Travel Day to Mendoza, Argentina

Saturday, February 4, 2023

It’s finally here! We left on a new adventure today. Andi, Tory, Aden and I are planning to spend the next three months in Argentina and Chile. We honestly didn’t know much about these two countries prior to booking our trip, and have enjoyed reading and studying about their diverse geography and culture in our homeschool studies. Of course, nothing compares to actually living in another country for a time, meeting the people, and seeing the sights first-hand.

Before our trip could start though, we first made a pit-stop in Minneapolis, MN to celebrate our niece Nora’s first birthday. After the birthday party, we rented a room at the Element Hotel near Mall of America to stay overnight before our international flight to Chile Sunday morning. Andi’s sister Lindsay and nephew Arnie stopped by the hotel Saturday night to have dinner with us, and to swim in the hotel pool. It was nice to spend a little more time with Lindsay and Arnie before their family moves to The Netherlands next month. We likely won’t see them again for a while.

Sunday, February 5

Sunday morning, Andi made plans to meet a Minneapolis friend for breakfast at a restaurant near the hotel. Meanwhile, I did a workout in the hotel gym and the kids and I went to breakfast in the lobby.

Then, we were off to the airport. Andi found a great deal on flights to Santiago, Chile so that’s where our travels began. The four of us left Minneapolis at Noon on Sunday, connected through JFK airport in New York, then flew overnight to Santiago, Chile. Overnight flights are never an enjoyable experience, but our travels went as smoothly as they could have gone. We landed in Santiago at 7:00am Monday, local time.

For this trip, Andi and I tried something new — we opted to travel with only one backpack per person. This eliminates the need to check baggage and makes us more nimble travelers. The less luggage we have, the easier it is to move around from place to place. Last count, Andi and I estimated we’ll be taking 11 different flights during our three-month trip. This is also the first time that we required Tory and Aden to be active participants in our travels. They were each responsible for carrying their own pack through the airport & did so without any complaining, but poor Aden and his short legs could only move so fast under the weight of his pack.

Monday, February 6

Our plane arrived in Santiago, Chile on Monday at 7:00am. After we got off the plane, we navigated through Santiago’s Customs/Immigration area, then found our way to the ticketing counter in the airport’s arrivals area. Our final destination today would be Mendoza, Argentina, but we had yet to purchase tickets to get there. Andi and I were afraid we’d be cutting the connection time too close if we booked the first available option at 9:30am. One weather delay in Minneapolis or New York, a long line in Customs, or even the time it takes to cross from one side of a large international airport to another, might mean we’d miss our flight and have to wait around in Santiago until 7:30pm to catch the next flight available. The safer bet was to book the 2:30pm flight on another airline, but we didn’t really want to wait around at the airport with a 5-hour layover either. Ideally, we’d have enough time to get on the 9:30am flight. Andi and I decided we’d wait until we landed in Santiago so we’d know exactly which flight time worked for us.

The good news was that all of our flights the past 24 hours had been on time, and we could have easily made the 9:30am flight. The bad news was, the 9:30am flight filled up by the time we were ready to buy seats. That meant we had 5 hours to kill at the Santiago airport until the next Mendoza flight departed at 2:30pm. Not a huge deal, but not super convenient either.

All of us were exhausted from traveling and getting little-to-no-sleep during our overnight flight. Andi found us a table at a Britt’s coffee shop in the arrivals area of the airport, ordered us coffees and croissants, and the four of us sat at a table there for close to two hours. When we were finally able to check in to our Mendoza flight, we did so with ease and made our way to the boarding gate. Even though Santiago is a big city airport, it was simple to navigate — made even easier since we weren’t checking bags.

We finally arrived in Mendoza, Argentina at 4:00pm local time. One more trip through Customs & Immigration (this time, in Argentina) and then a 20-minute cab ride to the airbnb we rented in Lujan de Cuyo, a small town on the outskirts of Mendoza.

Goodness, it was hot! It’s summertime in Argentina right now since the country is located in the Southern Hemisphere. Seasons here are “reversed” from the United States, meaning that January - March are the hottest months. Mendoza is located in the northwestern part of Argentina and has a dry, subtropical climate. This area usually experiences moderate temperatures without it ever getting too hot or too cold, but this week the weather forecast is in the high 90’s. We felt the hot, dry heat right away.

By the time we checked into our airbnb, it was close to 5:30pm. The property manager gave us a quick tour of the 3-bedroom, 3-bathroom house and let us know he’d be reachable by phone should we have any questions.

We didn’t have any food, so Andi offered to take a taxi to the grocery store while Tory, Aden and I stayed back at the airbnb. While he was gone, the kids and I unpacked our bags and then took a dip in the outdoor pool. The water was cold, but it felt great to us on such a hot day!

Andi returned from the grocery store around 7:00pm with a few snacks and breakfast items to get us through the next 24 hours. The kids’ favorite was dulce de leche flavored yogurt. (Aden thought it was pudding.) My favorite was the bottle of local Malbec wine Andi purchased at the store for $3. Mendoza, Argentina is known for its world renown Malbec wines.

We were all hungry for dinner, but too exhausted to go to a restaurant. Argentinians typically eat dinner very late in the evening. It’s not uncommon for people to start eating dinner at 10:00pm — even families with children! There was no way we could wait that long to eat tonight, nor did any of us have the energy to deal with navigating to a restaurant via taxi. Andi decided to order take-out, but many restaurants hadn’t opened yet at 7:00pm. He settled on pizza and empanadas from a restaurant called Napo Ya which was delivered to our airbnb about 30 minutes later. One pizza and 6 empanadas for $8 total, including the delivery charge — gotta love Argentine prices!

At dinner, Tory complained that her belly hurt. I thought she might be hot or tired, or both, so I gave her some water and a small glass of Sprite to drink. A few minutes later, she threw up in the bathroom. Poor girl. I got her settled in bed with a bowl and a big fan blowing on her. There is no A/C in our airbnb and it was at least 80 degrees in the house.

We were all in bed by 9:30pm. Andi and I hoped a good night of sleep would do everyone good. Unfortunately, Aden woke me up at 12:30am covered in vomit. He’d thrown up in his bed and it was EVERYWHERE. It was even splattered on the wall next to his bed. Ick. I spent a solid hour getting Aden cleaned up, and washing the vomit out of his sheets, blankets and clothes. I was so dang tired — and frustrated! There isn’t a washer & dryer in this airbnb so I couldn’t properly wash any of the bedding or clothing and I couldn’t find any cleaning products other than dish soap. I did the best I could do by rinsing his sheets in the bathtub and laying them outside to dry. Aden threw up every two hours from then on until 10:30am Tuesday morning. I felt so badly for him. The poor kiddo was miserable.

Fortunately, Tory didn’t throw up again after midnight and was able to get some sleep. Hopefully Aden will be on the mend soon, too, and Andi and I stay healthy. Not exactly the first 24-hours in Mendoza we’d planned, but that’s the way life goes sometimes. (Now writing about it, I feel more calm about the situation than I did in the moment!) Soon we’ll be back to feeling better and be ready to explore all that this beautiful city has to offer.