Aneya & Lauren: Vineyards and White River Rafting.

Aneya: The first- and fanciest, winery.
Aneya: Check out those huge containers!
Aneya: The cave, filled to the brim with French and American made oak barrels.
Aneya: Fancy shmancy reception area.
Aneya: Lauren, enjoying her first glass of red (it was 10 am!)
Aneya: The second, smaller bodega. Check out this guy, in the barrel, stomping away!
Aneya: The second, much smaller winery.




Aneya: The third and final bodega. We watched as a truck pulled up with grapes, then dumped them into this pit.

Aneya: Our final three glasses of wine before lunch. We both look a bit tipsy in this shot, Lauren looks like she's about to fall down!
Aneya: White river rafting! A professional photographer took all these shots, which was nice cause my camera would have been soaked by the end of this! Look at that team spirit!
Aneya: Lauren was put in front cause the guy behind her was lacking coordination with the other girl in front. As you can see, the rapids were intense! Level 3, we're told....

Lauren: So Aneya and I went without a reservation at a single place. We just had our bus tickets, hostel reservation, and the idea that there had to be something fun to do there. Everyone had said that we must go to Mendoza, and it was off season since fall has just started.

Aneya: We had done some research before we left, and had roughly planned out things we'd like to do, but we didn't go in with any set plans. This may seem crazy to some people, but to us, it was just another adventure!

Lauren: Everything went off without a hitch. Each day we would tell our hostel what we wanted to do, and they would put in a phone call and a shuttle would arrive (promptly!) at our door to rush us off to our activity that day. Our first full day in Mendoza we went on a wine country tour. Apparently, 80 percent of all Malbecs in the world come from Mendoza, so there were plenty of places giving tours. We found one that took us to three different vineyards, and provided lunch.

Aneya: I was sure the tour would be completely booked, but sure enough the guy made a phone call and boom- we were in! The tour sounded amazing- three different wineries, lunch and transportation included. The only catch- we had to be up at 8:30 to catch the bus. People who know me know I'm not a morning person. But I've realized that for some amazing wine, I'll do just about anything.

Lauren: The three vineyards were so different. There was the big corporate, very technical one, with what looked like a war room, free of all external influences for pure tasting, the mom-and-pop organic bodega, and the smallish exporter. Each place provided us with either two or three glasses of amazing wine, and a tutorial on tasting wine.

The came lunch. I was thinking this would be some rinky dink lunch box, a sandwich and juice box, but this was a five-course meal. Sauteed vegetables, wine-infused rice and sauteed onions, squash, empanadas, the works. And they kept filling our glasses with red wine, as if we hadn't already had our fill. And of course, the final course was a giant sundae topped with dulce de leche.

After so many glasses of wine, I got in a heated discussion about butter with our new Argentinan friends. In Argentina butter is called manteca, which to me means lard. I've always heard it called mantiquilla, but whatever people want to call it. There was some debate about the differences between Chile's clearly inferior "mantiquilla" and Argentina's more flavorful butter, but by the end I think we decided to agree to disagree.

Aneya: The wineries were amazing, and yes, completely different. The first one looked like a hotel! The group, Navarro Correas, apparently produce everything from Bailey's to every Malbec in the country, and they clearly had money to spend. There was even an art gallery nestled into the enormous property! It was a very technical, serious experience. We were taught exactly how to taste wine (You must look first! No tasting, ladies!) We had to tilt our glasses against a piece of paper to see the precise color of the wine. The guy giving the tour looked like a Ralph Lauren model, and his ESL English was adorable. Let's just say all the ladies were suddenly very interested in the oak barrel process.

The second winery couldn't have been any different. A small, organic bodega, which produced everything from wine to olive oil to jams, even handcrafted bowls. This place was so rural we walked in on a man standing in a barrel, stomping on grapes! Just like in I Love Lucy! I couldn't believe it! The place was adorable and a lot more homey, with peach trees and a little cafe nestled into a vineyard. Just lovely.

The third winery was a mixture of the two, a bigger company but nowhere near the size of Navarro. The guide was funny and witty, and she seemed just as excited as were to get to the tasting bit of the tour, popping open bottle after bottle for us.

Oh and then came lunch. Again, I wasn't expecting much either, but my god that was an incredible meal! We had a private room for the 10 of us, and when we got there the table was already full of delicious food! Cheeses and breads and salamis, sauteed veggies and sauces galore! And that was just the first course! Empanadas, rice, spaghetti bolognese, and a sundae? We were beyond full by the end of the day.

Lauren: The next day was white water rafting. We were taken to a spot about an hour away from town in the "PreAndes" for our excursion. It was drizzling, and the water was absolutely freezing. At some point it was decided I should be put at the front of the raft, and I was just getting pummeled by waves. It was incredible. Our tour guide kept shouting for me to stop paddling dammit! But all I heard was "Lawden!" and paddled us straight toward the next rapids.

Aneya: White water rafting. Not exactly something I do regularly, but I'd done it once (in Nepal of all places!) and I was excited to try it again. Well. Just getting to the river was an experience, our van filled to the brim with Anglos, chatting away excitedly. I was very impressed with the whole thing, especially all the equipment they give you. A wet suit, water shoes, a fleece jacket, a water proof jacket, a life vest and a helmet! I was practically sweating under all those layers.

We were split up into groups and the guides went through the safety procedures. That's when I started worrying. The guide talked about what would happen if we fell in, how we could hit our heads on a rock and die, how to swim through rapids, what to do if you were drowning, the 40 foot rope they'd pull out if needed. Lauren and I looked at each other in shock. This was hardcore! There was a guy in a kayak swimming near us at all times, in case anyone fell in. No one did, thank god!

Lauren: We were completely drenched and exhausted by the end of white river rafting, but it was so beautiful. We were in the Andes mountain range, in blue waters in the middle of fall. Really gorgeous.

Aneya: My arms and back were killing me by the end of it, but it was so worth it! And of course, a large, scrumptious lunch was provided, and I don't think I've ever been so hungry before in my life! White river rafting will do that to you!

-- Aneya & Lauren