Mendoza Argentina

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Days 73-75 The trip from Salta to Mendoza was an 18 hr 1260 km afternoon & overnight bus trip arriving around 9.45 am next day so we all decided to pay for an upgrade with better meals (not true) & lay down seats (true but not much benefit with a snorer behind.)

The route was flat all the way mostly single lane highway with the bus limited to 90 kph so just kept rolling along like an interstate train. Light rain arrived early morning (we were told it never rains in Mendoza!) but stopped by the time we reached the depot. After dropping our bags & a quick freshen-up we were off for a city orientation walk, a long lunch and the afternoon spent investigating activities for the rest of our stay. Much of the city was closed as it was an unofficial public holiday tacked onto yesterday's May Day public holiday making it an extra long weekend.

Mendoza is naturally a desert environment & much younger than the traditional colonial Spanish towns that evolved around a central Plaza. Instead it is a much more planned city with wide streets lined with European trees which are now starting to turn yellow. While Plaza Independencia is the main square there is no cathedral or government buildings flanking the square & there are many other important Plazas throughout the city. Despite its desert climate the city founders expanded on the Inca idea to build water channels throughout the city with water sourced from Andes snow runoff so that now the city centre is beautifully landscaped and full of trees, squares and parks.

Most commercial activity in Mendoza breaks from 1pm to 4pm to allow for the traditional siesta but then stay open till 10 pm when they then only just start thinking about the evening meal!

Mendoza is wine country and Malbec is the grape of choice so next day we had a full day tour of 3 small/boutique wineries with a 6 course degustation menu & matching wines at the 3rd. A fantastic day & a real reminder of just how good Argentinean & Chilean wines are.

While half the group planned horse riding, rafting or spa activities for Sunday the rest of us had an afternoon picnic in San Martin Park a huge park almost the same size as the whole city. Like all big cities in South America, Mendoza has some safety risks & we had a solemn reminder earlier this week when a New Zealand tourist was murdered in this same park while resisting a drive-by motor bike bag snatch. Today however it was a picture of serenity with many families enjoying the sun and activities around a green market day.

We have our fingers crossed that the Chilean border over the Andes remains open after being closed earlier in the week as the only alternative is to fly & the only airline operator jacks up the price to $us 700 each.

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