Mendoza

We arrived here a few days ago after crossing the Andes on a bus. The buses here are really good and put Redline and the MTT to shame (are they still called that?). We had a few minor hassles, the first was that they did not give me a ticket for my backpack when I put it on the bus and when w

e got off, were not keen to give my pack back to me + they could not understand a word of English and I couldn't understand them. Somewhat frustrating :-S. Then we went into the bus station and Kim couldn't get any money out of the ATM. I tried and it worked first time - we both have Wizard Mastercards so dunno what happened there.

The next day we went on a 1/2 day winery and olive oil farm tour. That was great because we had English speaking guides that were very passionate about their wines and educated us about how to appreciate a wine's taste, colour, structure and aroma - even how to hold a wine glass properly.

We got shown all the stages of wine growing and production and ended up buying a few bottles which unfortunately we must drink soon because it is difficult to carry much more than we are now.

The olive oil tour was just as good with similar explanations and tastings. They make an olive paste here which I have never had before and has an excellent flavour. You can really taste the difference between a good olive oil and an ordinary one, its hard to describe, other than to say it somehow has a more waxy/earthy taste and texture.

That night we wandered around Mendoza unt

il we found a posh restaurant. We were just about their first customers of the night at 8 pm. We ordered pepper steaks but got steak with mushrooms, but overall it was OK and probably cost about $40 AU for both of us with our drinks.

The next day we went for a walk up to a huge park in the city called Parque San Martin (Saint Martin park). There is a zoo somewhere inside the park that we didn’t end going to, because we had had enough after walking about 15 kms. At one stage we were a bit lost and I managed to ask for directions and our current location all in Spanish. I still feel surprised when people understand me.

Later that night we went to another restaurant, this one was crap unfortunately. I ordered mashed potatoes by pointing at the item on the menu and somehow ended up with pumpkin. The pork spare ribs that I got eventually were tough and very salty. Kim really enjoyed her lasagne though.

Mendoza is a big provincial city and it is really flat here, with the snow-capped Andes rising in the distance. There are wineries everywhere and heaps of olive trees. It has a bit of a European feel to it with lots of street dining.

There are hardly any beggars here and those that are here don't look that poor.

The other interesting thing is there is a reticulated irrigation system here with water canals that date back to the time of the Incas. They look like big gutters but with lots of water flowing fast through them. An earthquake here in 1861 killed over 5000 people.

Currently we are sort of trapped here because the road across the Andes is closed due to snow. We might even have to stay two extra nights here. But oh well, you get that I s'pose, I'm happy taking it easy :-)