Entering Malbecistan

It was getting late in the afternoon by the time we pulled out of Cacheuta. I (Sam) had a late Zoom scheduled, but I was also quite eager to transition to the *ahem* more refined segment of our Argentinian adventure (or so I thought), so we picked a random winery off our list and headed in that direction.

When we got there we learned that winery visits, like hot springs on Tourbus Tuesday, are by reservation only. We successfully talked our way to the other side of the gate for a visit to the wineshop though. We pulled up in the Renacer (“Rebirth”) winery parking lot just in time for my meeting, and found a nice spot right next to another camper van.

The meeting was thankfully quick, and we were off to check out the soon-to-be-closing visitors center.

Leaving the camper though, we saw that the camper van next to us now had a guy underneath it. We stopped and chatted with its owners for a few minutes. They were an Australian-and-Czech couple on a similar tour of South America in a van they also purchased in Chile. (@Nia: I asked the woman where in Czechia she was from and she said, “oh a small town in the countryside that no one’s ever heard of” and I responded, oh Cesky Krumlov? and her jaw dropped.)

Apparently, their rear differential started leaking diff fluid and he was trying to figure out a way to minimize the damage. We asked if there was anything we could do to help and started offering some ideas, but soon someone from the vineyard came over and helped the guy get in touch with a mechanic, and they were off.

By the time we made it to the visitor’s center—really a sales office with a bunch of wine crates—they were closing up shop. The guy working there was really interested in our story and where we were from, and pulled out a bottle for us to taste. Of course, it was a Malbec, the Mendoza region’s signature red wine. The Renocer was a great first bottle to taste, and we purchased one for the road.

Next task was to figure out where we’d spend the night. It’d be dark soon so we really wanted to head to a specific destination so we wouldn’t be looking at possible spots in the dark. I’d remembered reading about a wine tour agency in the Lujon de Cuyo area that had an open invitation for travelers to park in front of their office and use of their facilities. We headed in that direction.

The town it was in, Chacras de Coria, was very small, but seemed to cater to wine region visitors with upscale shops and restaurants. The area seemed like it would be very safe, and we were assured of this by the guy closing up shop at the wine tour place as we arrived. We settled in a bit and then set out for dinner.

Argentinians eat dinner LATE, so finding a place open at a decent hour can be difficult. We found a place in walking distance that looked like it’d be nice, and set out in that direction.

Along the way we came across a swanky bakery and we went inside to check out the treats. We selected a bunch of different breads, cookies and pastries, all of which were priced by weight. When the guy added everything up, the total was 990 Argentine Pesos, or about $2.50. We left the place quickly like we just stole all that stuff. This was our first real purchase of goods Argentina—up until then we’d only paid for meals and snacks at tourist-district restaurants and shops.

In spite of the fact that Argentina is experiencing crazy high inflation of late, over 100% year over year in April 2023, the exchange rate still means that the dollar goes pretty far. In the past, tourists needed to do seedy back alley cash exchanges to get a good exchange rate, the so called Blue Dollar Rate, but since the beginning of this year, Argentina has implemented a favorable rate for tourists using credit and debit cards in the country. This rate, the MEP rate, is about 400:1, vs around 470:1 for the blue rate, and around 200:1 for the local interbank rate. It’s not quite as good as the Blue Rate, but it’s close enough that the simplicity and convenience of credit card use means it’s our go-to.

Anyhoo, we got to the restaurant around 6:30 and were informed that we wouldn’t be able to order dinner until 7, but there were some items we could get started with, if we wanted to eat now. We said sure and were directed to the breakfast menu! Well, it said breakfast on top, but also included some snack items. We ended up pulling together a great meal featuring Osso Buco empanadas for me, an avocado toast with kale for Khalilah, and some Batatas Bravas to share. With a glass of Malbec for me and some homemade Mint Lemonade for Khalilah, the total came to just under 6,000 pesos or about 15 dollars.

We walked back to the van under the light of the full moon, just as the town was starting to liven-up for dinner.Meer informatie