Aneya: Exotic Destinations

Would this be considered "exotic" to you?

When Lauren and I went to Mendoza we met more Anglos than Argentineans, at least in our hostel. The city is a tourist haven, what with the proximity to beautiful vineyards and all the cheap outdoor activities they offer (in the Andes, no less!) We met Canadians, Australians, Americans and Brits.

The Brits were quite chatty and we got to know two different couples, both of whom had travelled extensively throughout Asia. Lauren and I were shocked. You two went where? Oh, the usual: Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia. In Vietnam, the man said, I ate something that gave me a red, itchy rash that lasted the entire month we were there! He laughed about it, but Lauren and I were horrified. Never in a million years would I go to Vietnam on vacation. The thought just wouldn't occur to me.

That's when I realized something. "Exotic" means something completely different to different nationalities. For Brits, an exotic vacation would be somewhere in Asia. The other couple we met had gone on a similar route, but after Thailand had gone on to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and then Chile. (That end of the trip sounds great!) They told us that Brits love visiting Asian countries, because everything is so cheap, the landscape is beautiful, and it's always an adventure (to say the least).

To the average American, I'd say an "exotic" destination would be somewhere in Europe. The Greek Isles, the South of France, Tuscany, maybe Amsterdam, for the young ones who've heard the tantalizing rumors about it. Even England itself is exotic, for middle Americans that have never left Ohio. I can't imagine an American saying they'd rather go to Katmandu than London. It's just a different mentality altogether.

And what about South Americans? What's exotic to them? I'm gonna say anything North. The farther, the better. I've met a number of Chileans who have traveled to Canada, which I found odd (What's there to do in Canada?) Hey, at least it's far! Going anywhere in the U.S. is also exotic, as is Nordic countries in Europe.

It's interesting to realize that not everyone travels the same. Those Brits we met? They had taken a year off from work and were traveling the world, trying to hit up as many countries as possible. Although that sounds cool, it also sounds exhausting, expensive and downright stressful. Lauren and I both agreed we'd rather do it in bits and pieces, split it up and really take our time in each country. Hopefully, one day, we will.

-- Aneya

Aneya & Lauren: The Spa.

Lauren: Oh, the spa. Aneya found a natural "thermal" hot spring spa that, again, was in the middle of the preAndes and I was intrigued. Thermal spa in the Andes? "All-natural"? Count me in.

Aneya: Of course I would be the one to suggest a day at the spa. But really, with all the strenuous activity we'd been doing (white water rafting, drinking gallons of wine) a nice, relaxing day at the spa sounded perfect. Plus, it was all natural, I knew Lauren would love that.

Lauren: Like everything in Mendoza, it was incredibly affordable. We got a full day at the spa, which included the choice of rubbing mud all over yourself and letting it cake on, and about ten different naturally heated pools, and a rock-covered, honest-to-goodness cave sauna! A sauna. in. a. cave. It was so hot in there, even the rocks were sweating. And there were little plants growing! It was incredible.

Aneya: Like the rest of our activities a bus came to pick us up from our hostel to take us to the Termas Cacheuta, deep in the pre-Andes. I could tell this was a different group than the people we usually rode with. It was mostly middle aged women, all Argentinean. We appeared to be the only Anglos on the bus. Once we got there, the entire place was filled with old ladies! There were a few couples, a few young women like ourselves, but mostly older folk, who looked like they were having a ball.

I was a little skeptical when we first got there- bounding down a dirt road, in the middle of nowhere. But once I saw the place, I was in awe. Pool after pool filled with natural water (ranging from scorching hot to cool) both inside and out, showers with crazy strong jets spraying you from every direction, even a cave/sauna! That was so cool. The entire place was just so damn beautiful, it didn't seem real.

Lauren: This photographer happened to be at the spa shooting for their next brochure, and asked to shoot us and of course we said yes. Why not?

Aneya: It was so funny! We were lounging in one of the many pools when this guy came up to us, asking if he could take our picture. We're like, sure! He positioned us on some lounge chairs and told us to pretend to be having a good time. Ya, like that was a stretch!

Lauren: We were paid with massages, which was a nice surprise since we offered to do it for free. Lunch at the spa was amazing. Maybe 30 different plates, tons of sauteed veggies, pastas, fresh bread, and a lot of asado. At least 12 different pastries. At the end of the day, we ended up spending eight hours at the thermal spa! And we thought we wouldn't know what to do with ourselves.

Aneya: The owner of the hotel came up to us later and offered free massages for posing for the shoot. I mean, we were happy to do it for free, but what the hell! Free massage? Yes please! The whole day was just amazing, my skin has never felt so soft, my entire body so relaxed. My legs were like jelly by the end of the day. Oh and the lunch! Argentina's all about lunch, apparently, cause every place we've been to has offered amazing, huge meals. This was probably my favorite day in Mendoza. If anyone is thinking of going, I'd highly recommend it!

-- Aneya & Lauren

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

Aneya & Lauren: Going out of town (again).

So we're going away....again. Only this time, we're going on our latest adventure together! (Lauren: Woo!) We decided to go to Mendoza, Argentina for a number of reasons.

First of all, our visas are about to expire (3 whole months in Chile, can you believe it?) and we need to cross the border so we can renew them. Second of all, Mendoza is supposed to be a beautiful and charming city and it's the largest wine producing area in all of Latin America.

So obviously we'll be visiting some amazing vineyards, among other things during our 5-day visit.

See you all when we get back!

-- Aneya & Lauren