Mendoza and Buenos Aires

We were afraid that the rest of Argentina would be a “let down” after the amazing Iguassu Falls, but it didn’t disappoint. We spent 3 days in Mendoza and 2 days in Buenos Aires.

Our favorite wine is Malbec and we went to the heart of Argentina’s wine country—Mendoza—to sample it (along with a lot of other varieties). In all, we sampled 23 wines during our 3 days. The first picture is the Malbec that was our favorite. The winery was brand new, although they have been using part of it for a few years. One amazing thing about Mendoza’s wineries is that they usually have an amazing view of the Andes, as you can see in picture 2. Picture 3 was taken at Kaiken Winery and shows how they were cloning grape plants. One of the tendrils is allowed to grow long enough to reach the ground and is buried. The little yellow bags show, where the new shoot is detached from the old plant and is starting to develop on its own. This winery was also interesting because they trellised the vines high enough that we could walk below them. Picture 4 is our lunch at Cava de Cana Wine Restaurant. It included at least 30 items that typical Argentines would have for their meal. It was very good!

One of our days in Mendoza we drove into the Andes to see Aconcagua—the tallest mountain in the Americas at 22,841 feet. Pictures 5 and 6 show mountain scenery along the way. It’s very different from the Chilean side, which is much greener. We visited the Inca Bridge (picture 7), which was formed when glaciers covered the area, while warmer mineral springs ran below the glacier. As we approached Aconcagua, clouds covered the peak, but as we arrived at the National Park and hiked to the viewpoint, a very fierce wind blew the clouds away and provided us with a clear view of the peak, as you can see in picture 8.

Back in Buenos Aires we spent time touring the city. We made the obligatory trek to Recoleta Cemetery (picture 9) where we saw Eva Peron’s family crypt (the Duartes). We didn’t realize that she died in her early 30s, Juan left the country and went to Spain. He returned in the 70s with a new wife, who became the Vice President after his second time to be president. It’s hard to visit Argentina without singing “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina.” The cemetery is worth the trip, just to see the how extravagant the family crypts are.

Also in Buenos Aires, we visited La Boca—the port where emigrants entered Argentina in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. It was originally an area of colorful corrugated metal houses. As you can see (picture 10), it has become a trendy neighborhood of restaurants and shops. When we were here 7 or 8 years ago, it was still a sleepy neighborhood, but not any more.

On our second Buenos Aires day we drove out into the pampas area to visit an estancia. Originally, this was an Estancia of 1000 acres and the source of some of Argentina’s famous beef. Today, that Estancia was subdivided and the one we visited was only 100 acres and has become kind of like a dude ranch. They fixed a tremendous BBQ lunch as you can see in picture 11. I know—not very vegetarian. But part of traveling is sampling the local cuisine. It was excellent!

We are now onboard our ship and spent today in Montevideo. Since we visited here last fall, we didn’t take any tours. We just walked around the center of town and admired the beautiful, but tired, architecture.

Next report from Brazil!