Mendoza looks amazing! Streets and sidewalks are wide. Huge trees line every street providing shade. There are lots of parks with benches to sit on while you watch the day go by. In some districts, cafes spill out onto the sidewalks for blocks on end. In the core of the city, a wide street mall runs for several blocks.
In order to appreciate Argentina, you have to adjust your approach to the day. The taking of a “nap” is something that I have been promoting for years, and here the nap is embodied into the “Siesta”. All shops and businesses open around 9:00 a.m. but close at 1:00 p.m. for the daily siesta. They re-open at 5:00 p.m. and stay open until 9:00 p.m. Restaurants stay open for lunch until about 3:00, then close only to reopen at 9:00 p.m. for dinner. Everyone it seems goes out for dinner and they do so starting after 9:00 p.m. The last two nights we have gone out shortly after 9:00 p.m. and we have been near the first at the restaurant, but by 10:30 people were waiting to get a table.
We have adjusted our schedules here most days. Mornings are for seeing the city and area, afternoons for school, early evening nap time, then out for a late meal. Tom and Kate are having a hard time with the nap concept, and I think they will sleep all weekend long to catch up on lost sleep.
On Friday afternoon, we went for a wine and olive oil factory tour. Some wineries are within minutes of the city but with 600 wineries in the Mendoza region they go on for miles. The region boasts an ideal climate for growing grapes. Poor soil, hot dry summers and winters that are warm enough to ensure the vines are not damaged by the cold. Malbec is the main variety, but they also grow Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah as well. The wine tours were similar to those given elsewhere, a tour of the facilities and then in for a little tasting. The good stuff is kept behind the counter and only given to you if you are willing to pay. The masses get served the plunk.
The olive oil factory was a first for us and was very interesting. Did you know that olive trees, of which there are over 200 varieties, start producing olives at seven years of age and continue for another 400 years? A single olive tree will produce about 15 litres of oil a year. In Argentina the olives are all hand picked one by one. The factory we visited produces 1,000,000 litres of oil a year. The olive picking season last four months and in that time, the trees are picked multiple times, selecting only the ripe olives. I don’t know how many olives are picked from one tree annually, but the job must be enormously labour intensive as the trees are about 20 feet tall and the olives grow all through the branches.
We are in Mendoza during the annual Vendimia Festival. It is a grape harvest celebration and is held after the summer hailstorm season has passed. There are lots of activities that scheduled for the time we are here. We purchased tickets to the “Crowning of the Mendoza Region Queen” next Saturday – a five hour extravaganza that starts at 10:00 p.m. Last night we watched a bit of the festivities around the crowning of the Mendoza City Queen. It was non-stop music and dance involving well over a 100 performers. The crowds were large and we were standing, so we only lasted about an hour. We were home in bed before the fireworks started.
Argentina is geared towards carnivores and wine lovers, with and occasional pasta dish thrown in. One night we had the Chorizo steak served with mashed potatoes. The steak was the size of a small roast and was delicious. The one steak would have been enough meat for all three of us (Kate doesn’t eat steak). It cost $10.00. I had a big glass of the house wine, which was also good and it cost only $2.60. Last night we had a similar experience of great food, huge portions all very reasonably priced. We (I) opted to order a bottle off of the wine list and it made up about 40% of the $70 bill. It was a great wine!
The only disappointment we have had so far is our rental accommodation. The old adage, “if it seems to be too good to be true, it likely is” comes to mind. The website advertising it fails to mention that it is old and tired and need of new furniture and fixtures. The good thing is that it is large, in a great location and only costs $425 a week. Chris has worked her magic, and the place is now fine and will serve us well. The landlady lives next door and is really nice, but doesn’t speak any English. She brought over her DVD so the kids can at least watch some of their movies, as the normal TV was all in Spanish except BBC World News.
Today we are off for some shopping and bit more exploring.
Cheers – hope all is well.
Ian
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| Mendoza Argentina |
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