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Published: October 20th 2006
Aside from giving updates on our progress, and encounters, I would also like to impart my feelings and experiences of certain places or aspects. I don't think these will always be in chronological order as I write when the urge takes me and when the technology allows!
This feeling has come to me now, having left Mendoza behind.
Mendoza is a charming city. Its effect may have been potentiated by the fact that having traversed 1000 miles of semi-arrid, wannabe desert, we arrived in an area of green, albeit artificially irrigated. Riding in, the city was shrouded in tree tops around the low buildings. There is also the colonial style which makes a huge change from the more functional designs of a lot of the towns we had crossed through before. Its almost that, for once, time effort and expense had been spent on the aesthetic, not just wind and temperature resistance. The city also has wide avenues, and green plazas (although these were largely built to provide the population with possible escape routes in the event of another earthquake the likes of which destroyed the city 100 years ago!).
The city has plenty of vibrance and life. There is a very young feel to it, and of course, it is a wine and gastronomic centre for the country if not just the region! Our visit was made all the nicer for the intervention of Sonia, the other half of a gentleman I met in the UK when planning for the trip. As before, despite not knowing us from Juan, Sonia, pulled out all the stops to make us feel welcome, and as such we managed a splendid tour of the impressive Familia Zucchardi Bodega, driven there by a taxi of course, whose driver was a very knowledgable authority on wine production (not sure if that is a good thing for a taxi driver, mind). He went on at some length about the techniques of wine production in the region and as a whole. Very interesting although he did sound like he had a constant supply of helium which was quite funny. Following more of Sonia's splendid advice, we entered a shop we would never have noticed and there we found local products made by the indigenous people of the region and I now have, amongst other things, my authentic poncho!! Very warm, but makes me look like Quasimodo if i wear my water pack under it!! We were also glad to know that all the proceeds from such sales go back to the artisans who made them: a government initiative!
So between that and the Bodega we sent about 20kg of stuff back to Buenos Aires for about 18 GBP!
Restaurants are another fine feature of the city. And sample them we did. Steaks you could build with were eaten. We also arrived at a time of festival and were treated to a number of free concerts and performances.
This city is not a place we wanted to leave despite the pull of the journey re-asserting itself as we went on. To top it all off, it also has the Carrefour supermarket chain, a French company and a little taste of my "other" home! However, in this respect Kristina made the biggest impression as, whilst judisciously choosing a new pair of shoes, she managed to misplace the flip of the pair of flips-flops she was wearing at the time. Don't ask as we don't even know how it happened, or where it went: even two assistans could not locate the errant footwear. So, we were left with a lonesome flop, which had to be discarded (intentionally) for a hastily chosen new pair, although this had to be bought under supervision as she had to either wear them straight away of hop around the entire site...
We've left now, but Mendoza has left a big impression and was a welcome oasis after the first 3 weeks of pretty challenging travel for these two inexperienced South Americans. Will we go again? If the opportunity presents itself, definitely...
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Elena Smith
non-member comment
Lucky you!
It all sounds so very beautiful. Here in Slough it's raining and grey. Boooo! Nick looks as though he is getting the Euan Magreggor (?sp?) look with the beard - very "in"! Baby is kicking a lot - getting big now! Only 8 weeks to go!!!!! Keep well. Elena