Mendoza, Argentina

Our travels in Argentina had to include a visit to Mendoza, famous for it's wine country and Malbec wines. It is also located at the foothills of the Andes near the Chilean border and gave us our first view of this magnificent mountain range that covers most of western South America.
Mendoza is a beautiful city with wide, tree-lined streets and multiple spacious parks with fountains and statues. It was rebuilt this way after it was leveled by an earthquake in 1861. It still is at risk for further quakes and one of our guides mentioned that he even felt aftershocks in Mendoza after the major Chilean earthquake last year.

We learned the history of General San Martin who was governor of Mendoza. He led an army of 5,000 men over the Andes that defeated the Spanish and eventually won independence for Argentina, Chile, and Peru in 1816-1818. Which is why there is a very strong national pride here in Mendoza.

The area is actually more desert with over 300 sunny days per year. Only 10% of the land is inhabited, and only 3% cultivated. With a sophisticated aqueduct system from mountain streams and reservoirs, however, it is the 5th most productive wine region in the world as well as the 3rd most productive garlic region. Add grass fed beef to the equation and you have the makings of some pretty good eating ....yes, we have gone off the vegetarian kick for a couple of weeks.

Our days here were sunny, warm, early fall colors and brilliant blue skies. We spent one day on the wine tour with a fun group - Juan, our guide, and two couples from the USA - NYC and San Francisco. We had a great day together learning about and tasting the wines, and Tim from SF made points with Deb for his unabashed support of her favorite basketball team.

We attended Easter mass in downtown Mendoza and didn't notice the excitement and celebration of the day that we have felt in the US. It was probably the particular Cathedral and parish because Deb will describe a much different and warm experience we had in Bariloche.
We were grateful to celebrate the service as well as the beautiful day and spent the afternoon reading our books in Independencia park.

On Monday we were off to the Andes and learned more about the geology, history, and local animal population. It was also our first sighting of the Condor, Argentina's national bird. The rock formations with their multi-colored faces and the view of Cerro Aconcagua we're Incredible.

As we boarded the bus for Patagonia we have come to appreciate more the passion for living we have seen here in Argentina.