Saints, sinners, and more wine

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Into every good road trip a little weirdness must fall, and Thursday was the day for us!

We left San Augustine knowing we had a bit of a slog from there to San Juan, but such is the case in driving around this country. To break up the drive, we counted on stopping in some of the small towns on the map, not realizing that often they are nothing more than a ghost town.

We did find some action in Bermejo, in the form of the perpetual festival of San Expedito, the saint you call on for urgent needs (as in expedite this package--without UPS). We rolled into town and were flagged down by a helpful soul who had us park out of the sun...and then asked for $40AR ($2 US) for the service. Then several devotees handed us tracts about the San Expedito who apparently was some sort of local saint--I have no idea if Rome is aware of him, but the folks in Bermjo sure are and are raising money to build a new, larger church. We tried to hand them back, but they insisted on us keeping them and giving them a few coins if we wanted to be blessed....sort of. There were about five booths operating near the church, full of the same statues, necklaces, and charms for the dear San Expedito. We passed them up, much to our later regret. (Wait, actually, Bill gave 50 cents for the San Expedito tract that may have come in handy when were in need.).

We had lunch, a liter of beer and eight empanadas at the Comedor Grand Ranchero where we were the only guests for the grand price of $6US and then headed out. On the way out two old guys, just like us, waved us down and asked something, what we are not sure of. But they did enjoy having me take their pictures.

We were not trusting the gas gauge in the rental car and knowing that gas stations were few and far between we stopped at the very next one we found. Who knew that it was located at the little town (named Little Valley) that is full of shrines to Difunta Maria Correa.

OK, now the going gets really weird. Seems that the dear Correa (Difunta means defunct) was, in 1840, trying to find the remains of her husband who had been conscripted into the civil war and killed. Carrying her baby, she finally died of thirst. Four days after her death (I have no idea how they knew it was four days later) a gaucho came upon her remains with her baby still nursing on a breast that continued to give milk. Such a miracle cannot go unnoticed, and thus a small shrine was built....and expanded and expanded. By the 1940s devotees of the Difunta began building small chapels on the hill side where she had expired in honor of prayers that she had answered.

Given that she performed the miracle while dead, this is a very special person. No wonder that during the high holy days over 200,000 people crowd into this cross road that is smaller than Amesville! All over town there are large, arched rooved shelters that stand some thirty feet tall divided into camping type areas complete with asada pits. On the main street there are hundreds of stalls waiting to be filled and restaurants that can see hundreds.

Today there are about 17 different chapels. Each adobe hut chapel is covered with brass plates with thanks from those who have been granted wishes! And inside each hut are artifacts of thanks. For example, there is one full of wedding dresses from brides who thank her for the husband they thought they would never find. One full of trucks, models, photos, etc. from drivers who believe she protects them over the road. Others full of horse photos and ribbons, another full of sporting trophies, cars, houses, you name it, if the Difunta was prayed to for it, there is a chapel for it. (Make sure to check out all the extra photos at the end of this blog.)

Climb to the top of the hill where the poor girl died and you find a rock surrounded by burnt offerings. There are the usual candles. But the real attraction here are old bicycle tires and motor parts burning in some sort of smelly tribute to the woman. And while you stand there you can look over acres of small models of homes that have been built and left by devotees in thanks for their new digs. Truckers seem especially thankful to the Difunta, you will see shrines to her along the road as well where full water bottles have been left to help her on her heavenly journey. Honestly, there is no way these photos or this description tells the story, I would suggest maybe wikipedia for those who want to delve deeper into the weirdness.

I was a bit cyclical about the Difunta, no surprise there. But Bill being his usual good guy kept his tongue...it was to come in handy later.

We rolled on to San Juan in the hopes of quickly finding our lodging...it was not to be. While the phone had the gps coordinates, it did not have any roads leading to the place. We went back and forth on the Calle San Martin the Liberator where the place was supposed to be but no luck. We asked locals who knew nothing and often sent us in the wrong direction. Bill went to the police station and was ushered into an office by an official looking woman who confirmed the address but did not know the place. And we called several times and received a recording that indicated something along the lines that the number was not working. But we had communicated with the place, it had great reviews, and there were gps coordinates.

We kept going back and forth on the main road and then the phone ran out of battery.

We continued to go up and down the Avenda San Martin the Liberator, taking every little gravel off road we could find but ending up at a barn full of hay, a private residence, and a cemetery. We were coming close to giving up when Bill, remember the guy who bought the San Expedito tract and did not make fun of the Difunta, found a place on the dashboard to plug in his phone. The phone came back to life long enough to drop a pin again where the place was and we took more small gravel roads and went up more private drives until the very last one we were going to try as it was getting dark....nirvana. There was our hostess with cold beers, a swimming pool, and a neighbor that would cook and deliver dinner for the grand price of $120 AR or $6 US. (By the way, the phone jack has not worked since.)

Fortunately, Friday was not to be a repeat of the weirdness as the Difunta and Expedito seem to be through with us. After a wonderful breakfast, which included fresh squeezed orange juice from the tree in the backyard we were off, our first stop of the day being the winery Merced Del Estero.(Nothing wrong with hitting the bottle a bit before noon, is there?)

The great thing about the San Juan area is it is bit more laid-back and 'genuine Argentina' in compared to the scene in Mendoza (don't get me wrong, I love both places). Del Estero proved this as there was no charge for the tour and tasting and it was led by the winemaker himself. How we wished we could have, as did the couple doing the tour with us, take several cases home, but we settled for a couple of bottles that may make their way back to Ohio.

The next stop was the Campos de Olivos, where we learned how olive oil was made and enjoyed a taste or two of the product here.

We then drove a bit west of the city to the village of Zonda where the Azul Sierra winery treated us to another tour and sampling, again with no charge and again we left with a few bottles. Lunch was in Zonda at a little place called La Coqueta...a perfectly cooked steak, a nice salad, and a bottle from Azul Sierra. We sat right across the road from where the grapes for the bottle had been picked.

Then it was to downtown San Juan. It is a fairly modern town as in 1944 an earthquake destroyed 94% of the city's buildings. The new buildings are built to fairly exacting standards as there is still a great deal of seismic activity here. In fact there was a small quake her on Monday.

We went to the Graphafina museum and winery and had a great tour with our hostess Juliette. We saw all the old equipment that had been used to make wine including a wine aging barrel that held 200,000 liters of wine!

We have one more day in San Juan, my guess is a couple more vineyards are in store for us.

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Photos

Difunta Correa
The weirdest part of the trip!

The original Difunta Chapel
She looks good after all these years.

Merced del Estero
The winemaker shares with us the fruits of his labors.

Steak and Malbec, its what's for lunch!
The cafeteria at FH is great, but I'll eat here whenever I can.

New Best Friend
Juliette promised to share with me some of the wine in this 200,000 liter cask if I return to San Juan

Bill is stocking up
The rack to his left holds 5,000 bottles of Malbec. We figure it would take us 13.6 years to drink this, unless certain of our friends join in.