I am...PMRgentina.: Four Days in Mendoza

Well friends,

The time has come again for me to update le old blog, hope there are still some people out there curious as to what's up and reading this thing because these pictures always take a goddamn millenium to upload, especially on our shared slow as shit internet. Not that I'm bitter or anything.

Anyways, my roommate Dan's family came to town a few weeks back and had planned a trip out to Mendoza for themselves, Dan, and Dan's little sister. To my great fortune Dan's little sister couldn't make the trip for basketball tryouts and the Koch's had a nonrefundable flight, so I got the invite.

Score.
Mendoza is a beautiful Argentine city located near Chile and the Andes mountain range. It's full of parks and trees and beautiful cobblestone walking streets. After an extended period in Buenos Aires it was a much welcome break from the craziness of inner city life to be in a calmer place. Mendoza actually strictly observes the siesta- a break in almost all commerce between the hours of approximately 130 and 5pm.

This beautiful fountain was right in the middle of the main plaza. Underneath is the Mendoza is el museo municipal de arte moderno, aka the biggest waste of 8 pesos for a photography exhibit I've ever spent. I'll leave the translating of the museum name up to you, don't hurt yourself non-Spanish speakers.

The trees that lined all the parks and roads gave for some great shade

A walking street, lined with cafes and shops. Notice the distinct absence of trash or homeless.

daytime view of the main park, half a block from the hotel

and the majestic nighttime view. We asked a doorman what the red thing that resembles santa's hat is and he responded "creo que es la gorra de papa noel", or "i think it's santa's hat". Needless to say, I don't think he knew either haha

Argentina has great trees

I definitely wanted to get a picture of this lone gazebo in the checkered tree shade, it was just an added bonus that there was a schoolyard couple canoodling right in the middle to make it such an interesting picture.

"che! foto! foto! sacanos una foto! recuerdos de mendoza!"

"hey! photo! photo! take a photo of us! memories of mendoza!"

We were talking around this park this day during the siesta, so a ton of school kids were in the park just hanging out and taking it easy. This group of boys were particularly excited to be part of our experience, and got pretty excited even though all I did was raise my hand above my head and snap a quick photo. In general I have to say the Mendocinos were more welcoming and friendly than the Portenos we deal with on a daily basis, although this largely could just be the difference between being a tourist and actually being a resident.

This handkerchief drawing on the ground is in honor of the "desaparecidos" or the "disappeared". The desaparecidos are those that were bagged, kidnapped, and murdered by the totalitarian government, and a big part of Argentina's painful past. If you've been following along this blog, I think I've referenced them a few times before.

So enough about Mendoza the city, and on to how we actually spent our time in Mendoza. Mendoza is very famous for its wine, and supposedly makes the best Malbec in the world. The climate is ideal for growing the grapes and hosts upwards of 1200 vineyards, the vast majority of which were started in the last 15 years. The Kochs are a family who appreciate their wine, so I was fortunate enough to go with them to see some of these amazing vineyards and try some incredible wines. Sure beats three buck chuck.

My first wine tasting, a selection of the finest malbecs from the Mendoza region. Before this I had really never been much of a wine fan but I was really impressed with all of the different flavors and characteristics that were present in each of these wines, not to mention their superb taste.

So on day two we headed to the clos de los 7 vineyards, about an hour and a half from Mendoza city. The vineyards are comprised of 5 vineyards jointly owned by 5 of the most important French families, including and coordinated by Michel Rolland- apparently quite a big name in the wine game. This is a map of their resort and the different crops they grow.

Other than some deserty plains and looming mountains, you'll notice a large dust cloud to the right. The day we went to the vineyards the zonda came through, a wind storm that rolls through Mendoza a few times a year. It starts as a cool wet wind in Chile, drops all its humidity in the Andes, and then comes to Mendoza all hot and dry to mess things up. It was super windy, many trees were down, power was lost to many of the suburbs, and two people died from falling tree branches. The zonda is no joke.

The view pulling up to the first vineyard, Monteviejo. Some pretty cool architecture. The entire place is on a slight slope allowing them to use gravity instead of traditional methods to do some process, but neither Dan nor I can remember which it was. Cool concept though

baby grapes

The view from the deck. Not bad, eh?

Some of the distillation tanks at Monteviejo

The lab. I think they do tests and stuff here. I can't be sure, I'm no scientist.

The second vineyard: Diamandes.
Diamandes (diamonds) + andes= Diamandes. That's actually pretty clever

And this is where the diamond comes from. A super impressive and modern diamond statue. The statue, when viewed directly from above, actually makes the shape of a diamond.

The diamond from the ground floor. I could post pictures of the vineyard, but this diamond really was the coolest part.

and the view from the basement level, below the diamond. I couldn't help but feel this room should be called something like the immortal's chamber- but it's just the owners personal wine storage.

The view of the diamond from below

alien abduction? or just really cool natural light effects?

This guy had some serious cargo in his personal stash

The Kochs had been at dinner with an old friend of theirs when they pulled out a bottle of wine from this vineyard, to which their friend remarked that her uncle was actual Jean Guy Cuvelier. What are the odds, right? Anyways, this random connection to the vineyard allowed us to get a pretty personal tour of the place, and see some things normally reserved for privileged eyes.

These egg shaped distillation tanks are unique, the only 2 in Argentina. They were flown in especially from France. Fancaaaayyyyy

When you make alot of wine, you have to store and age alot of wine. This went all the way around, but it was impossible to get a picture of the whole thing

Ok, enough wine. The next day we drove out into the mountains and went on a nice relaxing horseback ride. The natural beauty of the place was astounding

Even with sunglasses on I couldn't help but squint in the photo.

This is the ranch from where we left, small and quaint

Dan, a glorious backdrop, and the classic Kinross point and pose

The Kochs and me, all saddled up

What a view

Those are the main things we did, other than just relax and walk around or hang by the pool. It was a vacation after all. Here are a few cool extra things we managed to squeeze in-

Mendoza's soccer stadium where the local team, Godoy Cruz, plays.

I guess they take seat hopping pretty seriously...

On the way up glory hill you can see this amphitheater set into the natural environment. Apparently its used for the yearly harvest fest, when thousands of people gather up here to eat, drink, and be merry.