Category: Mendoza

The Ultimate Mendoza Travel Map

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I had too much fun creating my Ultimate Dublin Travel Map, and so now I present to you, the Interwebs, my dear readers, my Ultimate Mendoza Travel Map. This applies to Mendoza, Argentina, for the record.

This is only my map of the City of Mendoza, and doesn’t cover my favorite spots in the surrounding countryside (hello, bodegas (wineries) and vineyards!) – that stuff will be coming sooner than later. There are three main wine areas surrounding Mendoza: Lujan de Cuyo, Maipu and the Uco Valley (Valle de Uco). Each are an easy day trip from the city, if you plan to make the city your base. You can hire a driver for the day and hit up to 4 wineries each day if you really hustle.

How to use this Mendoza travel map:

View the map bigger by clicking the bracket window-looking icon in the upper-right corner, next to your photo/avatar. Save the link to your phone if you’re traveling – I think it might be handy (but that’s just me!). Use the layers to toggle between stuff that you’re looking for – I’ve grouped them in Sightseeing, Restaurants and Bars, Hotels, Shopping and Entertainment and Services & Tourism info, or Continue reading →

Those pesky acequias.

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I believe I have blogged before about the water irrigation ditches found on the side of nearly every Mendocino street (other than Arístedes and Colón, I’ve noticed – but there are ton more, I’m sure.). They are about 3-4 feet deep , or so. They carry running water around the city to water the plants that they planted here way back when, because we’re smack in the middle of a desert.

They built the acequias to injure people.

Not really. But, I know a lot of people who have fallen in one, drunk or sober. I’m now a lucky member of this not-so-exclusive club.

Mendoza

I don’t know how it happened, but I ate sh*t yesterday on my way home from my massage. Maybe it was the fact that I was so relaxed after a stressful day. Maybe it was the spiderweb I was mesmerized by, so much so that I took an ill-placed step and ended up waist-deep in my concrete ditch. Luckily for me, there was no water in this one on this day.  However, concrete ledges, when one scrapes one’s both legs on them, hurt like a b*tch.

Adding insult to injury, no Mendocino passerby offered to help me or ask if I was okay. I dusted off my now-dust-covered jeans and wiped my bloody, scraped palms together. Embarrassed, and used to falling in such a manner, I grinned. But I died a little bit inside.

I called my mother soon thereafter to recount the story, and her reaction? “That nevah woulda happened in New YAWK. People think we’re all rude, but I’ll tell ya – New Yawkas woulda stopped and helped ya.”

Maybe.

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Restaurant Review – Molokai (Mendoza, Argentina)

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I went to Molokai with a friend about a month ago, and I wanted to rave a little bit about it because it was such a nice surprise here in Mendoza. And I have a blog, so rave I will. I’ve been eating at some great places lately, so there are going to be a few posts like this in quick succession. Be prepared.

The food at Molokai is really, really good – and not traditional Argentine either. It’s molecular gastronomy without getting a little too weird about it, if that makes sense. Everything has a foam on top of it, but it’s not overdone or too bold.

The place itself is cool; trendy but not uncomfortable, and a unique setting compared to the same old yellow-tablecloth cafeteria-lighting restaurants they have here in spades.

I think it’s a pretty great deal for the money because the portions are huge and for dinner for 2, it was about $350 pesos including 2 appetizers, 2 entrees and a bottle of wine.

We tried the salmon foccaccia and the pear and roquefort salads for appetizers. They were both huge and really tasty. My friend and I both commented that we’d be happy with just those dishes as our whole meal, if not at least for a lunch.
For entrees, I got the Hungarian goulash, which was pretty awesome considering the spaetzle was perfect and the beef was Argentine beef. My friend had the bife de chorizo with croquettes.

Basically, the food was awesome and the place is really cool, so I’m excited to go back again soon. It’s located at Belgrano 1169, between Espejo and Sarmiento (I think???) in the city center.

Open Monday to Saturday from 8pm to 1:30am.

Update: I think Molokai is now closed. Please leave a comment if I am wrong!

Copa America Semifinals

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Oh My God – I never would have believed you if you told me a soccer game in one of the most important tournaments would be boring as sh*t. But, alas, it happened.

I paid $250 pesos for a ticket to go see the Copa America semi-final game here in Mendoza at the stadium in the Parque General San Martin. If all went the way it should have gone, it was going to be between Brazil & Chile. Awesome. I’d love to see Brazil play. But, somehow everyone in the whole tournament choked except Uruguay, so Brazil & Chile were knocked out and sent home before the semifinal round. I’m not even gonna go into Argentina’s heartbreaking loss against Uruguay.

What did this mean?
That I got to go see Paraguay and Venezuela play each other. Wow..the excitement was palpable even to Helen Keller.

Look at all those fans!

It. Was. BORING.

The highlights of the game were the ref getting pegged by the ball (hilarious, actually), the Chileans who were still in Mendoza singing Chile chants and the Argentines singing back anti-Chilean chants, and the stray dog that just came up the stairs and into the stands, like it was just normal for a stray dog to be at a soccer game here, crawling underneath the seats and scrounging around for food.

I still can’t wait for the World Cup in Brazil, though. Even if it’s crappy teams, I’m sure at least the crowd will be good and the atmosphere will be great.

Jumbo – A supermarket in a mall.

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I was treated to one of the weirdest experiences here yesterday, when I went shopping at Jumbo with a friend to get some home stuff/imported foods.

Jumbo’s in a mall. So when you check out, and you’re wanting to go get a remise or cab or whatever, you have to take your shopping cart full of food and parade it through the mall, past the clothing stores and kiosks.

It was really just strange.


A few comments on my Jumbo experience:

It is the worst of Argentina all in one place. The hair, the rudeness, the people with no clue running into you with their shopping cart, overpriced electronics, and it took forever to do anything.

We waited in line after we got all our stuff picked out for FORTY FIVE MINUTES.

All this, while the a**holes in front of us had TWO carts and the miserable-looking wife kept running off and coming back with more sh*t to put in their carts. Diapers, milk, and oh yeah, 18 bottles of 2-liter Cokes, 4 bottles of Fernet, a case of Talca orange soda, about 10 lbs of meat, and random other crap. Did I mention she went back and forth for milk 3 times? No, I didn’t. But I just did.

It got so bad, we decided to pick up a storybook and entertain ourselves reading about Blancanieves and the 7 dwarves.

Note the quantity of soda. not pictured: even more soda, diapers, milk, and angry-looking wife

I did manage to score some pretty sweet American foods. Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup, broccoli & cheese soup, for example. They also had Pepperidge Farms super chunk cookies, but they weren’t scanning correctly, and I was so ready to leave the store I told the checkout girl to ignore them and put them away – I was not about to wait for some lackadaisical manager to mosey over and find a barcode.

Also purchased: flour tortillas (no corn there, grrr), imported Italian pasta, aaand, that’s it.  They bother to import ramen noodles, but they can’t bring in a thing of jalapeños? Tragic.

You’re next, Walmart.

Te Amo, Mendoza

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It’s about time where I quit my bitching and write a post about what I love about Mendoza. Because it’s seriously a great place. Homesickness seems to tweak my reality at times, and I’m not always as appreciative as I should be that I live in a wine-lover’s paradise and I’m surrounded by the great outdoors.

So here goes:

The wine. Period. I could write essay upon essay about how much I love it, and it still wouldn’t do it justice. Some of my favorite bodegas from right here in Mendoza are O’Fournier (see previous blog post), Pulenta Estate, Doña Silvina, Gimenez-Riili, Sangre de los Andes, Vistalba, Enrique Foster, Mil Vientos, Atamisque, Mauricio Lorca, Azul, Qaramy, Renacer, and Las Perdices.

The Andes. Walking around centro, you don’t see them all too often, but they’re right there, looming to the west of the city. It’s an amazing sight, and I don’t think I’ll ever tire of it. When I’m feeling homesick, going to the park or plaza to see the mountains in the distance is one of the best cures.

The piétonal and Plaza Independencia – there are always street performers and artisans selling hand-made goods lining the plaza and the pedestrianized shopping street known as the piétonal.

Just now, the little man on a bicycle who goes around sharpening people’s knives rode by. How do I know that, without even looking out the window? Because he plays this signature tune on his pan flute as he rides. It’s pretty freakin’ cute.

Did I mention that I live in wine country? And any given weekend, I can go winetasting in any one of the three valleys here (Maipú, Lujan de Cuyo, Tunuyán).

Sometimes I hate her because I can hear it in the early morning and I get grumpy, but there’s a sweet little old lady who lives in my building that sweeps in front of the building every single day, getting all the leaves and dirt off the sidewalk. Every morning. Without fail. And she’s a sweetheart. I just wish I could understand more of what she says.

The little mom and pop vegetable stores (verdulerias) and kioscos, where the ladies on my street know me. Also if you don’t have a peso or five, and they don’t have change, they’ll let you pay them the next time you see them. I’m not sure this would ever happen at home.

Did I mention how cheap the wine is? You can buy an amazing bottle of wine for about $25. A great mid-level bottle can run between 30-70 pesos, which is less than you probably have paid for a crappy Chilean wine in the past month.

Oh, Mendoza. I’m glad we’ll get to hang out a little longer.