The end of the long and wine-ing road

Our last two nights in Mendoza were fantastic! On Thursday night we went to a cooking class where we watched and learned how to make empanadas, chimichurri with steak and caramelized fruit.

All the while our wine glasses were never empty of Malbec. The other students were also fun with a German speaking group of four, two American students from California and a couple of men from the US. One of the German speaking girls was sitting next to Christos and he had to keep indicating that he was here with his lovely wife! We finally left the school/farm/posada around midnight and stumbled back to our place shortly thereafter. The next day was our final day of wine tours and Christos had to skip the first tasting due to overindulgence the prior evening and a desire to do sometime riding. Christos enjoyed a couple short rides between wineries while Lisa travelled in the van.

Lunch was excellent although by the end (3pm) we were so tired we skipped the full winery tour and just hit the wine store. We made it back to Mendoza city shortly after 4pm and rested until dinner ... Dinner was simply amazing and the best meal of our trip. It was at a winery some half hour by cab from our hotel and was prepared by an American/Korean chef named Mun.

Dinner consisted of a chicken-tangerine salad followed by a cold spices soba noodle soup, a sushi plate (oh so yummy), a main of filet mignon with a Malbec reduction (and wasabi mash) and finally dessert of green tea ice cream and biscotti. The meal was served "closed door" which means one big table and no menu per se. We enjoyed chatting with the other diners and finally finished up around midnight for the cab ride back to Mendoza city and a few hours sleep before our early morning ride the next day across the Andes to Chile.

Boxing Day and the next

Our dinner Christmas Day was the best food we have had to date in Argentina! Lisa had a mouth watering steak while Christos once more had the salmon (gout stay away!). Both were excellent. For Boxing Day we were picked up around 10am for a day of bike riding but unforeseen opportunities changed our plans. Before we left Posada Salentein, the local old dog (Mitre), whom we had befriended, decided to take us for a walk around the grounds!

It was really quite touching. After breakfast, we visited the art gallery on the grounds of Posada Salentein which was pretty cool; a mixture of 19th century Dutch paintings, 20th century Argentinian paintings and Argentinian sculpture.

Our guides then suggested we go on the Salentein winery tour and it was worth it. The founder of the Salentein estates is a rich Dutchman and he spared no expense at the winery. Tasting was in an underground room with a huge marble table (perhaps four metres long, a metre wide and half a metre thick). The winery produces some 2m bottles per year, much more than other places we have visited on the trip. We finally got back on the road around 1pm so we were decidedly late for the biking. In any case, Lisa decided to stick with her strengths and passed on biking for the day. We arrived at our next stop, Posada Borravino, around 3pm and our guides started making a yummy lunch of sandwiches and toasted wraps for us. It took some time for lunch or get to our table but by 4:30pm lunch was done and we were stuffed. Christos went out for a short ride, Lisa lounged by the pool and our guides took off with plans to meet us the day after the next for more wine and bike fun. After relaxing for a few hours, it was off to dinner at a restaurant called "Hand of God" which is owned by the same people who own the first winery we visited on the trip. It was a half hour walk to the restaurant so we worked up a good hunger by the time we sat down. Dinner was an interesting experience .... The food was good (really yummy bruschetta and salad) but the service was literally the worst we have ever experienced. It was so bad we had to just roll with it and appreciate the experience for what it was! Our server was a cute dark haired girl who Christos was convinced was a "blonde" in spirit if not in appearance! She took forever with our water, messed up our order, took forever with our wine (which she opened and then plonked down on the table without pouring) and generally made a mess of the whole affair. The crazy thing was we were one of only two tables she had! The other table was a Canadian family so we bonded over the mutual experience ... They had some upside though as the husband ordered the five 2oz glass wine tasting menu but each glass was a free pour and was a full glass at least. We suspect he slept well! We finished dinner after 11pm and wandered back to our hotel where we polished off a half bottle of Sauvignon Blanc while listening to a live band play golden oldies next door until 1am for a local's birthday party!

Feliz Navidad en Mendoza!

Christmas Eve dinner was at the Posada Salentein restaurant and consisted of salad, fish and two desserts. I guess it's double dessert time for holidays! After dinner we wandered back to our room, stopped at the pool on the way and discovered that at night it is the lair of many frogs! After lounging in deck chairs and staring at the stars for a while we headed back to our room, getting to bed some time after midnight. The next way we awoke and exchanged Christmas gifts before heading to breakfast. Breakfast was good, we finally had something more than toast, cheese and meats which seem to be the usual offerings at breakfast buffets in South America. We had omelettes! Then we headed out for a two hour ride which was wonderful! Perfect weather, the Andes in the distance, no traffic and Walkmans for listening to Christos' "All Folked Up" mix. After the ride it was time for lunch (almuerza in Spanish) which was salad followed by yummy beef ribs. We then lounged for a bit playing carcassonne before Christos headed out for another bike ride while Lisa lounged outside our room. Christos visited the Art Gallery on the grounds while riding and although it was closed the sculptures surrounding it piqued his interest.

It is now just after 7pm and we are watching a little television before dinner tonight around 9pm. All in all an excellent way to spend Christmas! See below for link to the "All Folked Up" mix. http://www.4shared.com/mp3/ZWQ-lBIc/All_Folked_Up.html

The Zonda!

Monday the 24th was out first full day in Mendoza and what a day it was! We awoke around 7:30am after a good sleep to get started on our wine and bike riding portion of the trip and met our guides with their van just before 9am. Our first stop was a winery just outside Mendoza city called Achaval Ferrer where we enjoyed the tour and enjoyed the tasting even more! We enjoyed the wine so much that we purchased three bottles to take back home with us! After that is was an hour drive towards the Andes where we visited another small winery called Azul where we bought two more bottles although one (a lovely Sauvignon Blanc) is earmarked for drinking before we return to Canada. We then stopped at Posada Salentein where we will be staying the next two nights to drop off our bags before lunch. What an amazing setting! Manicured gardens with the Andes in the background! Then it was off to lunch at an amazing place called Tupungato Divino. We had our best meal to date at this fine establishment which also boasted an amazing view of the local vineyards with the Andes in the background. Lisa had the steak while Christos had the salmon. At the end of lunch we noticed it suddenly getting hotter ... And then came the wind! This wind is called the Zonda and it blows hot and fierce. We had to cancel our afternoon bike ride due to the Zonda and its concomitant dust and danger. Truth be told, after the wine tasting and huge lunch we were already considering reducing our riding endeavours for the day, the Zonda finalized our decision. So we headed back to Posada Salentein in the van and as we turned on to the road that leads to the Posada we discovered that the beautiful tree lined path had suffered three casualties from the Zonda!

Our guide, his helper and Christos had to clear three trees from the path that had been knocked over by the wind! We finally got to the Posada and wisely decided on an afternoon siesta ....

The road to Wine Country

Our last night in BA was a blast. We arrived around 5pm, had a couple beers on the balcony of our hotel room and then hopped in a cab to go across town for dinner. A co-worker of Lisa's had recommended a place called El Obrero in the neighbourhood of Boca. Boca is a working class district and when we crossed into it our driver reached back and locked the cab door.

El Obrero was awesome. When we arrived the place was empty but all the tables had reservation signs on them; fortunately we had made a reservation as subsequent diners without reservations were turned away. Within half an hour, the place was packed. We had a super yummy cold calamari to start as well as an OK arugula salad followed by two excellent steaks! Christos finished his off (as well as most of a plate of potatoes) but Lisa could only get half way through hers. The waitress was excellent; both attentive and appropriately chatty. After dinner we took a cab back to Palermo and dropped in on a tango bar. When we arrived at 11:30pm classes were underway and we were told the actual dancing would not start until 2am! So we watched the class for a bit before heading back to our hotel as we had an early flight the next day to Mendoza. Back at our hotel, Christos set the alarm for 6:45am and we retired for a short sleep. When we awoke we got ready to head to the airport and then Lisa realized that Christos' blackberry was still on Uruguay time; in other words it was an hour ahead so it went off at 5:45am BA time! We had a little rest then it was off to the airport and the two hour flight to Mendoza. When we arrived in Mendoza our driver was not there to pick us up so we hopped in a cab to our hotel. Lisa put on her bitchy voice with our tour planner on the phone and when we arrived we discovered a bottle of wine with an apology from our tour planner; this smoothed things over quite a bit. We had a lovely salad lunch with really good arugula before heading back to our hotel for a little downtime. Mendoza is much hotter than we had anticipated; well over 30 degrees today and the forecast for tomorrow is even hotter with a high of 39! We shall see how much biking we manage to achieve ...

Last day in Uruguay

We awoke from sound sleep to another gorgeous day in Colonia. Although both of us are a little homesick, a quick look on the Internet to see Toronto weather reminded us why we escape south! We leave today at 5pm; right now it's noonish and we are relaxing in the courtyard of our hotel reading, watching birds frolic in the fountain and enjoying down time. The festivities went pretty late last night, we had to retire before they were finished! We have one last night in BA, and have made reservations at a highly recommended restaurant, and then tomorrow it is off to Mendoza for the next leg of our journey. Mendoza is of course wine country ....

Colonia de Sacramento, Uruguay

We arrived in Colonia de Sacramento on Thursday around 11am after taking the ferry over from BA. Our first day did not start well as the skies poured down rain and our lunch was at a bad tourist trap place. Fortunately the weather improved in the afternoon and the day turned glorious! We had a bottle of wine and cheese at a local bar and enjoyed a fun conversation with two ladies from the US (one from LA, the other from NYC) and two Germans. At 9pm we wandered over to the shore and watched a gorgeous sunset. Our final stop was another bar where we snacked and split another bottle of wine before retiring for the evening. Colonia is quite a change from BA as it is a small quaint town that has maintained its charm with cobbled streets and only two floor buildings. The town was founded by the Portuguese in the late 1500s and changed hands many times over the years. It is quite a popular tourist destination as well as an escape for a few days of calm for residents of BA. Our second day was amazing. Wonderful 25 degree weather and sun! We found a restaurant called La Florida where we had an expensive but awesome lunch; our best meal to date on he trip. Lisa had an excellent salad and steak while Christos had gazpacho and lamb. of course we split a bottle of wine as well. As we left the proprietress chased after us telling us we had left too much money; we told her it was 'propina', or a tip as we were so impressed with the service and the food. After the big lunch and a bottle of wine we retired for a 'conference' (a euphemism for nap).

We also noticed some sort of activity in the main square and found out that tonight (being the 21st) there will be live musician dancing till the wee hours! It's now 8ish and we are off for another wander, view of the sunset and to enjoy tonight's festivities.

A day of Action!

Our plan for today, our last day in BA (Wednesday the 19th) had been to check out the world famous Teatro Colon (opera house). We put on our marching shoes and walked the 5km for our hotel to the opera house only to discover that today they were doing a lighting check ... We could still do the tour but would miss the main auditorium, ie the main attraction! Given the 25 dlr fee each we decided to pass and were both feeling a little disappointed about this turn of events. So we decided to visit Plaza Mayo again to see the Casa Rosada, or government house, as we now had a better appreciation for its role in Argentinian politics. Well were we in for a surprise as today was the day for a huge rally and march to Plaza Mayo! When we arrived things were getting started but not yet in full swing. Drums were being banged, flags being waved and massive BBQs were going to feed people. Turns out it was a rally of union groups for a political party. Each union had its own colours and they seemed to try and outdo each other with their show of support for the local politico.

We were quite amazed as one does not see such grassroots political labour action in Canada. As Lisa was posing for some photos one of the locals decided to get in on the picture; he and his mates were laughing at his bravado and it was all in good fun. After the photo, he passed us a tallboy of Quilmes, the local beer, which was really a lovely act. We hung around for about half a hour then decided to pop into a local bar for a drink. That is when we noticed that the march/rally was all over the news! So after a couple beers we headed back to the Plaza Mayo and by this time it was in full swing. The square was packed and more people kept spilling in from the side streets. It was quite a spectacle and we just hung out for another half hour watching the mayhem. Finally we decided it was time to head back which was a good thing as we were a bit like fish swimming against the current as massive amounts of people continued to head to Plaza Mayo. We walked back to our hotel and are currently in the process of finishing off a nice bottle of Malbec and discussing dinner options (its only 7:30 so dinner is not for another 2 hours). Tomorrow it's off to Uruguay!

Don't cry for me Argentina

The day once more took some time to get started as business issues occupied our time until the early afternoon. We have started calling our holidays "callidays". In any case, by 2pm we were well on our way and our first stop was the Evita museum which was fascinating. It had a major impact on Lisa as she likes tales of strong women.

Truly amazing to think she was dead at age 33 and that for her mourning period the continent of South America literally ran out of flowers! We lingered at the museum for about two hours before heading off to the nearby zoo. While both of us are not wholehearted supporters of the concept of zoos, it was still a fun experience. As it was a gorgeous day (sunny and 25 degrees) we wanted to stay outside so we wandered around the zoo until closing at 6:30pm. We saw capybaras, giraffes, an elephant, rhinos, tigers, a lion, goats, monkeys and other assorted beasties (snakes and birds). The grounds were also filled with wandering black swans and Patagonian Mara which look like jackrabbits. Lisa fed quite a few of the Mara as well as the other animals as we travelled (they sell food pellets at the entrance to feed the animals).

After the zoo we wandered back to our neighbourhood, stopped for a couple of pints in the sun and finally made it out for dinner around 9:30pm at a Mexican place (we needed a change from BBQ). We had intended to go out for Tango but a few drinks too many put is in a sleepy frame of mind so we stumbled back to our hotel shortly after midnight. All in all an excellent day!

The long walk

Our first Monday in Argentina began with beautiful weather, a sky filled with blue and a perfect temperature in the mid 20s (Celsius of course!). After a quick breakfast and some work issues we managed to get out of our hotel around noon for a serious ground pound. We walked down to the botanical gardens which are very cool with lots of plants and a community of semi-wild cats (BA seems to be primarily a dog city) then to the famous statue "floralis generica" and finally to the La Recoleta Cemetery. The cemetery was fascinating as it really is a necropolis packed with mausoleums cheek to cheek and includes the mausoleum of the Duarte family wherein lies the remains of Evita.

We were done our touring by about 5:30pm and then walked back to our hotel which took about another hour. All told we likely walked some four hours! It's now 8ish and we are finishing off a Malbec while relaxing in the garden of our hotel deliberating on dinner. On a side note, last night's dinner was at another Parilla (BBQ place) where we had super yummy chorizo sausages and arugula salad. The chorizo was so yummy that when our waiter asked what we wanted for dessert we decided to split a final sausage!

First weekend in Buenos Aires

We arrived in BA on Saturday afternoon to a bright sunny sky and 36 degree weather (what Christos calls "ballsweaty heat"). Our cab dropped us at the Palermo hotel located near Serrano Plaza in Palermo / Palermo Soho. The hotel is a nice boutique hotel with a lush garden and very friendly staff. After settling in a bit we went for a walk in the neighbourhood, discovered the craft fair (Christos bought a cool pendant for Lisa) had a couple beers and finally got back to the hotel around 8ish. We rested for a bit then headed out for dinner on Argentine time, ie around 10pm! We had OK steaks (we are seeking better) and a yummy 20 dollar Malbec. After dinner we wandered from bar to bar until after 1am. While we had a good time, we were both reminded that we are no longer young ones! The bars were packed with 20 something locals and foreigners. Upon returning to our hotel we realized that our room faced the street and all its incumbent boisterous madness. Sleep was not quickly forthcoming. Lisa had a work call scheduled for 9am so she was a little worried about the lack of sleep but at 8:30am Sunday she received an email indicating the call was not going to happen till later in the week. A bit frustrating as we would like to get our remaining work commitments out of the way! Sunday morning's weather was a veritable deluge of rain with concomitant thunder and lightning! We thought the day was going to be a write off but the clouds broke around 2pm so we headed off to San Telmo where there is a large antique market every Sunday. San Telmo was great! We wandered about for three hours looking at the various goods available and bought a few minor nick naks. Then we wandered around a bit more and found Plaza Mayo which was very interesting as it had a lot of political banners etc in it. We visited the cathedral which houses the tomb of Jose De San Martin complete with two uniformed honour guards in attendance! We finally made it back to our hotel around 7:30pm and convinced the concierge to move our room to a more quiet one. A the present time we are relaxing in the garden sipping a tasty Malbec and discussing dinner plans.

Partying in São Paulo

Christos arrived in São Paulo on Friday afternoon to a serious downpour! So it may be summer in South America but that doesn't mean sun all the time. We got together around 4pm, grabbed some lunch and then relaxed for a bit before heading off to the Yamana Xmas Party (Brazilian office) around 9pm. The party was a blast although a bit odd from a Canadian perspective. A great live band in the reception area, yummy fruity drinks and lots of well made up Brazilian guys and gals. That was all fine and normal but as the evening progressed it became apparent that Brazilian corporate parties are not like Canadian ones ... In the main hall another live band was playing all sorts of weirdness (CCR cover, the gay anthem "it's raining men", a medley of 50s rock etc) and the dance floor was packed with everyone from the receptionist to senior executives (we doubt Yamana's Canadian CEO would ever get down with such gusto if at all!). No dinner was served although plenty of nibblies. When we left at 1am the party was still going strong and we found out later that a samba band started at 2am! The next day we woke up a little groggy, grabbed a quick bite and then off to the airport for our flight to Buenos Aires!

Waiting to start our next adventure

I arrived in São Paulo, Brazil to visit my company office here. I'm counting the sleeps until Christos arrives to accompany me to the São Paulo office Xmas party Friday night. Which I have been told is expected to go well into the wee hours. After that, Christos and I are off on our next adventure - Argentina for Xmas! We hope to be able to update our blog regularly on the trip. Stay tuned.