Mendoza -- Argentine Wine Country

So I stayed one more night in Buenos Aires, and visited a few more parts of the city. During which time I learned that there are a ton of street performers in this city, from the young to the old, and more living statues then I have ever seen.I met an Aussie guy on the street and we hung out together. We went to see Evita´s grave -- it is in a grave yard full of large tombstones and is a bit creepy if you ask me.Then walking past a few parks we came across this crazy flower thing. No idea...It was a good day, but by the time I got back to my hostel I had no energy to go out that night -- which didn´t end up mattering since it poured rain.

The next day I made my way to Mendoza. It is really nice here; tons of pretty parks and such. A small city close to the Andes mountains and in the middle of wine country. So first things first -- in wine country -- a winery tour of course! The hostel had a half day tour organized for that afternoon so -- I went. 2 Wineries, 5 wines to taste, and a chocolate factory -- all in all a good afternoon.

Here is an organic vinyard. The flowers are used for the early detection of diseases (they more sensitive to problems) so that they can use natural minerals to treat the problem. Below are the first fermentation vats, the wine stayin in these for 6 months (white)This is a real barrel, that is being used. It has a lifespan of 100 years, beacuse after each batch of wine is made the barrel is cleaned and that removes a small layer of wood each time.1994 will be an excellent vintage for Argentinian wine, it is still being aged in the barrels.After being aged in the barrels the wine is then ages in bottles, usually for only 60 months, but for good wines it can age for yearsI also learned that if a vintage is good for a wine the number of years it should age for varies. The winery we visited had a great year in 1977 and that wine aged in the barrels for 15 years (instead of the normal 3), but it will be best after 35-36 years, after which it will deteriorate. Craziness -- how do people determine this sort of stuff?!?

After the winery tour I met up with a girl from the tour for dinner, and then we went to find a show that we had read about in a nearby park. We found the park no problem, but finding the show was another story. It had sounded like a big thing, so we figured it would be easy to find -- but although it was big -- it was not so easy to find. The first person´s directions sounded easy enough -- but -- not really -- maybe she thought we were driving -- eventurally someone told us it was really far -- so we got in a cab-- and finally found it. When we finally got there it didn´t look like much but, it turned out to be great. To get into the main part you had to pay -- but the locals were all siting on the mountains around the performance for free -- so we joined them. The show (music and dancing) was great -- the staging was really cool. There were some ´grapes´ off to one side that people eventually emerged from and a train that rode in from off to the side -- quite cool.The fireworks were also fun.Jahudka (the girl I was with) really liked them, I think Japan has ruined me for fireworks, ´cause I just thought they were good, but nowhere near those that I saw in Japan.

The City of the Tango

Buenos Aires is the city of the Tango, and I was determined to see some before leaving. But being on budget I wanted to find one of the free street performances -- and I did. I just followed the instructions in the LP -- and walked right into this performance!
This is another big South American city -- lots of pretty buildings and statues. I have stoped taking pictures of all of them, ´cause there are just too many, but I do have a few pics.They have a clock tower designed to look like Big Ben and they have a monument that looks the like Washington Monument (to me -- but I´m not sure if it is meant to be a copy or not). I really liked the cross on this church.
I spent today wandering and will do the same tomorrow. Tonight I found a Japanese restaurant -- ummm miso ramen. Soon I will head out towards the mountains -- there is a ranch hostel in Cordoba that I want to go to.

Way too cute!

Colonia del Sacramento, Uraguay, is a small town that is just too cute. The old part of town has it´s orignal cobblestone streets and most of the buildings are also original. Now this isn´t that unusual in south America, parts of many major cities are like that. The differences here though are significant. First, the city is safe, even without a large contingent of police. It feels safe everywhere you go. It is also clean, so much so that it is lacking the lovely odor that is often present in other South American cities. Finally there is a definate absence of people trying to cheat you. There are people trying to sell you things, but they do not try to cheat you -- even the cabbies are honest. There are also tons of pretty gardens and flowers.The whole country is like this. Uraguay is unbelievable. It feels like it should be somewhere in the Mediterranian, not in South America. The cities and towns are well maintained, the bus station in Montevideo (the capital) is unreal -- it would not be out of place in North America. There are cute little town squares in every town with fountains and statues.Me and Andrea a Kiwi I met on the bus from Punta del Diablo to Montevideo.As I walked past these kids they started talking about taking pictures (in Spanish -- I love that I understand the native language) when I asked if they wanted me to take their picture they got really excited -- very cute!

The little coastal town I stayed in for 2 days (Punta del Diablo) reminded me of little towns along the south shore of Nova Scotia -- except for the plam trees. My very own deserted beach -- yea!

The first place I visited here was a hot spring park. It was a huge area full of large hot water swimming pools. The only problem was that there was only one pool of cold water, and it was pretty hot out -- so the hot water although relaxing was not refreshing. Even the showers were hot water -- they must be pumping it out of the ground like that. It was still very nice -- I got a massage and fell asleep on the table :)

This has be an unbelievably relaxing part of my trip -- although this afternoon I head to Buenos Aires, which should be great, but definately back to regular South America.