Mendoza, Argentina with Grotsy and a belated Merry Christmas to all

 

                      

 

                             

Mendoza rightly boasts a reputation as a region that produces world-class wines, in particular the rambunctious and ubiquitous Malbec, a muscular and macho red, the perfect suitor for those butter-soft Argentine steaks.  Our trip had led us here for Christmas with Emma’s dad, Graham.  Upon surprising him from the Santiago airport, we boarded a bus and traversed through the barren Andes mountains, which finally mellowed into luscious green vineyards.

Our plan was a simple one.  Rent bikes, cycle to the best vineyards in the region and drink a gut-full.  15km south of Mendoza is Maipu aka vineyard central.  The area was superbly organised and incredibly cyclist-friendly, with clearly marked bike routes and road signs.  We visited Di Tommaso (quaint, family run and delicious wines), Trapiche (superb visitor area and good all-round wine including an unreal Chardonnay), Tempus Alba (naff), Vina el Cerno (championing a 2002 Tempranillo with an aroma to die for), La Rural (home of Trumpeter & San Felipe with a great museum, but so-so visitor wine) and a wonderful little liquor finca called Historias y Sabores (History and Flavours).

After 8 glasses of wine Graham really came into his own, he managed to negotiate a 30% discount on our bikes, blagged us on a free tour of Trapiche (the most expensive tour) and even scammed a free bus ride home.  The man is a one-off!  Mendoza is rightly regarded as a must-see destination in Argentina and we really couldn’t agree more, the weather is wonderful, wine unilaterally quaffable and the city exhibits all the best aspects of Buenos Aires.  An unforgettable Christmas and we were incredibly lucky to have Graham with us, who is currently embarking on his own 50 day trek of Chile, Argentina and Brazil – where no doubt he will find more opportunities to find a good deal, drink cheap wine and find more scams!  Good luck Graham, we love you lots!

Merry Christmas!

Photo Diary: La Serena, Elqui Valley, Infinity and Beyond!

 

Mamalluca Space Observatory is home to the Meade LX200 ACF, an 8.5cm lens space telescope which afforded splendid views of Jupiter (you could see the cloud rings), moon craters and distant galaxies.  Absolutely marvellous.

Shamefully I cannot recall the model of this particular telescope, but it was not housed in an observatory, and while less powerful than the above Meade, gave us tremendous views of Orion and the whole moon.

 

Pisco, Elqui Valley.

Our fine Pisco bodega, sunning itself in a miserly 36° C

The inimitable Valle Del Elqui - The black dots you see on the mountains are thousands of cacti…

 

… like these beauties, (which coincidently we mixed with mud and cow-turd to make mud walls whilst working on the farms, as when cut and stored in water the cactus morphs and functions as a natural gum)

(See above and below) Emma and I trade sunlight shots

 

 

These were damn fine pisco sours… it is our mission to find out if the Gin Distillery has them on the cocktail menu…

Bougainvilleas climb joyfully over every dusty wall and trellis.

The pisco grape: as we left Pisco on the collectivo, the driver pulled over, yanked off a few choice bunches and doled them out charitably to the passengers.  I just couldn’t imagine the driver of the 26 from Saltash Road, Plymouth to the city centre, doing the same with our wonderful autumnal blackberries (wistful sigh)

When time stands still…

 

   

Posting a tenuous Couchsurfing request to ‘Voluntario Ekachakra,’ a small yoga retreat near the little-known town of Catemu, two days before leaving Pucon, was designed to find a place where we could enjoy a little headspace and learn more about yoga.  What we found instead was perhaps the most profound, beautiful and enlightening experience of our travels. Greeted and hosted by Maharaj, this commune is a temple of Hare Krishna devotees, who accommodate travellers in their splendid cabins and, with an immense and humbling amount of love, create a wonderfully diverse experience of learning and sharing during their stay.

Their ethos is incredibly simple: live free of alcohol, drugs, meat and caffeine; and to stimulate the mind and spirit through the teachings of ‘The Bhagavat-Gita’ an ancient Hindu text that details a converstion between a warrior on a battlefield and Krishna (God).  Maybe at this point I should insert the disclaimer:  we were not welcomed here to be converted; at no point have we been asked to join any worship, or insisted upon to follow teachings – our experience of Hare Krishnas has been moving, humbling and loving.  We feel incredibly lucky to have been given this amount of care and love from complete strangers.

This philosophy has had the most tremendously positive impact upon us both.  Yoga each day has resulted in healthy weight-loss, and an abundance of strength and fitness; the vegetarian diet complements this perfectly, each meal provides roughly 6 different foods, including curries, dhals, pakoras, halva, soups, rices, bhajees, granola, fresh fruits from the abundant peach, apricot, lemon, apple and grapefruit trees and also an array of homemade breads – heavenly, and would turn even the most ardent meat eater into a fully-functional veggie.  Each day we have been met by the occupants to help them with a variety of fun activities including; papier-mache crafts, gardening, baking, knitting, flower-sowing, natural construction, making natural toothpaste (it works, trust us) and even learning mud therapy!  They have a deep, deep love of music, as their faith is centred around musical pray and chants to Lord Krishna: I found myself playing at a fiesta with two other Indian music specialists to the rest of the congregation – an intense and joyful experience, both musically fulfilling and cerebrally stimulating

Perhaps the most apparent aspect of life here is the total lack of stress.  People here move at snail’s pace, never concerned about if or when things get done; they are confident that all things will come to pass and so emit a tranquillity, which, if we could bottle, would make us both very rich indeed.  The irony is that it is all free.  They have chosen a lifestyle and belief-system that bestows upon them inner peace and harmony. They have chosen to leave television, junk food, meat, drugs, alcohol and the material, disposable world far, far behind.  In England, a lot of this is dismissed as new-age hippie dogma, but we have found ourselves asking ‘ who are the mugs?’ Life here has been wonderful.  Our reserves of latent stress from the modern world have been now thoroughly deprogrammed, and an appreciation of simplicity now enlightened.

Gut-wrenchingly and after two fabulous weeks, we leave here on Wednesday for La Serena but we must thank all for this most profound experience, whether it is bathing in the river which runs adjacent to the gardens, with the beautiful boughs of walnut trees poised and hanging their fronds on the banks, or enjoying a delicious aromatica, under the welcome shade of the peach trees, we shall never forget and promise to stay friends with Eka Chakra forevermore.  Love, peace and Harebol.