Mendoza, Argentina
I had great hopes for Mendoza. Friends we had met had raved about how this was their favorite place in Argentina. For us, maybe not so much.
It started off badly, with me screwing up the hotel reservations. I chose this hotel, the most expensive we have stayed in on this entire journey, based on the reports of the great breakfast included, something much sought after in a country that doesn't seem to understand breakfast. Unfortunately it turns out that if you book your room via Expedia, the breakfast is not included, so we are reduced to walking the streets in search of the standard Argentinian breakfast of coffee and toasted ham and cheese sandwiches.
Mendoza is a very touristy place, offering a huge selection of restaurants. Unfortunately those that we would consider as "dinner" options, do not open for business until around 9PM and consider the wine selections to be more important than the actual food. If you show up before 10PM, you basically will have the restaurant to yourself. Needless to say, this does not work for us older Canadian cruisers. Late lunch at a sidewalk cafe is more our speed.
The main reason people throng to this area of Argentina, and Mendoza in particular, is for the fact that this is the heart of wine country. Almost all tours or other activities revolve around wine - lots of winery and wine-tasting events. All of which is, of course, of no interest to non-wine drinkers like ourselves. Our activities have basically been reduced to sipping coffee or smoothies in the cafes and reading books in the park. Fortunately this town has lots of cafes and parks. In the afternoon, when the heat of day hits, when the locals take their siesta, we also head back to our air conditioned hotel room for our own siesta.
As Susanne sums up the city, and much of Argentian as well, it is too expensive, too hot and too boring, with poor service providing bad food. Tomorrow we will finally be out of this frustrating country, taking the bus over the Andies and back into Chile. With any luck we will be back on the boat within a week.
{GMST}32|53.268|S|68|50.46|W|Mendoza, Argentina|Mendoza, Argentina{GEND}
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