Drink Local

Today´s posting will feature the co-blog stylings of Ms. Jessica Katz.

On our first day in Salta, Jess and I explored the city. It turned out to be much larger than we had expected, so we ended up sitting in the main plaza and just enjoying the atmosphere. Like most South American cities, Salta has a beautiful central plaza, with churches, cafes, and lots of interesting people to watch. After that, we went to an all-you-can-eat Asado (Argentinian Barbecue) at another hostel. There was great food, live music, and lots of travelers to talk to, so we had a really great time. Following dinner, we thought we would check out Salta´s nightlife. I was expecting a few bars and maybe some patios. What we found was a full-on nightclub district. Lines were around the block and the streets were absolutely packed with people. It turns out that Salta is quite a hotspot, who knew?

On Sunday, we walked to the Teleferico and took a gondola up to see some views of the city. After walking back down, we had lunch and then visited the artisan market. After some down time at the hostel, we went for another group dinner at another hostel and then called it a night.

Monday was our first day of real activity in Salta. We visited a number of small towns nearby and saw the Cerro de Siepte Colores, which is a really amazing, multicoloured mountain. We also visited the Tilcara archeological ruins, which are the remains of an Inca village. Basically, it was day of beautiful views and far too many churches.

The next day, we took a trip out to Cafayate, which is a wine producing region. We visited the Valle de los Conchas and the Gargantua del Diablo, both beautiful rock formations, before doing two winery tours. The landscape there was truly incredible because every mountain and rock is an amazing mixture of red, green, and even bluish layers of sediment.

For our final day in Salta, we didn´t have much time to do anything, so we decided to visit the food market. It was actually a lot of fun and we ate incredible empanadas at a very local, homestyle restaurant in the market. Later that afternoon, we got on the bus to Mendoza.

Jessica here, honoured to be featured as a guest blogger.. and hoping the fans of Cross Cultural Musings will enjoy some fresh perspective!

Taking off where Sarah left off.. the next morning we arrived in Mendoza and made our way to our hostal which we were delighted to find out had a swimming pool complete with lounge chairs, a bbq and lounge area, a bar and a classy dining establishment attached! Before we could check into the hostal we wandered around the city a bit and quickly came to love the feel of it; very much a beach town vibe.. minus the beach (odd.. we agree) with tons of great shops, restaurants and bars. After a nice long stroll, we retired to the pool for the evening.. the heat here makes a dip in the pool muey nessecito!

For our first full day in Mendoza we couldn´t think of a more appropraite outing than a wine tour via bicycles! So we arranged bike rentals and quickly set off to begin exploring the world´s 8th largest wine producing region. We were able to visit 2 wonderful wineries where we tasted some of Mendoza´s famous Malbec varieties amongst other tastey wines. We also managed to squeeze in a tour of an olive oil factory as well as a family estate which produces olive oil, liquors, chocolates, spreads and preserves and some other yummy treats.. they were very generous with the samples and we easily turned it into a free lunch! By the evening we were exhausted from the heat and cycling around on our *charming* bikes, so we headed back to the city where we had a BBQ awaiting at the hostel. The BBQ was typical Argentinian fair with no shortage of red meat, red wine and good company! We spent the evening relaxing and chatting with some new Argentinian friends and even sampling their cocktail concoction involving a full honeydew melon hollowed out and filled with sparkling wine.. delish and hillarious the drink!

The following day we were picked up bright and early from our hostel to see some of the region´s most picturesque areas. The drive was long but breath-taking and we were able to see some beautiful mountain scenery created by glacier activity as we made our way up to see Mount Aconcagua.. America´s highest peak! Along the way we stopped at a beautiful turquoise lake as well as Punta Del Inca; a natural bridge formed by the river gradually eroding part of the mountain. The bridge is a striking yellow colour because of the sulphur in the hot springs. We finally arrived at the Christ monument where we took in incredible views of the snow peaked Mt. Aconcagua... though we didn´t stay too long; because of the altitude we were freezing our buns off (we´re getting too used to South American weather). We returned in the evening for another BBQ with out newfound friends!

This morning we set off for another wine tour.. this time by bus (yes, this was our second winery tour in 3 days.. but as they say: When in Rome!). We visited a family run winery, an olive oil factory and another winery which produced some wonderful organic wines which we were able to taste.

Sadly, our time in Mendoza is coming to an end and we are about to head out for another long bus ride to Bariloche. As much as we loved Mendoza, we´re looking forward to some cooler weather and seeing for ourselves if Bariloche is indeed the country´s finest chocolate producer!

Until next time!

ciao ciao!!

J&S!