Argentina and Uruguay

March 10, 2017

[Recapping our trip, 288 days in]

On February 9, 2017, we wrapped up our incredible time in Easter Island and headed back to the mainland continent. After an overnight connection in Santiago, we arrived in Mendoza, Argentina on Friday, February 10. Mendoza is a small city in western Argentina, most famous as the center of the Argentine wine industry. Their most famous product is Malbec, and personally, I’ve always considered a wine from Argentina to be a pretty safe bet when I don’t know what I’m doing to pick a wine, and they’re usually pretty affordable too.

We enjoyed our time in Mendoza, and the highlight of our time there was a wine tour we booked into the Valle de Uco region, famous for incredible Malbec wines. They picked us up at our hotel, and we had a great day drinking wine and seeing the beautiful valley.

Bring on the wine! The spit bucket won’t be necessary.

Andes mountains in the distance from this vineyard

We relaxed for a few days in Mendoza, catching our breath after our exhausting time in Easter Island, and enjoying all the food and drink the city had to offer. One interesting thing to note about Argentina: restaurants don’t open for dinner until about 9PM, and if you arrive before 10PM, you’ll be the first ones there! This is a late dining culture!

From Mendoza, we headed east to Uruguay on Wednesday, February 15, to the port town of Colonia del Sacramento. Colonia is a wonderful and adorable little town, with a very historic old town and lots of great restaurants with adorable views of the water (and Buenos Aires across from it). Because it’s only one hour from Buenos Aires by boat, a lot of Argentinos take day trips or weekend trips there to relax and enjoy the ambiance. We didn’t take many pictures while there, but amusingly, we did find the time to mail some souvenirs and things home, and thought it was funny that the post office doesn’t print large denomination stamps, so we just had to cover our box in standard stamps. We headed east by bus to the capital Montevideo on Friday, February 17, and enjoyed the Uruguayan capital for a few days. Notably, Uruguay is one of the most progressive Latin American countries in the realm of gay rights, with its 2008 civil union law the first of its kind in Latin America. Same-sex marriage has been legal since 2013, and one set of street vendors proudly used their rainbow flag at their arepas stand.

The Uruguayan post office apparently doesn’t print large denomination stamps, so this is how you mail a package.

Food truck in Montevideo

Lesbian couple casually using their rainbow flag as a tablecloth for their food cart

On Monday, February 20, we headed back across the bay to spend a little more time in Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires is certainly a very international city, and certain parts of the city felt eerily like being right back at home in New York. We had a good time doing a little sightseeing, but mostly resting up ahead of our flight to Brazil, where we were expecting to be exhausted at all times. Until next time, Argentina!