Musings on Mendoza

So folks, here´s some more words and pics from Argentina.

Colin is a little more settled in to the way of things here now after his first ten days. It did take a while, but it was the same for me on the cycling trip, I guess. Apparently he booked his trip as a challenge, and he´s found plenty of them so far. The poor bellboy (!) at the lovely hotel we stayed in Mendoza hadn´t seen a Paton Panic before. Colin´s feeling better now and has been busy taking photos. I nearly dozed off waiting for him in Plaza España...but I got caught on camera!

Anyway Colin enjoyed his first Mate (Argentine tea, pron. Mat-tay) at the home of an estancia owner. Here he is slurping up the contents of a bull´s testicle aka the mate cup through the bombilla (straw). Tasty!

Mendoza was a bit of a shock to the system after Bariloche, it was a highly refined and sophisticated metropolis full of tree lined wide pavements with cafes and beautiful plazas and delicious food. And proper bitumen roads, and decent cars. Hurrah! Possibly Mendoza was a little too sophisticated for a Gainsborough Gal like myself to feel completely at home in, but I am sure I could get used to it. The city (pop 2 m) was rebuilt after an earthquake one Easter, 150 years ago and most of the city was rebuilt in one go. The buildings in the centre are low rise, ornately designed by a French architect, with 5 beautiful plazas dotted round so people have a safer place to run to in the event of another earthquake. Each street has an irrigation channel beneath it to water the beautiful Plane trees which are mostly taller than the buildings. Because it is so arid, water is very precious - each vineyard gets a share of the water supply from the mountains only once per fortnight.

I tried to drag Colin off to the Episcopal Church on Easter Sunday but needless to say he was delighted when I couldn´t find it. So we went to the park instead. I thought we´d seen most of the city but when we got to the park we discovered it was 5 miles wide - the same width as the island of Jersey. It took a full day to get round it. Most of it was intricately landscaped and manicured and the influences were clearly European. Just like the rest of the city. We later watched some street theatre and had yet another steak for dinner washed down with the all important Malbec.

Since then we´ve from Mendoza and are ensconced in the miniature apartment I rented for us in the leafy Palermo district of Buenos Aires right by the Porsche garage. Just like Colinton. Except the street I´ve to cross to get to the tube station to go to class has 13 lanes of traffic, all on tidal flow. Not that the direction makes much difference.

I have had a few days at the language school here in BA. Colin and I were both checked in for lessons but Colin opted out in the end. Not sure why....he assures me it wasn´t anything to do with the 9 am start the other side of the city!

More on the big city next time.....ahora we must get ready for the dinner and tango show we´ve booked in for with some friends from the language school.

Adios!