Driving Ourselves Crazy

---

Geo: -34.5, -68.5

At breakfast this morning we met six of Holland's best beer drinkers trying hard not to get drunk before 1pm. They're a funny group--a couple of them grew up in Poland and said that there, you can't buy alcohol until after 1pm, hence the whole not getting drunk before 1:00 part. We haven't seen any party-ers here at this quiet little hostel--they're a bit of a novelty. But the hysterical part was when they said they were going to Maipu to the wineries today and I got to laughing and couldn't stop.

Bob had to explain that we'd rented this car yesterday intending to drive to San Rafael 250km away and had gotten lost. We drove for seven hours and only made it to Maipu, 4 km away. But we had a fun day driving through beautiful orchard and vineyard country.

Argentina doesn't bother with route signs on their highways. They're on the maps, but not the roads, so you never know where you're going until you come to a town and can pinpoint your location. You can be driving along and your road comes to a T and there you are--NO IDEA which way to go unless you have a GPS or a compass, which of course none of us were smart enough to bring. Plus it was overcast so there wasn't a sun to guide by, or mountains for reference.

We stopped for directions a dozen times and never once could follow them --it's really hard. First you have to translate the words, then you have to translate the hand gestures. Por aca is "over there". You take the road over there.

Where exactly is "over there"?

Well it obviously isn't anywhere near where it ought to be.

But in our ramblings we came upon the cutest little town called Rivadavia. We liked it so much we parked and did a little shopping. Inga wanted to buy a T shirt and we found a little store with the nicest, most accommodating clerks immaginable. They pulled piles and piles of T shirts down off the shelves for her to look through and when she just couldn't find the right one--they all had English sayings on them and she wanted something from here, not home--anyway, when she finally gave up and left the shop we'd gone about half a block when one of the clerks came running up to us: Senora, senora...he'd found a shirt.

What can you do when they're that cute? You buy the shirt. So now her son has an Argentina shirt with a warm and fuzzy story. Little did we know that that little town 10 km out of Mendoza would be the highlight of our day.

We'd been told how this whole area was green only because of the irrigation canals begun by the Incas 500 to a thousand years ago. Why is the city of Mendoza situated here and not along the shores of the river?

Because this is where the Incas built their irrigation system to water these fertile lands. This is such productive land there are fresh fruit and vegetable stands on every corner and trucks haul produce to Chile by the tons. And then there's the wine of which they are so very proud. Don't know much about wine, but they'll tell you their Malbec is the best in the world.

The men were the drivers today, us women the navigators, so there's not even anyone we can blame--although that didn't stop Bill and Bob from a friendly rivalry over who got us lost first, or lost worse, or lost most.

After several more hours of driving in circles we sent Inga off for directions and she wins the prize. She'll forever after be proclaimed the direction-getter of choice because the guy she talked to got so frustrated trying to explain in his limited English he got in his truck and said follow me! and he took us out of town.

We turned the car in early and came back to the hostel for a much needed siesta. Then we headed back downtown for a fantastic festival of wine growers in the region. Argentina has almost 1,000 wineries and 70% of them are here in Mendoza, so this yearly festival is a very big thing. There must have been a half million people on that plaza. Singers and dancers performed on the stage and there were kiosks set up all along the perimeter selling really beautifully made things--I could have spent a ton of money.

---

Photos

Let's Try These
They were so intent on helping her find the perfect shirt, they had her looking at most everything in the store.

No Bathing--Danger of Death
One of the irrigation canals we drove by. This water is deep and moving fast.

Bathing Beauty
Inga's not going to let a little danger of death slow her down.

Hot Water for Mate Drinkers
Mate is so big here they have hot water dispensers like we have for cold.

How you get a slice of ham at a gas station
This is the good stuff--jamon crudo, right off the bone.

Grilling Chicken the Argentinean Way
Argentines know their meat. They grill a truckload of meat and chicken on these parillas. First they make a wood fire, then when the coals are right they pile on the meat. The aroma is incredible.

Rack of Lambs
You're looking at whole lambs, split open and hanging to slowly roast around this fire. This is Argentine asado at it's finest and it's what they do best. If you're a meat eater, this is heaven.

Comments

[sdpaddlebum]

I think getting lost is the best way to find the GOOD stuff.At least that's what I keep telling CherylMitch

[bobnkaren]

Us too. Everything's like a first discovery.

[john]

You are an excellent photographer. I will be visiting Mendoza in late March ...any suggestions on places to eat or hang out.

[bobnkaren]

Thank you for your kind comments. And yes! we have some great suggestions for places to stay and to eat. I don't know what your budget is, but if you're like us and want to spend money on fun things to do rather than fancy places to stay, y
ou might like where we are: Chimbas Hostel on the corner of Cobos and Accesso. You can find them on hostels.com or hostelworld.com. Also, around the corner from here is the best restaurant for meat in town. Don Mario. Then today we discovered wonderful restaurants on Calle Sarmiento just one block north from Plaza Independencia. Forget finding anything edible on the pedestrian paseo near the plaza, but it's a lovely place to wander or stop at a sidewalk cafe for a drink.