Week #25
A LOT of wine, beautiful landscapes around Mendoza and driving to the coast: Mar del Plata.
November 12, 16:45
It’s hangover day. We went out yesterday, which was mostly sitting on a terrace outside, very chill. But we kept looking for a place to go dancing which we didn’t find until it was 4 in the morning. Luckily for me they only stayed open one more hour, cause I’m not used to these ungodly hours anymore. I feel so old. So today it’s a lazy Sunday. Ordering food, eating in bed and watching movies. Yeah baby.
November 13, 23:44
Finally we’re sitting down to order dinner. We’re together with a mom and son from Minnesota we met earlier today during a winery visit. It was the most beautiful vineyard location I have ever seen. Fields of grapes as far as you can see and in the background snowcap mountains. Just stunning. We had a tour and tasting afterwards, both great! We connected with the mom and son and decided to join them to their apartment, with invitation may I add, cause they had two bottles of wine they needed to finish and today was their last day. So super kind of us to come and help 😉. Although I assigned myself the driver so didn’t drink much of it, so proud of myself. Anywaaays we had a lot of fun and asked them to join us for dinner in the city of Mendoza. And they did! So now we’re seated at a restaurant. Finally, So hungry.
November 14, 16:35
We’re visiting a winery before staying at another winery for 2 nights and the people here are SLOW. We sat down for lunch, not knowing they only serve a 4 course meal. Which is fine, but if you also do a tasting 1 hour later and a tour afterwards, you have to hurry up. And they do not. Oh well, if this is our problem for the day, I take it all day every day.
November 15, 13:48
It’s Helenas birthday! The whole day is planned and arranged for us. We had breakfast outside 5 meters away from the vineyard. Then we got picked up by a taxi that drove us to the winery 3km away. Upon arrival we were received by Paolo who gave us a private tour! First to the chapel, which is apparently a big part of the Salentein winery, and super beautiful. Then to the art gallery filled with both sculptures and paintings from Argentinian and Dutch artists. And Paolo knew so much about everything! I always love art galleries but it’s such a different experience to go with someone who knows the background and stories about said art. It was just so cool! And that wasn’t even the best part, cause next he showed us the wine cellar. INSANE. I have never seen a winery this big, so well organised and clean, even with people working there. So impressive. The pictures don’t even capture how big it actually was. And to be walking in between the barrels filled with wine was just crazy. After the tour, Paolo gave us a tasting of 5 wines, including one that’s not even on the market. And now we’re seated in the restaurant waiting for our 6 course lunch, which has to be done in less than 1,5 hours cause afterwards we’ll get picked up to visit some vineyards. It’s not even 14:00 and what a day already!
November 16, 12:36
We’re finally leaving. I say finally cause we are SLOW. I mean the people working the breakfast were slow too and the receptionist as well - since people pay here in cash a lot, it takes some time. And then when we were finally ready to go, we realised we forgot to download maps to navigate us offline. So we had to go back to the restaurant to use the wifi and now we’re back in the car, ready to go! Salentein had been such a cool experience and this whole Mendoza region is amazingly beautiful. I’m already excited for the next time I’ll be here.
November 17, 12:55
We’re off to the coast! The last destination of our road trip, so crazy! We’re still hoping for sun and beach, so we can enjoy the ultimate chill at the end, but the weather report says it’s gonna be cloudy and windy. And right now it’s raining so we’ll see but just in case the weather is going to stay shit, we booked a hotel with spa. So we can definitely get some chill in.
November 18, 19:50
I’ve been thinking a lot about everything that has happened the past 9 months. How much has happened. How fast it all went. Some things exciting, some tiring, some sad. Somehow all life changing in its own way. It’s amazing how I’m out here alone but never really alone. This almost feels like the end of a chapter. Helena is almost going home, in less than a week. I’m making plans to go to the US with Mike. And I have no idea where to go until then. I’m super happy that Karo, my sister, is coming to visit me during New Years and January. We still have to pick a country, which we will do before the end of the month. And I think i’ll go there in December too. I don’t know. This is the first time since the beginning of this trip that I don’t have anything specific planned. Maybe that’s why it feels like this is coming to an end somehow. I’m gonna close this chapter together with my sister, for which I am super grateful. Maybe it’s because I had a massage earlier that all the feelings are coming out stronger, I don’t know. And I’m rambling. But right now I’m sitting on a rock overlooking the beach and ocean, watching the sunset with tears in my eyes.