Mendoza to Barreal

---

We spent Saturday morning on the streets outside our hostel at the second parade for the Festival of the Wines. This parade was quite different from the on Friday night that featured the queens of the various districts from the state of Mendoza. Instead, Saturday's parade was more on foot and featured various social and political movements, marching bands in wild costumes, gauchos, and, of course, queens from the region and various other festivals.


At times it was hard to tell what was the parade and what was not. There was no real control of anyone, the crowd often squeezing the street closed along with the vendors of everything from tiaras, sandwiches, balloons, cotton candy and empanadas. But when a band or group appeared the throngs pulled back to enjoy yet another band, political group singing a song, or horses that seemed completely unfazed by the chaos around them. The largest group of marchers was the teachers' union. They have called a general teacher strike, nationwide, for today and tomorrow and their slogan is "Mas for educaccion" or "More for Education". While the government is claiming inflation is over it continues to cut back on education, now cutting all teacher sick days and reducing the per pupil funding for all students.

(Speaking of inflation, the currency seems a bit more stable than the last times I was here in both in 2015 and 2017. During those years you were able to find non-bank money exchanges that would give you better rates, by far, than the banks. For example, in 2015 it was 9 pesos to the dollar at the bank and 13 to the dollar at the 'black market'. Today the difference is only about half a peso, with banks giving 19.8 to the dollar and the guy in the small shop down the alley offering 20.2. But as you can see in four years the peso has lost over half its value to the dollar.)

After the parade we joined my friend Paola Diaz and her family for an outing. Lunch at a nice outdoor venue, of course the grill for four piled high with beef, pork, chicken and sausages, including a very nice blood sausage. Then we drove up into the Andes to sit by a lake and enjoy the kids, Lucas and Luanna, playing in the water. Luanna has very tactfully agreed to take on the very frustrating job of being my Spanish tutor. I believe she does not yet see what a hopeless task this is.

Saturday night was the big finale to the wine festival, a giant outdoor extravaganza where the queen is chosen. It was interesting to she on several streets large screens set up and the street closed off so rows of chairs and bleachers could be set out for people to watch the streaming of the show. We chose to find a small wine bar and share a bottle of the real star of the festival, a nice Malbec from Valle du Uco.

Sunday was a slow start due to a surprise--the place we had parked the car was closed on Sunday. It took Bill's creative thinking to ask at the hotel next door to the lot if they could reach the lot's owner. In fact, the guy had the opener for the giant door that closed off the lot, and was willing to accept payment for the parking and let us get the car. Argentines are a very helpful lot. We left Mendoza and headed for Barreal in San Juan state but had one more stop to make.

Again my friend Paola had come through and arranged for a tour of the vineyard Ruca Medan with her friend Ivana. The winery was set in the valley surrounded by grape vines. We were shown everything from planting to harvest to aging and then sat down to sample the goods. Had we the room we would have bought a case of all of the wines, but we settled for two bottles....and the one Ivana and her friend gave to us as a gift!

Our target, Barreal, now was about 160 km to the north through part of the Andes. We drove along Rio Mendoza, the road carved into the hillside and passing through 10 tunnels. The first leg of the trip took us to Upsallata--the little town where the filmed "Seven Years in Tibet." Then the most interesting and challenging part of the drive was on us.

Leaving Upsallata you take about 10 Km of paved roads before the warning signs start. Pavement ending. Warning, no pavement. Hey you, stupid, you are about to travel 60km of unpaved road that grinds on straight as an arrow through the desert like flats to the east of the Andes and the west of some of the most foreboding mountains you will ever find. Remember...they filmed that movie about Tibet here. It is hard to understate how barren and empty parts of Argentina is. This is one such place, left to the guanacos (cousin of the llama), sage brush, and the wind. We finally hit pavement about 30km south of Barreal. Once arriving there the we were immediately lost in trying to find our lodging as there are no street signs. But of course, Argentines being who they are, everyone we stopped offered detailed and extensive directions, which we pretended to understand, and said if we were lost again, come back and someone would take us. We did find the lodging and then dinner--a wonderfully tender rare steak, a bottle of red wine, and a cool breeze as we sat outdoors watching the night creep over the Andes.


From here we head further north and then into a couple of national parks that are known for both their stark, moon-like beauty as well as their lack of any lodging or other services. Adios.

---

Photos

Marching band
These guys were having a blast. They mugged for the camera all the way down the street

Teachers marching
Prepping for the general strike. Handing out pencils to children as they marched.

Tasting at Ruca Malen
Life is so challenging