Mendoza

After an all night bus ride from BA I reached La Tierra de Sol y Buen Vino - the land of sun and good wine, this morning. Today that could have been more accurately restated as La Tierra de Nieve(snow) y Bien Vino. It was a little over a 1,000 Kilometer bus ride, basically the width of Argentina. Although the bus was luxury enough I managed to get very little sleep as a result of the portly paunchy porteno occupying both seats next to me. Yes that was plural - seats, not a typo. To say this man snored would be an understatement of criminal proportion. It was more like sonic fury with yours truly being well within the blast radius. It was like sharing a room with a lumberjack dreaming of a Denny's Grand Slam Breakfast. After arrival and collecting my luggage I made my way to the curb to hail a taxi. Standing beneath a pair of date Palms, large flakes of clean white mountain snow began to collect on my black jacket. I peered up through the fronds of the Palm Tree above to see the snow fall. It was like the Christmas I never had in LA! It was at this moment it occurred to me that I might in fact be in the Central Andes. Subsequently I checked into the Acongagu Hotel in Plaza Italia and laid down for a long Winter's nap.

Upon leaving the hotel this afternoon I braced myself for the cold. I zipped, buttoned, covered and tucked myself comprehensively only to be met by 50 degree weather. This struck me as odd since this morning as I was checking in to the hotel snow was falling heavy and sticking. I believe this sudden change in temperature is due to a phenomenon called La Zonda which is hot western wind from the Pacific that dumps it's precipitation on the top of the Andes and when it reaches the Argentine side of the Andes it becomes just a hot wind empty of cargo. I am no meteorologist but I do believe everything I read.

Feeling rested and somewhat relieved that the lumberjack from the night before was nowhere around I took a leisurely stroll around Mendoza City. It is a city albeit a small one with a population of just over 130K. The town or err city is laid out in a hub and spoke pattern with the main Plaza, Plaza Indepencia in the center and four satellite plazas surrounding it. The city is devoid of any high rise activity with very wide and leafy sidewalks. The Sycamore Tree is ubiquitous. The Sycamores hug the edges of the sidewalk on both sides of the street forming a canopy that apparently makes the summer heat here somewhat palatable. In addition to the Sycamore another salient characteristic is the irrigation ditches that flow alongside every block. They are known as "acequias", a piece of engineering that is a throw back to the Colonial era that is still in use today. They are used to take run off water from the Andes for agricultural purposes. The presence of these ditches poses something of a danger to someone like myself who might be backing up to frame a shot with a digital camera. There were two close calls today before I learned that although a picture might be worth a thousand words it is never worth a broken ankle.

After a month in Buenos Aires it was relieving to sit in a couple of Cafes that did not claim that Carlos Gardel and Louis Borge had regularly hung out there. I make this last point somewhat tongue in cheek but sheesh did Hemingway drank at every establishment in Havana(although that might be true) or the were the Kray Twins reallly regular patrons of every pub in East London. Enough already! Anyway here the Malbec grape is the star and thankfully there are no signed pictures of it adorning the walls. Amen.

I paid a visit to the Centro Mercado which might possibly be the best market I have ever seen. There were no food stuffs that weren't readily obtainable - herbs, grains, chicken, fish, wine, arsenal bread, helado, steaks, organ meats, cured hams, you name it. It was all here under one roof.

At one point this afternoon I stopped into a cafe to eat lunch. It was now beautiful spring weather outside and I was famished from all the walking I had done. Midway though my sandwich two of the employees went outside for a cigarette. When the waitress went to open the door the whole door shattered into a million pieces. I am no engineering expert but I opened the same door to come in and it was clearly 1/2 inch thick or so of tempered glass. I couldn't help but wonder if the extreme changes in temperature played a part in that spontaneous shattering?(La Zonda?) Everything suddenly became a bit surreal, it had now started snowing again, the door was gone and they were playing Tropicalia music. I sat at my table in what was now a wind tunnel, looking out on Palm Trees and falling snow while listening to Tropical sounds on the the stereo. I was not sure quite what to think at this point. I offered up my janitorial services to the employees now collecting glass outside and afterwards they invited me out with them tonight for some dancing.

Anyway tomorrow it's off to either Lujan De Cuyo or Maipu for some wine tours and a natural spa. Both of these are just outside of the city. The pic at the top of this post is of the Basillica De San Francisco. This is the church of the Virgin of Cuyo. Cuyo being a geographical term which comprises the area of Mendoza, San Juan and San Luis, all within Mendoza Province. The Virgin of Cuyo was the patron saint of José de San Martín and his amry when marched over the Andes to beat back the Spanish in order to win independence for both Chile and Peru.

Ciao for now
Talk more later.

CT