Chilecito and Mendoza

From Cachi, we´ve had two overnight bus rides, which have gotten progressively worse.  We were spoiled at the beginning of our trip, when the buses had first class, and now we´re stuck with semi-camas.  But even worse than that is the arctic blast air conditioning and smelly feet!  At one point in an unknown nightly hour, I leaned over to Jacob and started smelling his shirt because anything else was better than the smell coming from the young fellow´s shoes directly behind me.  But we´re spacing out our long bus rides now, and only have to be gross and stiff every month or so now.

Chilecito was an unplanned stop, only to break up the 20 hour bus ride to Mendoza, but it turned out to be fabulous.  We found a 4 hectare little farm and bed and breakfast surrounded with olive, peach, pear and plum orchards.  The owner just so happened to be the local tour guide too, so we got some free advice on beautiful hikes in the surrounding mountains.

We met two travel writers in Chilecito.  One Aussie who wrote for Lonely Planet and was currently living in Leon, Spain.  We got to chat a little about the Camino and trade books!  The only other people staying at the farm was a couple from Madrid who were journalists doing a story on the cable cars that make Chilecito famous.  They spoke good english, and also shared our frustrations with trying to ¨get things done¨here in an efficient manner.  They, however, speak perfect spanish, which gives them a distinct advantage over us.  It only takes them two hours to complete a task rather than two days!  The weather has been hot and very dry, as you can tell by the pictures of Jacobs heals :)  It´s been great running and hiking weather though, and our hand-washed clothes dry in half the time now.

The region around Chilecito is known for it´s wine, as well as Mendoza, and we went on our first wine tour.  It was in Spanish so we only got bits and pieces, but we got the full effect of the tasting!  At the little grocer down the street from where we stayed, we were looking to try out our wine smarts, and because they they were all from the local region we just picked a mid-range priced one.  But the old man behind the counter shook his finger at us, proclaimed that he was Italian and ademantly recommended the 2 pesos 80 cent bottle (the cheapest).  And it was absolutely fabulous, with a slight sweetness to wet our whistle before dinner, sitting on the porch in the evening watching the locals walk and ride by on their bikes and mopeds.  There´s no other word to describe this place but tranquilo.

Mendoza is a charming city.  It has all the modern conveniences, class, and opportunities as Buenos Aires, but is smaller, has big streets and sidewalks, less people and TREES!  There´s this amazing urban park here where we go running every morning, with tree lined trailes, fountains, brooks, statues, a lake with a rose garden and so much more.  We would stay here longer if we could find an economical apartment, but they´re just outside of our price range.  But we´re definitely going to be here for at least a week and a half, if not two, exploring the wine region and maybe doing some rafting.  Tomorrow we have our first paid excursion set up, doing a multi-bodega (vineyard) wind tour, including a gourmet lunch, on bikes!  We´re expecting fun times with the tasting, although we will definitely have to spit, if each bodega serves the same amount as the one we went to in Chilecito.  We´ll try to represent gringos well by tasting in moderation!

A phenomenon that we´ve been noticing in all cities in Argentina (Mendoza included) is the never-ending supply of heladerias, or ice cream shops.  Any time of the day or night there´s people eating ice cream, which leaves us wondering if they actually eat meals.  We get baffled on a daily basis thinking about the Argentinian diet, which consists pretty much solely of bread or pastries, dulce de leche (creamy caramel spread), ice cream and meat.  Maybe they´ve discovered the secret combination to health, because I think we´ve seen maybe only one or two obese people in the whole country, and hardly any overweight individuals, except for the occasional older woman (of course).  Sugar, bread and meat...the next fad diet.

Also, just to add a touch of class, in restaurants you drink sodas out of wine glasses, and only a vulgar American would be caught dead drinking a soda from the bottle withOUT a straw.  I feel so feminine and dainty.  And to add to the ambiance, just walk into a grocery store.  There you will find either pop music or a regional favorite, with husky, grown men, either working there or patrons, belting out the words to the song.  You´re not a manly man in Argentina unless you can sing...and loud!

Oh!  I almost forgot about the most exciting part about Mendoza.  There´s quite a variety of food, and great restaurants here.  But yesterday we found a Vegetarian Restaurant (tenedor libre) that would convert anyone.  It made me sooo happy, and healthy.  I even went into my philosophy on how vegetarian food contributes to a light, airy way of life, while meat tends to lean towards the dark side.  Even Jacob was drooling over the lentils and various assortments of vegetarian delights.  The owner liked us (probably because we kept raving about the food) and we expect to go back within the next couple of days.  The atmosphere was pleasantly open, with large glass windows, soft music playing the in the background and earthy people wandering around, men with beards, women with flowy skirts.  It was right out of the vegetarian handbook of stereotypes, but I felt strangly comfortable and at home there, not wanting to venture back into the carne promoting streets.  It was a good day.