MmmMendoza

A bit like Mecca for us... we had drunk so much wine from Mendoza back home, we decided to visit the source. It's a surprisingly green city, considering it's in the middle of a desert and for some reason, all the bars have sofas on the street. 

But what am doing drinking beer?  I cover my face in shame and quickly organise a trip to a winery. Bodega Sottano offered a picnic with their tour - we liked eating Japanese-style off a gingham tablecloth on a packing crate...

Excellent rose and I learned a lot about how wine is made which I immediately forgot after we drank the bottle of rose. (Sorry no accent but you know I mean pink wine not a flower.)

 And now here's a picture of Switzerland:

Actually, the Lake Geneva lookalike is a manmade lake in Mendoza's vast Parque San Martin.  We got lost trying to hike to the lookout point Cerro de Gloria and eventually had to flag a cab in the middle of the park.

But the view from the top was wonderful, it left me speechless (for once, said Pete).

Crossing the Andes

The bus ride from Mendoza to Santiago goes right through the Andes so cue lots of spectacular mountain shots. When the bus driver pulled over to the side of the road half hour into the trip, I thought he was stopping so we could take pictures.  Turns out the bus had broken down and we sat there for an hour, waiting for a 'replacement bus service'. Had London Underground been giving them lessons on how to run a transport system? 

Anyway, we got going eventually and I took far too many pictures of mountains, the only good shot being this one of the highest peak in the Americas, Aconcagua, which apparently people climb when they're not wearing hairshirts.

And I saw a flying saucer.

We finally arrived in Santiago, and took a cab which got extremely lost and at one point, took us down a one-way street the wrong way. Our lovely, if difficult to find, guesthouse was in the posh neighbourhood of Providencia - it is one of the hotels I was reviewing for i-escape, you can read my review here.

Our hosts had a bottle of Chilean Carmenere waiting in our room – our days of Argentinian Malbec were over. Oh well, pass the corkscrew.

Smog and Sours in Santiago

Santiago is smaller and smoggier than BA - but you can always see the mountain backdrop through the haze. Basta mountains! I said, so we stayed on ground level, doing the sightseeing thing and stopping every so often (well, quite often) for a Pisco Sour. Here's a quick art lesson we learned while walking the streets of Santiago:

Ancient Statue

Modern Statue

Living Statue

Actually the old guy is in the really cool Pre-Colombino Museo and apparently he's wearing his enemy's flayed skin. Wonder if it's waterproof...

There are some fantastic views of Santiago with the Andes as backdrop - here is one on Cerro Santa Lucia that Pete is completely ignoring as he is looking for something much more important:  the next lunch spot.

Here's what he should have been admiring:



Then it was time to switch hotels again - our next i-escape stay in Santiago was at the funky, friendly Meridiano Petit Sur, you can read my review here.

The High Life

The most spectacular mirador (lookout) in Santiago is from the summit of Cerro San Cristobal - we zipped up in the funicular and then walked up stone stairs, guided by the Virgin's Immaculate Reception.









Frankly, I felt Mary should be using sunscreen....

Eventually we ceased the secular wisecracks and just drank in the view.

But our high didn't stop when we got to the bottom.  At the foot of the mountain stands Santiago's super-chic boutique hotel, The Aubrey, where we were booked for an i-escape review stay in the very swish Art Deco Suite - we wasted no time cracking the wine and pretending we stayed in this kind of luxury all the time.

We call this our 70s album cover shot.                 Duke brought out the uke...

He hasn't exhausted the possibilities of this instrument.

Don't worry, none of these pics appear in my proper review of The Aubrey for i-escape.

Arrival in BA

My painstaking-with-a-Spanish-dictionary-translation: Reflection and dialogue will diminish difficulties in your social diary. A certain person you are in debt to shares a similar viewpoint.

Google Language Tools Translation: Reflection and dialogue will reduce the difficulties in dealing with partner Diaro. Approaching people you should evaluate a similar assessment.


My translation is mejor (better), no? Who the hell is Diaro? My partner's name is Pete and I am indebted to him because without his brilliant facility with Spanish I would be lost, sorry, perdido, in Buenos Aires. And there is no difficulty with our social diary because we immediately booked a date with Echo and the Bunnymen, who were there to greet us when we arrived at our apartment (luckily this tree was being cut down as we would never have noticed them!)

Anyway, our apartment is cool with special features like a spiral staircase and a balcony. Note Pete is ignoring the view from the balcony. Well, it is of a motorway...

But a very futuristic motorway... at night, the buildings beside it create an exotic skyline.

Exploring the Barrio

Just across from the vast expanse of Avenida 9 de Julio which our apartment overlooks is the boho neighbourhood of San Telmo. We immediately headed for a cold chopp (small glass) de cerveza in the atmospheric Bar Plaza Dorrega. Chop and chat!

And the bill was peanuts! The pound is very strong against the peso, for instance, 100 pesos is less than 15 pounds. You can get a great bottle of wine in grocery stores for less than two quid. Needless to say, we're going to grocery stores more often than we used to...

Amongst the crumbling colonial buildings and cobblestone steets, San Telmo has wonderfully colourful murals.

And there's a terrific arts and crafts fair on Sundays but you can buy antiques anytime in the various shops - I got a pair of vintage pearl earrings for a tenner at this galeria.

Big and Bold BA

Away from our groovy barrio of San Telmo, the city of Buenos Aires moves into monument mode, with immense statues and grand buildings surrounding the Plaza de Mayo, and lining the avenidas that radiate outwards from this historical centre.

Above left, the neo-classical Catedral Metropolitana and right, the Piramide de Mayo in front of the Casa Rosada - we love that the executive government offices are pink!

Feeling a bit wind-blown after our walk down the 13 blocks of Avenida de Mayo, ending at the imposing Congreso de la Nacion, we were hungry and decided it was time to try one of Argentina's famous steaks at a well-known parilla, El Desnivel. Sorry, vegetarians, but the bife de lomo I ate was absolutely delicious - meat that actually melted in the mouth!

We also like these modern additions to BA's architecture - the Floralis Generica, which actually 'blooms', opening its steel petals in the morning and closing them at dusk. 

And in the Canary Wharf-like area of Puerto Madero, the Puente de la Mujer (bridge of women) which I am attempting to recreate by er, pointing.

Close-up, the strings are meant to emulate a woman tango dancer being pressed by her male partner in an homage to the tango. Mmm, sounds a bit submissive, perhaps its time we investigated why it has to take two to tango.

Tango Schmango

Our first stop in this town of tango was the old-world Confiteria Ideal for a traditional milonga - this is where tango lovers of all ages (we were some of the younger folks there) meet to dance together to songs played by well, a DJ, although nobody yells 'Choon' or waves their hands in their air or anything silly like that.... tango is quite a serious business. We just watched, which is perfectly acceptable to do and I thought, 'hey I can do that!'

Boy, was I wrong. Our tango lesson at Le Catedral (an arty, grungy warehouse for hipsters) set me straight. Well, actually not straight, as tango is a series of steps in straight lines where the woman has to follow the man's lead. Pete says this unusual arrangement was not helped by my even more unusual Spanish counting method: 'uno, dos, cuatro, seis'.... 

So it was back to spectator status at Plaza Dorrego - I can't decide what I am more envious of in this clip, the woman's amazing foot work or her equally amazing dress.

Recalling Recoleta & Palermo Parks

With our tango career dead in the water, we thought it time to visit BA's most beautiful cemetery where notable Argentines are buried, usually in grandiose granite masoleums. 



It's a bit fussy but it's what she wanted.








Sorry, visiting hours are over.



He only went out to get the paper...

West of Recoleta cemetary, we found more statues in the Jardin Botanico in the posh neighbourhood of Palmero.



The bowls tournament deteriorated after
the introduction of absinthe at half-time.




God, please give me bigger breasts.

 

Tomorrow I'm putting a time limit on teatime
for Romulus and Remus.

When we stopped for a drink at Plaza Cortazar (named after Argentine writer Julio Cortazar who wrote a book of short stories called 'We Love Glenda So Much', so naturally my fave Latin American author) I was most pleased to receive a free perfume sample from a couple of pretty girls with too much starch in their skirts.

(Please click on 'Older Posts' to read about our trips out of BA)

Beyond Buenos Aires

The suburb of Mataderos, formerly the main meat-packing district, hosts a weekend feria of folk dancing and asados, a just-off-the-ground open grill - the bloke attending this one was a warning not to over-indulge in too much carne.

Kissing couple Juan y Milta put on a charming display that was a welcome break from tango (no I'm not bitter).

An even larger feria drew us to San Antonio de Areco, about two hours from BA, where we saw some true gaucho (cowboy) action. I became quite the gaucho groupie after watching these boys herd their horses, especially in the middle of the street!

Unfortunately, I seemed to attract the older, more um, endowed gauchos - the younger ones were too busy drinking beer or talking on their mobile. 

The other ones were cute, but jailbait... it was time to head away from hombres on horses and cruise down the peaceful bayou-esque waterways of the Tigre delta. 



We almost squatted this adorable cottage.



But we had plans to go even further beyond BA - to another country!