By Reed Whiting
My last couple days in Mendoza have been full of action. Exactly how I like things. I just cant stand getting caught in the lazy days of vacation where you do absolutely nothing. That is except Ruttgers. That is an exception. So on Monday I had arranged to a trip to Argentina Rafting to go down the Rio Mendoza. I have been white water rafting in Honduras once before and had a great time. I assumed this trip would be similar, but I was dead wrong. (You are able to sign up to go whitewater rafting at any hostel/hotel or travel agency in Mendoza. They have trips daily)
Upon arrival to the site I soon saw that this river was chocolate brown. I also found out that the water is freezing cold as it is runoff from the Andes mountains. I was kind of excited about these facts as it added a little twist to the trip. We proceeded to get our gear and head up stream about 20 min. to the launch spot. I ended up being in a boat with a bunch of retirees and along with there guide had to carry the burden of the rowing from the front of the boat. I had no problem with this because this way I get to hit all of the rapids head on. There were no drops on this river, but some pretty intense rapids that almost put me right out of the boat. After we made it through all the tough areas I jumped in the water to get a the blood flowing a little and it worked to perfection. Overall it was a great experience. I would of liked to flip the boat or have something else happen, but not on this one.
Later in the afternoon I had a nice lunch on site and preceded to do the canopy tour. I think we did
around 6 lines which took about 2 hrs. It wasn't near as exciting as the rafting, but it had a special allure to it. Getting up high in the hills allowed is to see some amazing views of the lake below.
I got home from rafting at around 7 ordered some really strange pizza and hit the hay. On Tues we spent the day touring 2 different wineries and having the best lunch ever. The first winery was owned and operated my Carmelo Patti who is a famous boutique winemake down here. To my surprise we got the tour directly from the man himself. He spoke no
English so at first I was enjoying trying to figure out what was going on. That was until another group came with a translator which ruined my Spanish lesson for the day. I really enjoyed seeing the process of making wine and seeing the passion this man has for his business.
After this tour we went to lunch which was amazing to Say the least. Check out the pictures of this spread of food we walked into. I got so full after this meal that I took a power nap in the lawn of the restaurant while we waited for our driver. We checked out a similar winery after this and got to tour the actual vineyard this time. After this last one I was ready to go home and already thinking deeply about my upcoming adventure going south.
I had had enough of the normal vacation at this point and was itching to get onto Patagonia and beyond. Tonight I leave on a bus down to Neoquen to get my rental car and start my 1500 mile journey to the most southernly city in the world. I'm going to spend over 25 days on this voyage as I check out many of the best national parks in the world and fly fish over 15 different rivers and lakes on the way. They say that this drive is rarely done do to the large distances between towns in the far south of Argentina. They also say for those willing.... its the adventure of a lifetime. Sign me up.
At this point I have no true itinerary. I know most of the towns are small and far and few between so access to the Internet will be spotty. The blog will be farther apart at this point, but have much more excitement to them I hope.
Chau
Reed
