Trip Report - Days 1 and 2 - Mendoza
Dec 19th, 2008 | 06:05 PM
#1
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Joined: Jul 2007
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Trip Report - Days 1 and 2 - Mendoza
Travel Blog:
So our first 24 hours was almost a complete blur of travel, travel and more travel…combined with extreme exhaustion, so it’s hard to even remember everything. We took off from Chicago on Wed evening at 6 pm – lucky for us we left on the day between two days of terrible snowstorms, so we had no delays. We flew into Miami, where we had a very short layover before getting on our next plane to BA. But of course the lovely American airlines (who had already screwed up our plans by cancelling the nonstop flight to BA from Chicago we had originally been booked on) decided they had to have some more fun at our expense. They loaded us on the plane, despite knowing they had overbooked the plane by 13 people and they didn’t yet have that many volunteers!! We sat on the plane for an hour while they begged for volunteers (going up to offering an $800 voucher on AA, I might’ve grabbed it for $1000), and asking for people without luggage (on an international flight, good luck). Eventually they found someone, but the person had luggage. So they spent another hour and a half taking all our luggage out to find that person’s luggage because your luggage can’t travel without you. All while we’re on the plane for some unknown reason. Unbelievable. Anyway we finally get going, it’s a 9 hour flight, I “sleep” sort of for 3-4 hours – jealously watching the woman next to me sleep without moving for almost the entire flight. I’m just not built that way.
We land in BA around noon on Thursday, and we have about 5 hours till our next flight out of AEP to Mendoza (normally I would have planned to just stay in BA when we got there, but the place we wanted to say in Mendoza could only accommodate us the first days of our trip). I really didn’t want to spend 5 more hours in an airport, so we took a car (tienda leon) to AEP, checked our luggage, and had that driver take us into Recoleta - thanks to the advice of lovely people on tripadvisor and fodors forum, we went to La biela, and sat outside for a lovely lunch. The food is ok, but the atmosphere is great, and the dulce de leche ice cream unbelievable. So much better than the airport. Then we hailed a cab to go back to AEP. One note about EZE that I forgot to mention – we had been warned by so many people not to talk to the people right when you get out trying to cajole you into getting rides from them – we were so nervous we ignored our own driver! Kind of amusing. Also, the national bank of argentina at the airport will change your money with the right exchange rate and without taking any fee off the top.
So anyways, we went back to AEP, and almost had a heart attack seeing the long security line but it moves fast unlike in America – you don’t take out toiletries, laptops, shoes off, etc – none of that, like the good old days! Our gate was changed and we ended up taking a bus to our old Aerolinas Argentinas plane, but I can’t complain since we were only a little bit delayed and I was worried after reading bad things about them, but so far so good. The day of travelling really went smoothly, including always having our luggage arrive, while other fellow travelers seemed not to be so lucky. A driver from Cavas Wine lodge met us at the Mendoza airport and drove us about 45 minutes to the most beautiful hotel!!! (more on that on tripadvisor hotel reviews). But really it’s a wonderful place. We were almost too tired to enjoy our dinner and then we went right to sleep, finally!
The next morning, Friday, we had trouble getting up but we dragged ourselves out of bed to leave at 10:30 with our driver from Cavas for our first winery stop – Archaval Ferrer. A great small winery where we had a tour and we tasted malbecs and a blend, including some straight out of the barrel which was interesting since they really don’t taste quite finished yet! Then it was onto Ruca Malen for a five course lunch paired with their wines. I HIGHLY Recommend this amazing experience, it really helps to taste wine with food, but beyond that, the food was beyond belief. We started with a cheese spread on toast with olive oil gelee and green apple paired with a great chardonnay, then beef rolls with plum sauce…I’m forgetting all the wines, I’m the type who remembers food more than wine…a quinoa salad..and then our first Argentinian steak – a great filet with potatoes and corn salsa. My husband learned that he needs to ask for thigns rarer, but I was happy with mine medium – so far the steak lived up to its reputation. And we finished the meal off with a wonderful dulche de leche cream cheese mousse. We were too tired to go to our next appointment so we just went back to Cavas where we napped and my husband had a massage that he said was great.
That evening Cavas had a wine tasting in their cellar – the best wine tasting, actually more like a class, that we’ve ever been to. Juan had all these little bottles of essences that he gave us to smell to help us separate aromas in the wine – sounds silly and snobby when I say it like that but was really a lot of fun. Dinner at Cavas was wonderful, you sit outside, have lamb ravioli and pesto pasta that’s nothing like it is in the states – much more simple and flavorful and not greasy – and you just sit there for hours eating, drinking, talking to other guests. Juan came over and made my husband happy with scotch and a cigar and I went off to write this post.
The one thing I can say after only 2 days here is that Argentinian people are so wonderful and friendly, we had so much fun with a taxi driver who didn’t speak English (and we don’t speak Spanish) and us trying to communicate was hilarious – and our driver, and everyone here. I’m also so grateful from all the advice I’ve gotten on here I’m happy to finally be able to give back some! Sorry this is so long, I knew it would be, which is why I’m posting in installments! (and whenever I can get to the main lodge to use the wireless!) I hope I’m not boring you all to death. I can’t wait for tomorrow…more wineries…and supposedly a dinner at 1884 but there was a fire next door and they were closed today so we’ll see.
So our first 24 hours was almost a complete blur of travel, travel and more travel…combined with extreme exhaustion, so it’s hard to even remember everything. We took off from Chicago on Wed evening at 6 pm – lucky for us we left on the day between two days of terrible snowstorms, so we had no delays. We flew into Miami, where we had a very short layover before getting on our next plane to BA. But of course the lovely American airlines (who had already screwed up our plans by cancelling the nonstop flight to BA from Chicago we had originally been booked on) decided they had to have some more fun at our expense. They loaded us on the plane, despite knowing they had overbooked the plane by 13 people and they didn’t yet have that many volunteers!! We sat on the plane for an hour while they begged for volunteers (going up to offering an $800 voucher on AA, I might’ve grabbed it for $1000), and asking for people without luggage (on an international flight, good luck). Eventually they found someone, but the person had luggage. So they spent another hour and a half taking all our luggage out to find that person’s luggage because your luggage can’t travel without you. All while we’re on the plane for some unknown reason. Unbelievable. Anyway we finally get going, it’s a 9 hour flight, I “sleep” sort of for 3-4 hours – jealously watching the woman next to me sleep without moving for almost the entire flight. I’m just not built that way.
We land in BA around noon on Thursday, and we have about 5 hours till our next flight out of AEP to Mendoza (normally I would have planned to just stay in BA when we got there, but the place we wanted to say in Mendoza could only accommodate us the first days of our trip). I really didn’t want to spend 5 more hours in an airport, so we took a car (tienda leon) to AEP, checked our luggage, and had that driver take us into Recoleta - thanks to the advice of lovely people on tripadvisor and fodors forum, we went to La biela, and sat outside for a lovely lunch. The food is ok, but the atmosphere is great, and the dulce de leche ice cream unbelievable. So much better than the airport. Then we hailed a cab to go back to AEP. One note about EZE that I forgot to mention – we had been warned by so many people not to talk to the people right when you get out trying to cajole you into getting rides from them – we were so nervous we ignored our own driver! Kind of amusing. Also, the national bank of argentina at the airport will change your money with the right exchange rate and without taking any fee off the top.
So anyways, we went back to AEP, and almost had a heart attack seeing the long security line but it moves fast unlike in America – you don’t take out toiletries, laptops, shoes off, etc – none of that, like the good old days! Our gate was changed and we ended up taking a bus to our old Aerolinas Argentinas plane, but I can’t complain since we were only a little bit delayed and I was worried after reading bad things about them, but so far so good. The day of travelling really went smoothly, including always having our luggage arrive, while other fellow travelers seemed not to be so lucky. A driver from Cavas Wine lodge met us at the Mendoza airport and drove us about 45 minutes to the most beautiful hotel!!! (more on that on tripadvisor hotel reviews). But really it’s a wonderful place. We were almost too tired to enjoy our dinner and then we went right to sleep, finally!
The next morning, Friday, we had trouble getting up but we dragged ourselves out of bed to leave at 10:30 with our driver from Cavas for our first winery stop – Archaval Ferrer. A great small winery where we had a tour and we tasted malbecs and a blend, including some straight out of the barrel which was interesting since they really don’t taste quite finished yet! Then it was onto Ruca Malen for a five course lunch paired with their wines. I HIGHLY Recommend this amazing experience, it really helps to taste wine with food, but beyond that, the food was beyond belief. We started with a cheese spread on toast with olive oil gelee and green apple paired with a great chardonnay, then beef rolls with plum sauce…I’m forgetting all the wines, I’m the type who remembers food more than wine…a quinoa salad..and then our first Argentinian steak – a great filet with potatoes and corn salsa. My husband learned that he needs to ask for thigns rarer, but I was happy with mine medium – so far the steak lived up to its reputation. And we finished the meal off with a wonderful dulche de leche cream cheese mousse. We were too tired to go to our next appointment so we just went back to Cavas where we napped and my husband had a massage that he said was great.
That evening Cavas had a wine tasting in their cellar – the best wine tasting, actually more like a class, that we’ve ever been to. Juan had all these little bottles of essences that he gave us to smell to help us separate aromas in the wine – sounds silly and snobby when I say it like that but was really a lot of fun. Dinner at Cavas was wonderful, you sit outside, have lamb ravioli and pesto pasta that’s nothing like it is in the states – much more simple and flavorful and not greasy – and you just sit there for hours eating, drinking, talking to other guests. Juan came over and made my husband happy with scotch and a cigar and I went off to write this post.
The one thing I can say after only 2 days here is that Argentinian people are so wonderful and friendly, we had so much fun with a taxi driver who didn’t speak English (and we don’t speak Spanish) and us trying to communicate was hilarious – and our driver, and everyone here. I’m also so grateful from all the advice I’ve gotten on here I’m happy to finally be able to give back some! Sorry this is so long, I knew it would be, which is why I’m posting in installments! (and whenever I can get to the main lodge to use the wireless!) I hope I’m not boring you all to death. I can’t wait for tomorrow…more wineries…and supposedly a dinner at 1884 but there was a fire next door and they were closed today so we’ll see.
Dec 21st, 2008 | 04:06 AM
#4
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 523
Likes: 0
Thanks so much for the post!! We are leaving Christmas afternoon out of Boston to BA and then directly to Mendoza and the Cavas Wine Lodge (same problem, they could only accomodate us for the first 4 days of our trip).
My husband will be excited about the scotch and cigar! For some reason he only induldges on vacation or special occasions. Guess that keeps it special! (and probably a good thing so that my house doesn't smell like smoke).
Anyway, so far your itinerary is exactly the same as ours. Would love to hear more. Thanks for posting while you are still traveling.
One question. How much cash did you bring? I usually use ATMs while away but from what I have read here it seems like the limits are pretty low. I was thinking if I brought $1,000 that might be enough but I am not crazy about having that much cash on me...
-Linda
My husband will be excited about the scotch and cigar! For some reason he only induldges on vacation or special occasions. Guess that keeps it special! (and probably a good thing so that my house doesn't smell like smoke).
Anyway, so far your itinerary is exactly the same as ours. Would love to hear more. Thanks for posting while you are still traveling.
One question. How much cash did you bring? I usually use ATMs while away but from what I have read here it seems like the limits are pretty low. I was thinking if I brought $1,000 that might be enough but I am not crazy about having that much cash on me...
-Linda
Dec 22nd, 2008 | 08:56 AM
#5
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 1,267
Likes: 0
Sounds like you're off to a great start, we loved the Mendoza area, we stayed at the Finca Andelasia (sp), not as high end as Cavas, but really lovely. Loved our wine lunch too, brought back many pleasant memories.
Linda, fyi, we usually bring around $500 in US $ for a 2 week trip, all in $1s and $5s, so if we have trouble getting small pesos, we at least have some small US money with us. Between supplementing w/Pesos and this, we're usually fine (we've pre-paid our hotels and most meals are paid with cc).
Linda, fyi, we usually bring around $500 in US $ for a 2 week trip, all in $1s and $5s, so if we have trouble getting small pesos, we at least have some small US money with us. Between supplementing w/Pesos and this, we're usually fine (we've pre-paid our hotels and most meals are paid with cc).
Dec 22nd, 2008 | 09:32 AM
#6
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Joined: Jul 2007
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hi Linda - Sorry it took me so long to get back to you - now I"m in Bariloche with internet in the room, so it's much easier. We brought about $600, and we changed some of it at the national bank in the airport in BA - they give you the exact exchange rate and don't charge a fee which is great. We made sure to bring some US small bills, because the bank won't give you a lot of small bills. Have so much fun on your trip!
-sharon
-sharon
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Dec 22nd, 2008 | 04:48 PM
#8
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Joined: Jul 2007
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We actually ended up not doing the cooking class, because friends of ours were going whitewater rafting and we wanted to try it - it was REALLY fun, so I recommend that if you want to do something adventurous! Cavas is amazing, you will have a great time - do have some dinners outside of cavas, while cavas food is good, there are better restaurants around! And the rooms are wonderful (my only small complaint is a loud AC but I'm like the princess and the pea). Enjoy!
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