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Last night we arrived at our new hotel in Lujan De Cuyo, La Villa Mansa (http://www.villamansa.com/home.html). The area is well-known for its wine and our place was minutes from the village. We were having a lot of fun exploring all of the different wineries in Mendoza and in particular enjoyed the long lunches paired with tastings. That seemed to be a specialty of the area…most of the big wineries had a multi-course lunch by reservation to pair each of their wines. Twist my arm…I have to eat 4 courses of amazing food while gazing out at the countryside and sipping Malbec!
We heard Ruca Malen (http://www.bodegarucamalen.com/) had a good lunch so we made a reservation for today to tour their winery which was followed by lunch on the property overlooking their vines.
We arrived a little late and the tour had already started but they let us sneak in and join the rest. The tour was pretty quick b/c the warehouse was not so big and unfortunately, we were disappointed with it after some of the other in-depth experiences we have had in the area. They basically just walked us around to look at the tanks and barrels and talked briefly about their equipment…nothing special.
For lunch, we joined the other 25 people on the lawn and sat at a table set with many wine glasses and a menu of what we would be eating. Lunch was good as all these lunches are multi-course and farm-fresh food but we would have to place this one at the bottom of our list in comparison to its competition. We had much better food, wine and educational tours at other places. Nothing was bad per se just not memorable.
After our long luncheon, we went back to our hotel and relaxed a bit while checking out the property. When we arrived last night it was dark, so today got to check out the hotel…which was very nice with a restaurant, pool, wine cellar and rooms with free internet.
The hotel gave us a map and we chatted about various wineries and events. Tonight in downtown Mendoza was a wine festival or as they would say a Mega Degustacion which consisted of various vendors selling hand-made goods and then a whole section of local wineries giving tastings of their wines. Basically you buy drinking tickets which includes a wine glass and then you go around and pick which wines to taste until the tickets are gone. We looked for wineries we hadn’t been to yet and enjoyed tasting amongst the crowd of people while chatting with the actual wine makers. We also ate a late night dinner as we people watched…everyone seemed to be enjoying the music and booze.
We stayed out until early morning and then got back to our hotel after a long day.
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Published by Giff Kabat
I grew up in Ohio as a kid, so of course I went to college at “THE” Ohio State University. I graduated in 2001 with a major in business finance. A month after graduation, I moved out to California with my college girlfriend (whom I married in 2005)…and started my career in sales (industrial sales for 5 years…then moved into medical laser sales for 4 years).
In 2009 I was 31 years old. I had a great job, a new house, and a beautiful wife. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any better…my wife and I found out we were going to have a baby. Everything was going according to plan…and I couldn’t have scripted a better life for myself.
Then in the same year…everything changed. My wife, Brandey, called me when I was on my way to work and told me over the phone, something I never thought could be possible in a million years. My beautiful 30-year old pregnant wife was just told that she had breast cancer. At that moment, everything stopped all at once. I immediately went to her…and learned of our new plan…which began with her needing surgery immediately…and the rest we would find out later.
The day we returned from the hospital after Brandey’s surgery…my father died. He had been battling an aggressive cancer of his own…and although he was the one person I wanted to speak with about Brandey having cancer…I never told him. My sister, Brooke, had just gotten married a few months ago, and although he was weak, he was able to walk his little girl down the aisle of her wedding. On the night before my sister’s wedding, Brandey and I told him that we were pregnant and about to make him a grandfather. It made no sense to tell him that everything had changed for us…so he died in peace knowing everything was “the way it should be” for his only 2 children.
2010 was the worst year of my life. We had lost our baby…and for 12 months I watched my wife fight cancer with multiple surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation treatments, and drug therapy. It was a difficult year for us…but we made it. When you go through something like this in life, you learn a lot about yourself and the people around you. I was amazed at the strength and courage of my wife…and how many good people there are in this world. I will be forever grateful for the ones who never ceased to amaze me with their kindness during this hard time. Family, friends, and sometimes complete strangers…helped us make it through this. I am, and will always be especially grateful to my mother, who was with my dad at the very end, when I couldn’t be there, and when things were at their worst. She has been so supportive throughout all of this, and without her everything would have been so much harder for me.
It’s 2011 now…and the plan we have for our life this year…is to make it the best year of our lives. Brandey is officially in remission from breast cancer and she has a 95% chance the cancer will never come back. Besides the love that I have for my wife and family, the loves of my life are food, wine, and adventure travel. My wife and I love traveling to new places, seeing natural wonders, and meeting new people from different parts of the world. So for the next 400 days…we’ve decided to travel the world…and celebrate our lives. There are so many things I took for granted in life that I will never take for granted again. My father worked for over 30 years at the same job with the same company…rarely took time off…and died at 64 years old right after his retirement. For me, this trip is a combination of a tribute to him, along with wanting to spend the time of my life with the “love of my life.”
* The only thing I will miss while we are gone is our family and friends (who we hope will meet us somewhere throughout our trip) and especially our 3 little kitties we left with my mom in Ohio to catsit for the next 400 days. I will also miss watching “American Football” over the weekend…but I’ll do my best to check the scores in the middle of the night.
GIFF
View all posts by Giff Kabat
Spinning Around The World 
Well what to say! So nice to see that such travelers like you choose us for a little peace of their huge trip! Thanks for coming to Mendoza and to Villa Mansa Hotel! We’ll be glad to share your blog with out followers!
Hi Villa Mansa-Glad you are reading our blog and thanks for sharing with your bloggers! We really did enjoy staying with you during our trip in Mendoza-keep up the good work:)