16-18 December 2010 - Adventour Travel in Chacras

Having checked one of the major items off our Argentina Bucket List with the bike tour of Maipu (which still makes the boys laugh - yes, it is pronounced as you might think: "We rode our bikes through my pooh"), we have committed to doing some fun things to take advantage of the natural beauty of this area. Well, fun for some of us. The day after Liz' birthday, we took in the most expensive load of laundry ever before renting more bikes. The other major bucket list item was a visit to the Luigi Bosca Winery, which became our goal for the day. The ride to the winery was along some of the very beautiful tree-lined roads that abound in this area. When the trees ran out, though, it became extremely hot! Argentine paving standards, which are about half a notch above Mexican, made us thankful that we had rented mountain bikes, and the numerous holes/crevasses/steps/drops in the sidewalks made for some fun riding.

The boys were very tolerant as their parents indulged their taste for wine. We re-confirmed that we like the product of this major winery. The boys were rewarded for their patience with a relatively early return home and a delicious meal cooked on the parilla. Remy LOVES the  experience of cooking on an authentic parilla- we may have to build one at home.

(We had an interesting conversation with a taxi driver the other day. When we explained to him that we have a  cowboy culture in Calgary too he asked if we ride to work on horseback- like as if we didn't have cars! Funny. - Liz)

The following day, Friday, we got the boys out of bed "early" (the spoiled brats complain of being woken up at all - the average reveille hour for them is about 10:00 o'clock) to catch the bus to Complejo Cachueta, a hot springs-powered water park in the foothills of the Andes. About an hour's travel brought us to a wonderful park which consists of beautiful river rock pools alternating between hot and cold water and a man-made "river" channel. The weather was absolutely beautiful and we all came away with pretty good burns. As a family, we all stood out as bright white beacons in a sea of dark skinned people. We appreciated that the place was run in accordance with the usual Latin-American attitude toward family recreation: you can bring in whatever you wish to eat or drink, and they supply the wood if you wish to have a barbecue on one of the many parillas that are provided. In fact, just outside the gates of the water park we were delighted to find a woman selling proscuitto! She  carved it right off the bone of the beast while we waited! She served it with some homemade bread and we added 2 sopapilla ( flat, homemade doughnuts for .25c each. ) We again elected to return to our casita at a relatively early hour and again enjoyed the fruits of the Argentine beef industry, cooked over hardwood coals and washed down with good Argentine wine.

We shared some of the wine with our host, Cecillia, who abrogated her doctor's orders against the consumption of alcohol in order to see what the fuss was that we were making about the Luigi Bosca. Cecillia, who used to work in the local wine industry as an international representative, agreed that our tastes were for some pretty nice wine, and it did not just seem to be typical Argentine patriotism speaking.

The final day of adventure in the Mendoza region had us re-trace our steps partway from the day before to the Betancourt Rafting Centre, located on the Mendoza river in the foothills. We were driven, then had to hike down to the banks of the river where we were paired up with the other non-Hispanophones with a typical river rat of a rafting guide who spoke better English than the rest (read- better than none). We were given instructions on the commands he would be issuing, which were basic: adelante (forward), atras (back), and alto. Beyond that, he did all the work. With our flip flops strapped to the front of our life jackets and the ever-stylin' whitewater helmets all making us look like the Great Gazoo, we put in to the beautifully clear, not-too-fast-flowing river. The water temperature was very pleasant, not like the mountain rivers back home, and Remy and Bowen both braved a swim through the rapids at one point. As nice as it was, everybody but Remy took quite a chill and so it felt good to get back and change into dry clothing. Hollis and Bowen went for a couple or three rides on the zip line at the rafting centre before we got our lift back into town. The next day is a travel day to Chile with an early wake-up, so the evening was spent packing up and preparing to move out of our  little casita, which has become quite homelike already, even if the plumbing has proven to be unreliable over the course of our stay.

-Remy