Blogs from Mendoza, Argentina, South America - page 2

Friday night marked the end of our work at DAD, though we will return to say good bye to students and staff on Monday, and so a celebration was called for. (The principal of the school had just been named superintendent of the high school district and that seemed worthy of celebration as well.) So we hosted a dinner at Cava de Cuno (cellar of the governor) for five of our new friends including the administration of the school. The restaurant is the former home of the governor of the region, and we were given a tour of the wine cellars and the structure before dinner. As is often the case here, the meal stretched on for hours, we sat down at 9 p.m and left at 1 a.m. The weekend was our time to do ... read more

This trip was with four of the staff from Federal Hocking High School as we are exploring a partnership with DAD, a secondary school in Mendoza. Last year at this time one of the teachers from DAD, Paola Diaz, spent three weeks at FH on a Fulbright program. Then, last March, I visited DAD. From there the teachers have been developing and teaching programs together and we wanted to visit the school to see if we might do more. When we arrived in Mendoza on Monday we were quickly gathered up and taken to an Asado (bar-b-que) at the home of the assistant school director. As they only do here, we spent three hours at the table with the fire crackling away nearby and feasted on a variety of salads, beef, and wines! Three hours here ... read more

Back on the slopes...and it feels so good! Tanya is getting slightly more secured on her skis. She is now a mega-star skier having done it in China, Dubai, Andorra and now Argentina. Yes, I know, not the usual trails! Argentinians know Las Lenas...some Brazilians too...and this is about it. Place is remote and not that easy to reach, but it is my preferred one for skiing in South America. Bear in mind, we drove by Portillo few days ago. Portillo, close second for amazing ski in South America is on the Chiliean side, just on the other side of the border on the road from Santiago to Mendoza. But for Portillo, you have to stay a week...and skiing in Chili is today way more expensive than in Argentina...for the same snow! Next entry will actually ... read more

Mendoza is definitely our kind of town. Sunny, gorgeous wine, amazing nosh of all descriptions and plenty of pavement cafes in the shade. After our rather poor start in the bus station, we headed off to dump our rucksacks at our hostel and explore the town. We only had one day before we headed out into the Altas Montanas (the Andes) so we wanted to make the most of it. We found pavement cafes for coffee, a veggie takeaway for a picnic in the park and an amazing parilla (barbeque using wood) for a steak supper. Oh does it sound as though we did nothing but eat? Funny that! We did manage a walk round the park in between lunch and dinner but I don't recall much about that. Thankfully we knew we were returning after ... read more

It had to come, the end of our trip to Argentina. But not until a few more adventures were had. Last time we left you we were describing a roadside Asado (bar-be-que) with three guys who were spending their Tuesday afternoon fishing and enjoying some meat and wine. After I wrote that blog I felt I had not done justice to our new friends. Seems it is a tradition in these parts to share large containers of wine, could be the plastic two-liter water bottle we were using on the side of Ruta 94, or it could be a glass jar, or there are even large vessels made to suit this purpose. What we were told was it was something you did only with friends, a way of passing the wealth, of sharing with those you ... read more