A Short Trip to Mendoza, Argentina

With Chile´s relatively lax Visa system, the Mendoza Visa run has become an oft-traveled path for foreigners who need to renew their right to stay for another 90 days. A quick trip across the border and back again is all it takes, and why not stay for a few more days to get the most out of what Mendoza has to offer?

My friend and I were late getting our bus tickets, but we were still able to find a wide variety of companies leaving from Santiago at reasonable prices. The night before, buying on Sunday night to leave Monday morning, we settled on Tas Choapa, a bus company that I`d never used before but had the lowest rate of 20,000 Chilean pesos (about 38 dollars) for a round-trip ticket. With round-trip, or "ida y vuelta" in Spanish, we were still able to leave the return date blank and redeem them whenever we wanted, space allowing.

The trip from Santiago to Mendoza was fantastic. The pass that it runs through has a tendency to frost over during the winter, which prevents most bus companies from offering night buses, but the view on the way is well worth your time. The Andes, in all of their black and white glory, are fantastic for professional photographers or point-and-shoot newbies alike.

Getting across customs into Argentina is easy and quick enough, and we got into Mendoza before the sun went down. We were immediately approached by a nice woman offering a hostel, and we accepted, following her to meet her ex-husband and business partner, a friendly man named Ariel, proficient in both English and Spanish.

Hostel Ruca-Potu ended up being exactly what we were looking for: a cheap getaway with a friendly attitude, good resources for clueless tourists, and a good location. They had a dormitory for 35 Argentine pesos per night per person ($9), but we opted for the private room, with private bath and shower, for 85 pesos per night ($22.25).

Avenida Gobernador Ricardo Videla, where the hostel is located, is a quick walk or a cheap cab ride away from plenty of restaurants and shopping centers, or bus stops to take you to other parts of Mendoza. In addition to a ping pong table, free computer and WiFi, a television and a pool, Ariel also offers free wine to all guests.

Free Wine. We were suspicious, naturally, but this turned out to be as good as it sounds. Mendoza is known for its excellent wine and Ariel, bringing in organic Malbec wine from his own small Bodega, followed through on his promise of all-you-can-drink.

If that much wine doesn`t overwhelm you, Mendoza is also known for its biking wine tours, which we headed out for the next day. We caught a bus from a nearby bus stop toward Maipu, the part of Mendoza with the tours, but immediately discovered that you need either a handful of coins (1.80 pesos) per person to enter the bus, which we immediately scrounge for from the passengers, who helped us more than they needed to. There is also a card that you can use to ride that can be recharged at any of the Kioscos on every street, but change will do the trick just as well.

We ended up getting to the area pretty late, and after walking around Avenida Urquiza for a while, we were approached by a motorcycle policeman who offered to help. We confirmed that we were lost, and he called for a truck, which gave us a ride to two bike rental agencies, looking for a place with bikes left over. The police officer explained that they were the "Tourist Police," and that they function simply to help tourists survive the bike tour and not get killed by the potentially dangerous combination of wine, bicycling and a busy road.

We ended up at Maipu Bikes, where we each rented a bike for 20 pesos ($5.25) and were handed a map of places to visit. There are a number of Bodegas along Urquiza, which is also a thoroughfare for large trucks. We rode down and visited several, paying between 20-30 pesos at each for tasting, and finished at a chocolateria, back near the bike shop. All told we had each had several glasses of wine and, at the chocolate factory, shots of homemade absinthe, and each left carrying several bottles of wine, olives, chocolate and other goodies.

We saw our old friends, the police officers, outside, and they rode with us for the two blocks back to Maipu Bikes. They were with us in a very friendly, protective way, a far cry from what the words "police escort" might bring about in other parts of the world. We returned our bikes and the owner brought us out some cookies and gave us, sure enough, another glass of wine. We relaxed for a bit, reveling in the perfect weather, and eventually caught a bus back.

The next day I took advantage of one of the hostel`s deals, and signed up to go paragliding (parapente, in Spanish) for 270 pesos ($70). The man picked me up and drove me off, heading up a nearby mountain in a battered, old jeep. The man, who introduced himself as "Raul," had done paragliding ("flying," he called it) over 2,000 times, and said that he preferred it to skydiving.

We arrived at the top of the mountain, where there were already about a dozen Argentines getting their equipment ready, laying out their massive parachutes on the ground and checking and rechecking their straps. Raul helped me into my gear and laid out his parachute, strapping me to his rigging. When the wind picked up he threw the parachute into the air and, as the strong force pulled me off my feet, we slid along the cliff and into the air. It was not the most graceful takeoff, but we stayed in the air for about 20 minutes, Raul playing the wind perfect to get us higher and higher, the spectacular view of Mendoza and the Andes in front of us.

We finally landed and headed back, and both my friend (who had just been skydiving) and I took advantage of the free wine for the third straight night. We woke up early the next day and headed to the bus station, where we found the danger of "ida y vuelta." First of all, the Tas Choapa attendant told us that there was space on the bus, but due to an "error" in their computer system, we`d have to pay more for the tickets. It was only a few dollars, but it was certainly annoying, especially because it basically defeated the whole point. The bus on the way back was also extremely hot and uncomfortable, nothing like the luxurious bus on the way to Argentina, but we all survived unscathed in Santiago later that evening.

Santiago is a wonderful place, but I would recommend to anybody to get out of the city as much as possible, and Mendoza is a great place to go for a weekend, a week, or more!