gaston's winery bike tours. He also mentioned that many people come to this country for plastic surgery and his brother just happens to be the one next door.  So, I ordered a tummy tuck with my root canal trying to be funny.  Should I be offended that he had a very delayed laugh as if he wasn't sure if I was serious or not?

When the procedure was done, I asked the all important question.  Can I drink wine tonight?  You see, Steph had arranged a big BBQ with all the hostel dwellers.  Since I probably was only going to be able to handle liquids, I wanted to make sure I would be able to enjoy it.

  He said that he did not give me antibiotics as it did not appear that I needed them and so that I could drink during my vacation to the city known for its wineries.  Good doctor.  Or, is that good tourism promoter?

The BBQ was in full swing upon my return.  Met lots of very cool people.  I'm sure that they enjoyed watching me dribble my Andes beer down the numb side of my mouth.  About 10pm the shot I was given had worn off and I was in pain.  Doc had given me his cell phone number, so I used it.  He told me what painkiller to get at the local farmacia.  He said I could still drink with it.  Always looking out for tourism!

This pain killer did not work.  Neither did the one Steph gave me that she got in Peru.

  I could not sleep until I popped a 600mg Ibprophen. I got all this pain for just $60 USD from the best dentist in the best country for dentistry.  Truth is, he was stuck trying to fix an old root canal that a US dentist had botched up.   

DRUNK BIKING

In the morning Steph and I jumped on a bus to Maipu (yes, pronounced my poo) for about 30 minutes with 4 others from the hostel to go to www.bikesandwine.com. Pete & Lucy are from Spain and Jess & Charlie are from Australia.  Along the way we added another Aussie dude, Bryce, to our group.  And, a perfect group it was.  We had a great time on our bikes riding from bodega (winery) to bodega.

  The all day bike rental cost 35 pesos.  They give you a water bottle and a map.  All wineries are off the same main rode so there is no chance of getting lost.  They probably should have given us face masks though. Very dusty.

First stop was just 5 minutes down the road at a Museo del Vino.  Here we got a nice little tour of the old equipment and then a taste of a red and white wine.  They said they were giving us wine that is not available for sale.  Not smart business people are they?!

The next stop was at a Licores place called Historia y Sabores.  This was my favorite as it was a small family run business and original.  The guy gave us lots of samples of his chocolate and combination liquors.

  I had the chocolate banana one.  Favorites were the dulce de leche varieties.  They also made very interesting flavors of jam and tempanades. 

Next stop was a fancy winery called Almacen del Sur that served lunch for 30 more pesos.  It was a great atmosphere under the trees and near a rose garden.  French music was playing in the background.  My mouth pain had been coming and going all day.  It came when on the bike and it went when drinking the wine.  I skipped lunch and instead decided to just gnaw on some bread and enjoy a cold Peseo de Toro grapefruit beverage.  It was a leisurely lunch so we were running out of time to hit all 9 wineries on the 12k path before having to return the bikes at 5:30pm.

 

So we skipped ahead to Tomasso Family winery.  We were not impressed at all.  The tastes cost us 10 pesos and they were very small tastes of bad wine.  And, worse yet, there was no spit bucket to get rid of it and no new glass to get the next one.  So, you were forced to drink them all. 

We booked on out of there pretty quickly and went to Tempus Alba which was a very modern looking place.  Pretty cold looking from the outside.  Inside though, I got a warm welcome from my friends Eben and Sarah who I volunteered with in Buenos Aires.  They were enjoying their 15 peso taste when we walked in.  Our group of 7 got smart and decided to each buy a different full glass of wine and then share them.

  A glass of wine cost 5 pesos less than the taste and was much bigger.  Tricky tricky.  The woman there decided to sit down with us and give a 20 minute talk about how to drink wine before we dare take our first sips.  They had some interesting sample sniffers to compare the different scents of wine.  It was interesting, but come on!  Can we drink already?!  The Cabernet Sauvignon was the best out of the bunch.

We followed Eben and Sarah over to Vina el Cerno as our last stop.  We were a little annoyed when they gave the tour buses that came after us more attention.  We waited about 20 minutes and then decided to just head back to drop the bikes and jump on a bus back home.  All in all it was a pretty good day.

 

We made it home just before the lightening storm started.  This may change everyones plan for tomorrow.  Some are thinking it might be a good day to go rafting on their level 4s here.  Me?  I am day by day now based on what level the pain is.  Today ranged from 4 to 10.  I do not know my next destination or what day that will be. Originally I was going to fly to Ushuaia on Saturday.   I am seriously considerieng missing out on Patagonia and coming home early if Dr. Wham doesn't stop the pain on Saturday morning.  That would be a big shame, but I'm afraid I will become addicted to ibprophen and wine if I stick it out for 3 more weeks.

ARGENTINE PEDICURE

I'm sure that you have heard of a French pedicure.

  There is a reason why you have not heard of the Argentine.  Today both Steph and I were commenting on how rough our feet have gotten with all this travelling.  It was a rainy day, so why not get some pampering.  We arrive at what appears to be a pretty nice spa that does it all.  For 30 pesos we can get pedicures and coffee.  Good deal.

Our feet are apparently so mangled that they have to get out the carving knife and power sander to get the bottoms smooth again.  I came in with a French pedicure and hoped to walk out with the same.  I walked out with a skiggly thin white line with ripply opalescence over the top and a little bit of my blood mixed in on one toe.  The coffee was good though.

WE WILL GO ANYWHERE

We learned that you must plan ahead if you want to leave Mendoza by plane.  All flights were full leaving Sat-Sun-Mon going anywhere.  So to the bus station we go with our bags tightly grasped.  Everyone here has stories of getting something stolen here...including Steph having her pack slashed.  Luckily she felt it happening and caught it in time.  We now have the 2 last tickets for an 18 hour bus ride to Bariloche on Andesmar for Sat night.  This location was not in my game plan, but from talking to many others it is a beautiful place to go in the Lake District.  We are hoping when we get to Bariloche we can get a bus to Puerto Madryn a few days later.  Another place not in the original agenda.

  We hear that the whale and penquins will be better seen there than in Ushuaia.  So, I probably won't make it to the city furthest south.  Then to Calafate, El Chalten, Torres del Paine, Puerto Natales, and hopefully a cruise back up Chile.   All this is contingent upon how well my dentist patches up my mouth tomorrow morning.

YOU CALL THAT ART?

There is a little municiple modern art museum in the middle of Independencia Plaza.  We decided to stop in there after dropping off the laundry and running our other errands.  What a waste of 3 pesos!  I have uploaded a photo of me with the only interesting thing in the place.  It was a mechanical waving mannequin that looked like a blow up doll stewardess.

   Strange.  Don't waste your time.  In Independencia Plaza you will also find drummers, punk rock bands, and feria crafts. 

To salvage the day we had lunch with our new roomie Sasha from Australia who has been travelling for 2 years at Havanna.  This is the place that makes those good dulce de leche cookies.    They also make good paninis. 

THE WHOLE COW

Some of the other hostel dwellers were going to a belly dancing restaurant and the 4 girls from San Diego (who recognized me from Buenos Aires...small world) were going to an Irish pub.  Steph, Sasha, and I (the over 30 crowd) preferred to stick with the food of the country we were in.  So, we went to the highly recommended Don Marios.

  I ordered a filet mignon in mushroom sauce and we shared a nice local Malbec.  This was the biggest slab of meat I had ever seen.  This thing was about 4 inches tall I think.  The whole meal including wine was 56 pesos each (divide by 3 to get the USD amount.)

Girls will be girls usually.  We got a little silly and decided to be boys tonight.  You eventually get immune to it here, but no matter where you go all day long men stare and make comments to you as you pass.  It is as if it is a requirement that they act like everyone woman is the most beautiful thing they have ever seen.  I usually just say "gracias" and keep walking unless they get a little graphic.  Steph and Sasha (the blondes) were growing tired of the extra attention they get.

  So, the tables were turned and some men in the restaurant got stared at.  Boy, were they uncomfortable with this.  Girls will be boys sometimes.

We had a lovely evening having a leisurely dinner as they do here.  The toughest thing you will find in restaurants here is getting them to kick you out so they can make more money on the next table.  They just will not clear your plate or bring you a bill until you can get their attention to tell them to do it.  This is in every restaurant here.  In fact, we sat at our table a good hour after our meal was done at the insistance of our waiter.  He had called us a taxi, but because of the rain it was a little delayed.  He would not let us get up to wait at the entrance.

  The city floods very quickly with rain.  In fact, the restaurant started to flood under my feet.  The owner of restaurant eventually came over to us at about midnight and said he would take us home.  How nice!  Lucky for him the taxi pulled up just as we were getting ready to walk out.  So, we waded over to it and headed home fat and happy.   

MOVING ON

Dr.Wham lived up to his name today.  I was so pleased to wake up and find that I had no pain.  No drugs were needed.  But soon I realized that Dr. Wham would be banging on my gums again in a few hours.  And he did.  I have never had any dentist do quite so thorough of a job of cleaning out a root.  He was going to make sure that he lived up to the Argentine dentistry reputation and ensure that I did not have any more problems.

  I walked out with some additional pain killers and antibiotics to get me to the next big city without any issue.  He also gave me the x-rays so I had clear proof of the before (botched up root canal) and the after. 

The rest of the hostel dwellers were off on wine tours and hikes in the park when I got out of the dentist office.  So, I enjoyed a nice ravioli lunch outside at Cafe del Pasaje at Sarmiento and San Martin.  From my seat I could enjoy the fountain, the clowns playing with kids, and watching suspicious looking locals eyeing tourists' bags.