Jo and I started the day off with a tour and tasting at Argentina's modern Trapiche winery where we were able to learn about their production and history, walk through the beautifully restored and preserved original buildings and finally indulge our palettes. Jo and I both knew we would be limited to a couple purchases for the entire tour because of duty limits as well as the limited room in our bicycle baskets. But the fermented Malbec at Trapiche became the first purchase for both of us. We emerged from our first stop proud at having snagged this delicious port like wine unavailable in Canada, and me, extra proud with plans of impressing a certain special port loving person back home with my purchase.
After this first stop we decided it would be wise to find somewhere where we could pick up snacks to soak up the wine, and we stopped at a remote place called the beer garden which we found after riding off the main road. The beer garden was essentially a small collection of outdoor tables, umbrellas and a colorful tarp, a "back to nature" vibe and Bob Marley blaring from the sound system. Here we filled up on delicious vegan pizza and continued the tour. (My diet staple in Argentina has been tomato and olive pizza. I credit Jo for this invention to help my grumbling stomach at one of our many bus stops).
It was after navigating back to the main road from this stop that we picked up our escort for the first time. As we had decided to rent bikes ourselves and follow the basic map provided by the rental place, we knew we were bound to take a couple wrong turns. The missing street signs and construction blocked intersections which cyclists were expected to just ride over didn't necessarily help with our navigation. (There was some serious off-roading in some parts).
But then in came a policeman on a motorcycle, coming to the rescue of two lost girls. He accompanied us back to the main road and waved goodbye. Jo and I both though this was a little weird but in the end welcomed the help and brushed it off as simply another strange experience in Argentina.
So when we spotted our friend the second time we just waved, followed him while he drove slow enough for us to keep pace on our bikes and waved with a steady stream of "Gracias, Gracias" as he left us at out next location.
Now the third time we met up with this glasses wearing, motorcycle riding, police officer, I half expected him to pull out a photo followed by the line "have you seen this man?". Instead, he merely helped us to our final destination. A family run winery that produces only 40,000 reds annually and 25,000 whites, and the place where we splurged on our final purchase: "Grandmother's special recipe" which tastes a bit like a liqueur when you first sip it and then surprises you with an overwhelming taste of walnuts.
At this special little place Jo and I powered through a quick meal and a bottle of their sparkling cider before we cycled the 10k back to drop off our bikes, hopped on our bus that would take us back into the city and narrowly avoided missing our overnight bus to Buenos Aires.
As we sat down to get comfortable for our sixth and FINAL overnighter Jo said to me "no matter how much time we have, we've always got to push it eh?"
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