Mendoza for Budget Travellers

Mendoza is a beautiful city, with all the advantages of large cities, and none of its problems. Being so near Chile, it is literally invaded by Chilean tourists due to the favorable exchange rate, not only for touring but also for shopping. Although Mendoza's prices are not as good as those you will find in Córdoba (Ituzaingó street) or in Buenos Aires, it still offers good options for buying. If you want fashion, you will go to the Palmares Shopping Center in Chacras de Coria or to the one located on Avenida de Acceso Este in Villa Nueva (it used to be called Gigante when I lived in Mendoza, but now has another name). I lived three and a half years in Mendoza and never would have left, but I lost my job and had to relocate in Buenos Aires. Climate is wonderful, if you want to see Cinerama or go to a symphonic concert, you have that option. Surprisingly, it is one of the provinces that lead the theft rate, so common sense is indispensable. Avoid late hours on the street in solitary areas.

HOTELS. A one star hotel will charge you anything between 20 and 25 dollars per night. Mendoza has only one five star hotel, a Park Hyatt. The Aconcagua hotel (4 stars) would be my choice IF you can afford it. www.hotelaconcagua.com. I stayed at a good 2-star hotel (Castelar, Gutierrez 598, Phone (54-261) 423-4245) and paid 20 dollars per night. But that was 2 years ago, and now it could be costing some 25 to 28 dollars for a single room. I would NOT stay at the hotel Mallorca, (1 star), I stayed once there, it was an old room at the end of an open gallery, and it was not up to one-star hotel standards (even in Argentina).

Food is not expensive in Mendoza, a meal can cost anything between 5 and 10 dollars. A full-day tour to the Andes can cost some 25 dollars per person, and if you bargain it with the travel agency, they may include the meal: otherwise you will spend some 8 to 10 dollars more. Recommended tours: Mendoza Alta Montaña (full day, up to Las Cuevas and Aconcagua Park); Cañón del Atuel (beautiful, but it lasts some 14 hours) cost some 15 dollars; city tour, some 10 dollars. "Ruta del Vino" (wineries and vineyards).

Quick Tips:

There is a very nice mountain hotel in Uspallata, some 60 miles away from Mendoza towards the Aconcagua. Uspallata is a very nice quiet village with some 3,000 inhabitants, with a pastoral scene and buses about every couple of hours to Mendoza. The Gran Hotel Uspallata is a good option if you want to relax. It has a large park and view towards the mountains. It is a 3-star hotel and has affordable rates. This is their website: www.atahoteleria.com.ar/uspallata. You will have to ask rates using their query form, but I remember that they were not outrageous, but quite cheaper than in Mendoza city. If you want to go to Las Leñas, I suggest you go on a tour and come back the same day. Hotels in Las Leñas are very expensive (as much as 280 dollars for a double room in July). But Las Leñas is fascinating. See my separate report on this ski paradise.

Best Way To Get Around:

You can go walking to the General San Martín Park; it is beautiful, has a beautiful lake, a rowing club and a nice rose park. There are also traffic vans that tour you through the park at an affordable price. If you are more than two, you might want to hire a taxi up to the Vallecitos ski center. It is an enjoyable trip and will cost you some 30 to 35 dollars (for the trip, not per person). The most important ski center in central Mendoza is Penitentes. You will see it on the high mountain tour. Regular bus services can take you there. Buses to Mendoza: From Buenos Aires: Andesmar (first class service); Autotransportes San Juan, San Juan-Mar del Plata and others. Avoid TAC. Not all their buses are bad, but... From Córdoba: Andesmar and Mercobus. From Tucumán, Catamarca, La Rioja and San Juan: Andesmar From Bariloche: Andesmar. Taxis are not expensive.

Mendoza is a miracle of human effort. It is in the midst of the desert and the effort of man, starting with the Incas and Huarpes Indians who constructed the main irrigation channel (Cacique Guaymallen), converted this desert into a huge oasis. This channel existed in 1563, and probably even before that. The Incas, who had already arrived here, taught the Huarpes Indians their agricultural secrets, and this is why, from Lake Potrerillos, I was able to see cultivation terraces in the mountain. Maybe they were not many, but there they were. Mendoza has one of the lowest rainfalls in all of Argentina, but irrigation has converted this land into a paradise. Practically all streets have their irrigation ditches and the trees are very tall, mostly eucalyptus. The population of Metropolitan Mendoza—Mendoza city, Godoy Cruz, Guaymallen and Las Heras—is nearly one million inhabitants, and at least one third of the population is of Chilean extraction, but the downtown is near the beautiful park General San Martin, at a walking distance, maybe about one mile away. The park is beautiful. It has its artificial lake with a rowing club and a floating cafeteria, a rose garden, the Amphitheater where the Annual Vintage Festival is held (Fiesta de la Vendimia) that is probably the most attractive celebration in all Argentina. Up on the hill, there is a monument to the Army of the Andes, that contributed to the liberation of Chile. Chileans will say they did it themselves with O-Higgins, and Argentinians will say that Argentina liberated Chile and Peru, but I believe it was a joint effort, although I am no historian. Inside the park, you will also see a beautiful zoological garden. I was living in Mendoza at that time, but had not gone yet, and had a good laugh when we visited it with my elder brother. His four-year-old boy pointed all enthused at a chimpanzee, and started yelling "Daddy, Daddy!" I said, "It seems as if he has recognized you." The lake faces the Rowing Club and the other side the rose garden. You can see the foothills from the park, and the whole area is really beautiful. A walk along the pedestrian street is enjoyable. There are not as many shops as you would expect to see in the downtown, because there are also shopping centers. The Palmares shopping center in Chacras de Coria, a high-class residential area, really deserves a visit. You can go in a taxi or on the local bus service. Since I was short of time when I went to Mendoza last year, I hired a taxi and, paying $15 to $18, visited the San Martin park all around, the Chacras de Coria residential area, and a vineyard at La Carrodilla, where there is also an historical church. I did the whole trip in about three hours. There are also local bus services inside the park, although their rate is higher than the public transportation system, but the ticket is valid for getting off the bus and on again as many times as you wish. They run about every half hour. You can take the local buses up to the Potrerillos Dam and lake (25 miles away, where you can fish rainbow trout). I imagine that the best spot must be where the Mendoza river runs into the lake. This point is changing constantly, because the lake has not yet reached its maximum elevation. It will take another ten years until it is completely full. The project for the construction of this dam, for flood control, regulating the volume of the river, irrigation, and recreational activities, had existed for a long time. The last government made a survey, and found out that if they constructed the dam they would win the elections, and there it is, a beautiful lake for all to enjoy with the added value of probably more power generation. The local buses to Uspallata, 65 miles away, offer you the possibility of visiting this charming village at an altitude of 7,000 feet in another green irrigated valley with views towards the mountainside. The buses go all the way to Chile, passing in front of the Aconcagua, but also give you the opportunity of visiting the Penitentes ski center and chairlift. If you go in the winter and can afford the expense, for $30 to $35 you can take a taxi to the Vallecitos ski center. As far as I know, there is no local bus service there—the earth road starts at Potrerillos towards the left—but it could be that, during the ski season, there could be a local bus line. If not, a taxi would be the only option. I visited both Potrerillos and Vallecito on a taxi for $30. Well, we were unable to go all the way because the road was blocked by the snow, but I really enjoyed that outing. Local buses take you to Tunuyan and Tupungato, two other beautiful valleys where you will see vineyards, and apple and peach plantations, with the Andes in the background. Tunuyan is holding anually a folklore festival called Festival de la Tonada, that is gathering multitudes of people. These are some of the things you can do in Mendoza without buying a tour. There must be many more, but these will give you at least an idea. Welcome to Mendoza, the home of the Vintage Festival.

San Rafael is a medium-sized city (some 50,000 inhabitants), is an important vineyard and winery area, but also has beautiful places that, in some cases, can be visited by bus. Valle Grande,the lower part of the Atuel Canyon, is only 20 miles away and can be reached in the local bus services, Empresa Buitroni. If not, a taxi there will cost you $20-$25, or you can take a local tour, that will require 8 hours less than if you take a tour from Mendoza city. Valle Grande is a relatively easy rafting area and, downstream from the dam, there is class II rafting with some rapids, but only problematic for kayaks; I saw one upside down. It is near to the upper Atuel Canyon, but if you are not fond of exhausting trekking, you might as well go on an organized tour. Of course, you can stay at the three-star Valle Grande Hotel and Resort and leave early in the morning. It is said to be a rainbow trout fishing area; that is probable, although the only time I tried to fish in the canyon I had no luck. Upstream from the Nihuil Lake, on the bridge of Highway 40 at El Sosneado, I have fished many five-pound trout, but as there is no dam upstream on the river, water generally is not clear, and you need clear water and no wind to have a good chance. That happens usually at the beginning of the fishing season, in October, before snow starts to melt rapidly. If you go to El Sosneado, you will see the snow-covered Andes at a distance. Of course there is nowhere to stay at El Sosneado, so you would need to go to the nearest town, Malargue, that is some 30 miles south of El Sosneado, and at a slightly larger distance from Las Leñas, the most important ski centre in Mendoza, or take the bus from San Rafael to El Sosneado; it only takes 2 hours and 10 minutes, and leaves at 9am. Valle Grande seems like the Far West scenes we are accustomed to in cowboy movies. It does not have any vegetation, except by the riverside. The Valle Grande Dam is 150 feet high, and if you walk up to the top of the dam you will see the Submarine, a natural formation that disappears under the water when the dam is full. About three to five miles up the road, you will already be in the canyon. There are four power plants in the canyon, where the water of the river disappears to return further downstream. The water is crystal-clear, is always running, and there are beautiful pools in the river where you should be able to fish beautiful trout. I did not succeed in the attempt. Upstream from the canyon is the Nihuil dam and lake, probably the most important hydroelectric project in Mendoza. The lake is large, and trolling is said to give very nice results, with trout weighing up to eight pounds. You might want to give it a try. El Nihuil has a small tourist village with some infrastructure, located 40 miles to the southwest of San Rafael. There are local buses to El Nihuil, and you can also walk from there down the river to admire the canyon. That is what I did in 1970, when I walked maybe ten miles down the canyon. The view is very attractive. Of course, the Nihuil Canyon is a fraction of the Grand Canyon in the USA and even a smaller fraction of Copper Canyon in Mexico. It is probably a thousand feet deep, at the very most, but it is still an enjoyable scene, that runs along a geological fault. Nearer to San Rafael there are a number of dams, of which I remember the Galileo Vitale dam, near the city, where you can probably fish nice rainbow trout in the lake, or downstream from the dam, and San Rafael is only three hours by bus away from Las Leñas. To the north of San Rafael, about half way between San Rafael and Mendoza, you can visit El Manzano Histórico, where you can fish two-pound rainbow trout in the Arroyo Grande. Fish near the campground, because if you go too far upstream you will fish many trout, but very few will weigh more than half a pound. In the area of El Manzano Histórico you have the relatively nearby cities or villages of Tunuyan, Tupungato, and Campo los Andes, that have regular bus services to Mendoza, that run about every hour. I would definitely visit the area south of San Rafael, especially the Atuel Canyon, the rafting area on the Atuel River, El Sosneado for trout fishing, or trolling in the Nihuil lake, and Las Leñas. Rafting is not expensive at Valle Grande, it should be costing around $5-$6 per hour. South of Malargue you have another good fishing area, Bardas Blancas on the Río Grande, where many years ago they fished an 18-pound rainbow trout. But the place became famous and was over-fished. I always got better results fishing in the Atuel River at El Sosneado. If you go to Las Leñas, you can try fishing in the Valle Hermoso area, also on the Grande river, since it is less visited by fishermen. The bus companies that cover this area are TAC though it's not my choice, and Andesmar (www.andesmar.com.ar). Andesmar buses from Mendoza to San Rafael run six times in the day. There you will have to connect to local bus services, probably TAC. There is one bus in the day of Andesmar from San Rafael to El Sosneado that leaves at 9am. This tour covers a total distance of 606 kilometers (370 miles) and is rather tiring, so sleep well the previous night, or travel to San Rafael, stay overnight, and take a local tour from there. You will travel some 80 miles instead of 370. Enjoy your stay in Mendoza. I am sure you will.

The tour to Las Cuevas/Aconcagua Provincial Park is the milestone of any tour to Mendoza. The Aconcagua is the highest mountain in the American Continent, over 23,000 feet high. It is on the international road to Chile, so when you travel from Santiago to Mendoza, Córdoba, or Buenos Aires you will see it from the bus, although flying over the Andes from Santiago to Mendoza is a fascinating experience. The tour starts off early in the morning (about 7am) and goes through the residential district of Chacras de Coria, then crosses the Mendoza river, that now has crystal-clear water since the construction of the Potrerillos dam, and passes in front of the Lujan de Cuyo oil refinery. I should say here that Mendoza is one of the main petroleum producing provinces in Argentina. The tour continues up to Potrerillos, where it makes a stop to have a look at the beautiful lake in the mountainside, and if we turn in another direction, we will see agriculture terraces in the mountain, constructed either by the Incas or the Huarpes Indians. The first irrigation channel was constructed by them over five centuries ago, practically at the same time as the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. Beyond the agriculture terraces, we have a beautiful view of the peaks covered with snow of the Andes (Cordón del Plata). If instead of going on towards Chile we make a left turn on an earth road at Potrerillos, we will be taking the road that goes through Valle del Sol (Sun Valley) that arrives finally at the Vallecito ski center, one of the smallest ski centers in Argentina, but really enjoyable. The last time I visited Mendoza, the road was blocked by the snow, so I was only able to make it some 3 miles beyond Valle del Sol, but enjoyed it thoroughly. Of course, this alternative (Valle del Sol and Vallecito) is not included in the tour to Las Cuevas, so you will want to do it another day. We have already started bordering the Mendoza river at Cacheuta, have passed Potrerillos, and our next stop is Uspallata, a beautiful valley and village with some 3,000 inhabitants. Upstream of the Potrerillos Dam, the river is dark, and fishing possibilities are minimal. Inside the lake and downstream from the Potrerillos dam, fishing is good. Some 15 miles beyond Uspallata we will find the historical bridge of Picheuta, constructed by the army of San Martin while crossing to Chile. It is not the original bridge, that was wiped away by a flood of the Picheuta river, but a replica of the original one. The Picheuta river in my opinion is too small for trout fishing, but you might want to give it a try, since it carries clear waters. We start noticing a wide variety of colors in the mountainside, and this reflects the variety of mineral contents in the mountain: copper, iron, limestone. Puente del Inca (Inca's bridge) a natural bridge over the river, will be our next stop. There are thermal baths here, and originally there was a hotel constructed a century ago by the British Railways. Today, only the ruins remain, but the place remains open to the public. There is an enormous variety of colors formed by the trickles of different mineral waters. Have a look at the photo. At Puente del Inca, there is also an artisan craft fair. We still have to visit Polvaredas with its sort of Hippie Mini Museum, the Penitents ski center, Las Cuevas, and the Aconcagua National Park. Stay tuned. The whole trip is about 130 miles each way. Will continue in the next experience.

THE ROAD TO THE ACONCAGUA (PUENTE DEL INCA, POLVAREDAS, PENITENTES, AND LAS CUEVAS) The second last time I took this tour (in September, three years ago), I was fortunate. As the road to the Cristo Redentor was blocked by the snow, they took us to the Aconcagua Provincial Park. The stop there was for nearly two hours, and there was enough time to walk to the Horcones lagoon. However, walking at an altitude of 12,000 feet is not that simple. I walked about half the way and as soon as I reached a place where I had beautiful views of the Aconcagua and Tolosa mounts I just stopped there, took beautiful photos, and returned to the bus. The last time I went the road was open all the way to the Cristo Redentor (16,000 feet), the international border with Chile. There is a conmemorative plaque that says: "Let these mountains fall before the peace between Argentina and Chile is broken." Most traffic does not go through here now, since there is a tunnel at an altitude of 12,000 feet (Los Libertadores) which last month (still in summer) was blocked by a snowfall for a couple of days. This happens three or four times every year, so if you are traveling by land from Chile to Argentina or vice versa, always check the weather forecast, just in case. It is not very nice to be trapped by the snow for one or two days. Normally, bus companies are aware of this, but keep it in mind. You could be stranded with low temperatures, and no food until the road is opened up by the Highways Department. This last trip was in December, and there had been a recent snowfall in the upper part of the Andes. This time, the Aconcagua was covered by clouds. So we continued the way from at Puente del Inca and made a stop at Polvaredas where we visited a mini-museum directed by a hippie or hermit, I am not sure what he was, maybe a disciple of Silo. In any case, he seemed quite informed. He had set up a small museum with three rooms; one dedicated to the history of San Marin’s army, another one dedicated to the tectonic origin of the American Continent, the third one dedicated to the history of the Huarpes Indians, and finally gave us a short talk about how energy is generated. Not all the tours stop at this museum. The time they did, I traveled on a traffic van of Huentata tourism. Admission fee was very low, less than $2 per person, and I found it very interesting. The next stop is at the Penitentes ski center for the chairlift. This is a modern ski center that I would rate as a three or four star timeshare and hotel complex. This time, the chairlift was not operating due to strong wind, so we continued towards Las Cuevas, an abandoned town where once Customs and Immigration functioned, not many years ago. Due to the altitude, both were moved to a lower site, Punta de Vacas, our third chance of eating something or having a cup of coffee. The tour will stop on the way back at Penitentes for lunch, but that will be after 2pm. The road from Las Cuevas to the Cristo Redentor—the Christ the Redeemer statue, constructed as a testimony to the friendship between Argentina and Chile many years ago—is a winding, narrow, gravel road. The view from the top is just fantastic, but do not try to walk too fast, because you are at an altitude of 16,000 feet. I went there in December, but the weather was really freezing, maybe 5º-10ºF. The view is really fantastic, especially after a snowfall. On the way back, the tour stops at Penitentes for lunch. Food is not cheap here, it is an international ski center, but if you take their lunch special, you can probably have lunch for $7-$9. If you are lucky when you buy the tour, you can probably get the meal included in the cost of the tour ($25-$30), but you have to bargain this when you buy the ticket. We will come back along the same road, but the scenery will be different since we will be looking in the opposite direction. The tour will stop at Uspallata for a cup of tea, or at the rafting area between Uspallata and Potrerillos, with time for rafting or for having tea, where there is a very nice complex. Each tour has different stops for tea. Most of them stop for breakfast at Uspallata, about half-way between Mendoza and our final destination. If you have not done the Alta Montaña tour (Aconcagua, Las Cuevas, Cristo Redentor) you have missed one of the most beautiful spots in Argentina. Keep this in mind. The buses that go to Chile pass through all these places, except the Cristo Redentor, that is not on the international road. There are local buses to both Uspallata and Las Cuevas (Expreso Uspallata), but you would not know where to get off or what to see. Their buses are comfortable. http://www.eusa.com.ar/ However, the tour is definitely the best option. It cost $22 at that time, so I imagine that now it should cost $25-$30 per person. The tour to the Atuel Canyon in the south is rather more expensive because it travels over 300 miles and includes lunch at the Valle Grande Hotel and Resort in the tour price. Enjoy your stay in Mendoza.

Las Leñas is beautiful and expensive. International skiers come to train here, because a combination of three tracks allows them to ski some seven miles at a time. During the high season, July, a single room in a hotel like Skorpio costs $270 per night. In August, that rate drops by 40%, and in September it drops to about a third of the original price. The ski lift pass is also expensive, and you are not allowed to go up without skis. I was given a free pass as a Senior citizen—you have to request it at Public Relations—and then was not allowed to board the chairlift. In any case, the whole scenery is beautiful, and if you walk along some of the few roads towards the mountain (I went towards the La Cima restaurant) you have a fantastic view: you see all the valley and are just under the chair lift. Since I knew that Las Leñas is expensive, although I did not imagine it costed so much, I took a local tour from the city of Mendoza. Andesmar turismo sells this tour at their offices in Espejo street, but you can also buy it at a travel agency in the Mendoza bus station. The tour leaves on Saturday night at 11pm, arrives at Las Leñas before dawn at about 6am, the bus remains open all day so that you can come and rest if and when you wish, and returns towards Mendoza at 5pm. The tour cost me $25, a price that is not expensive at all considering the distance involved (280 miles each way, or 7 hours travel in each direction). There are travel agencies that offer the same tour leaving at 4AM, but there is no point in paying a hotel room for resting only a few hours. Keep in mind that although Andesmar normally serves hot meals on all their bus services, this is a budget tour, and no meals are served on board, only self-serve coffee. So, you will have to pay nearly $5 for a continental breakfast, at an Alpine-style tearoom, with a fantastic view towards the ski trails. There are 29 ski and snowboard trails in this modern ski center. I enjoyed seeing teenagers, and even children, taking ski lessons, and going up the mountain not on the traditional ski lift, but clinging to a rope that took them up the mountain on their skis. Here is a map of the ski trails: http://www.argentour.com/es/esqui/las_lenas.php Following the links on the left-hand side of the page, you have a description of all ski centers in Argentina. Walking around the Las Leñas complex is really enjoyable. Everything is expensive. A continental breakfast—coffee, 2 croissants, and orange juice—costs nearly $5, and some bottles of wine at the restaurant cost over $40. I found a special, chicken with french fries and a coke for $7 at La Cima restaurant and went for the deal. Check prices carefuly before you place your order. To the best of my knowledge, the only bus service that arrives at Las Leñas comes from Malargue, to where you can go on an Andesmar bus from Mendoza, but it is far better and far more practical to take the tour from Mendoza city. You avoid paying hotel on Saturday night and that nearly covers the cost of the tour. There are very few alternatives at Las Leñas. There is no village. Only the timeshare and hotel complex. To give you an idea of the options you have, check this page that refers to summer activities, when prices must be far lower: http://www.laslenas.com/verano/ I am sure you will enjoy visiting this international-class ski center. Welcome to Mendoza