Monday the 24th was out first full day in Mendoza and what a day it was! We awoke around 7:30am after a good sleep to get started on our wine and bike riding portion of the trip and met our guides with their van just before 9am. Our first stop was a winery just outside Mendoza city called Achaval Ferrer where we enjoyed the tour and enjoyed the tasting even more! We enjoyed the wine so much that we purchased three bottles to take back home with us! After that is was an hour drive towards the Andes where we visited another small winery called Azul where we bought two more bottles although one (a lovely Sauvignon Blanc) is earmarked for drinking before we return to Canada. We then stopped at Posada Salentein where we will be staying the next two nights to drop off our bags before lunch. What an amazing setting! Manicured gardens with the Andes in the background! Then it was off to lunch at an amazing place called Tupungato Divino. We had our best meal to date at this fine establishment which also boasted an amazing view of the local vineyards with the Andes in the background. Lisa had the steak while Christos had the salmon. At the end of lunch we noticed it suddenly getting hotter ... And then came the wind! This wind is called the Zonda and it blows hot and fierce. We had to cancel our afternoon bike ride due to the Zonda and its concomitant dust and danger. Truth be told, after the wine tasting and huge lunch we were already considering reducing our riding endeavours for the day, the Zonda finalized our decision. So we headed back to Posada Salentein in the van and as we turned on to the road that leads to the Posada we discovered that the beautiful tree lined path had suffered three casualties from the Zonda!
Our guide, his helper and Christos had to clear three trees from the path that had been knocked over by the wind! We finally got to the Posada and wisely decided on an afternoon siesta ....
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