The grapes are ready

I decided to do my outdoor adventure day first so I could have the second day in Mendoza for wine tasting. You understand my logic, right? It's just about time for the harvest, so you can pluck the grapes right off of the vine and have yourself a sample.

In Mendoza there was also a lot of hype about the Fiesta Nacional de la Vendimia, the national celebration of the yearly grape harvest that occurs every March. Our tour guides explained to us how the festival has evolved quite a bit from 1936 when the the first harvest queens were selected. Each of the 18 different departments of the Mendoza province is represented and now it is more like an all out pageant. Although Mendoza has all of the prime ingredients for wine production, it can have some volatile weather with the possibility to produce golf ball sized hail, so the celebration of a successful harvest is especially important in this region.
Another thing I noted about being on the other side of the Andes was different light, different views,  and just a totally different perspective all together. Unfortunately, on the second day the clouds got in the way a little of my mountain views, but as you can see it's still a beautiful place.

There are also plentiful olive trees in the region and we even had the chance to do a little olive oil tasting here...

Sometimes it's also fun to visit some of the smaller more family run operations so you see more things like this...

Like mother, like daughter. At this particular place there is also a wine named after each child in the family.

One of the best parts of the day, tasting some unfinished sparkling wine right from the tap!

Tours

Part of my adventure here in South America has been traveling solo for the first time. There are obviously advantages and disadvantages to having or not having traveling companions, and in the event that you find yourself on a solo mission, I'm here to tell you that it is possible to find reasonably priced group tours that aren't a total rip-off.
After day one it usually gets a little boring walking around with your head buried in a Lonely Planet book, and I wasn't going to hang out in wine bars for 2 straight days during my time in Mendoza. Always check your book to see if you can easily get to where you want to go on a public bus and that will save you a ton of cash. If not, then take a look at the tours that don't offer bilingual services or include lunch and you can usually find a pretty good deal. I did that twice, once on my trip to the South of Chile and again in Mendoza, and both times I spent the whole day immersed in Spanish without any English speakers and I packed a sandwich if we were going to be short on time, or took advantage of our empanadas lunch that we ordered very cheaply as a group and washed it down with a bunch of nuts, fruit, and other snacks that I brought with me for the ride. They were both quality tours with professional guides sponsored by smaller travel agencies at about half of what I would have paid for a large tour bus and an English speaking group.
While visiting Mendoza, I chose one of the "off the beaten path" destinations and visited the Cañon del Atuel, near San Rafael in the southern province of Mendoza. It's a long day of travel but a beautiful and unique place, and as I mentioned earlier, was my effort to be productive instead of spending two straight days of a Malbec induced haze.

When you're out in the middle of nowhere, these are the things you start to see...goats on the hill and pigs in the back of trucks

Heading into the canyon, I felt a little like I was in Arizona. We had many brief stops along the way where our guide pointed out the various rock formations. I was sitting in the front, so try to ignore the bad glass reflection in some of the pictures.

A chair, or whatever you see...

The Mount Rushmore of the canyon

astronaut

part of the beauty is the different colored rock formations

Rio Atuel

There are large hydroelectric facilities

When you approach the Valle Grande, that's where the real photo opps. begin. There are also opportunities for rafting, kayaking, canopy, etc. and facilities for camping and making it longer than a day trip.

I even got a shot of the full moon on the ride back to Mendoza

Crossing Over

I don't think too many people would disagree with me if I said that one of the reasons people chose to live abroad is to maximize travel opportunities. Before I came to Chile I was REALLY optimistic about all that I would be able to see over the course of just one short year, and now that I'm over the halfway mark I know that I was a little too optimistic. In my recent travels I've met backpackers who've been traveling for almost 5 months and still haven't seen it all. Money is obviously a huge factor and South America is a big place. Of course it makes sense when you put it all into perspective, but before you move to a new country it's natural to think about what you'll be able to do and see, not about how far away Ecuador really is from Chile.
I didn't realize how overwhelming it was until I recently sat down at the computer with the LAN Chile page open, combing the website for last minute deals and trying to maximize my remaining summer vacation until classes begin shortly. (cue the violins, right?)
Indecision led me to take an easy bus trip from Santiago, over the Andes Mountains and into Mendoza, Argentina. Many people make this journey to renew their 90 day tourist visas, and others like me do it to see a new city in another country and of course to drink more wine. Mendoza has a great wine culture as well, so more wineries were definitely on the list of things to do. Armed with a seat at the front of the bus and my anti-nausea pills, I left at about 8:30am and took the day bus to take advantage of all of the pretty scenery. It's definitely not as breathtaking in the summer without the snow on the Andes, but there is some added peace of mind in knowing that you won't get stuck up there. It's not a bad ride at all, 3 hours until the border crossing and then from there only another 3 hours to go.

Not a bad place to stop for customs

Thank you for visiting Chile!

These views make the long bus ride worthwhile

More on my visit to the Canyon de Atuel and wine drinking in the next post!